Terminal Grid's Maps of Meaning

Design Elements of Terminal Grid

Characters & Colors

While creating the characters for Terminal Grid Watchtower I tried to consider their purpose in the story and game play. How this purpose could be expressed through colors. I managed to find a color wheel that also included information on each color’s meaning. This was a very useful tool for character creation.

Alchemist: Yellow = Young Optimistic Friendly
Hero: Black & White = Right & Wrong (Moral/Justice), Blue = Loyal, Red = Passionate
Grand Wizard: Black = Serious, Powerful, Mysterious
Watchtower: Black = Serious, Powerful, Mysterious
Businessman: Blue Skin = Inhuman and design inspired by Adventure Time’s episode Business Time.
Rooms: White = Purity, Truthfulness, Faith, Pristine, Refined.
- Strange Sterile Laboratory Dungeon Environment and it created a good color contrast
Wildcat: Silver = Sleek, Modern, and Classy.
- Futuristic Robotic Alien feel like Gort from the Day Earth Stood Still.
Enemies: Red = Aggressive, Strength, Powerful, Assertive, Danger. Dark Grey = Dull, Somberness, Authority.

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Design Meaning

Terminal Grid Logo

The icon for a computer Terminal or command prompt is: >_.
The # is the best symbol for a Grid.
Combine these and you get >_# which is a great way to convey Terminal Grid.
Double meaning of Terminal fits into the story of a dying Grid
- Terminal can mean “lead to death”
- Computer Terminal “electronic device used for entering data”

Grand Wizard Room inspired by Masonic Lodge

The Grand Wizard in Terminal Grid was located in the final room. This room needed to give the player a feeling of magical, ceremonial, religious, & secret society feeling. So I started researching Free Masons which led to learning about their rituals and temple designs. I discovered Masonic lodges have a ceremonial room with tiled floors, altar, chairs, & pillars. I feel like this room design accomplished the feeling of a secret sacred place.

Sphinx Riddle and Altar that Alters

In ancient Greek stories, the Sphinx would destroy all travelers who could not answer it’s riddle. So in Terminal Grid I used the concept of the Sphinx as a puzzle for the player to solve before they could enter the Watchtower.

This puzzle also included another important story element, an Altar. This is a place were people sacrifice animals or things to God. So in Terminal Grid’s story the Yellow Alchemist talks with Sphinx and learns that he must sacrifice his current code/programming to the Divine so he can transform into something greater, a Hero.

Learn through play not tutorial

For Terminal Grid I did not want the player to go through a boring tutorial were they lost interest in the game. So I designed the game to learn through play by slowly introducing new features were the player learns to use these new abilities to progress through the game.

All Along the Watchtower, characters based on lyrics

Terminal Grid Watchtower’s story is inspired by the song “All Along the Watchtower” by Bob Dylan and covered by Jimi Hendrix. The lyrics of All Along the Watchtower led to the creation of the main non-playable characters encountered in the Watchtower. Below you can see the lyrics and non playable characters.

Music ambiance & design for emotional feel

When I was designing Terminal Grid Watchtower I constantly asked myself how I do want the player to feel at this point in the game and how could music pull out this feeling from the player. I ended finding songs I really liked and making 8 bit versions of them to fit into the retro feel of the game.

SFX’s 90’s Tech Influence

During initial development of Terminal Grid I originally didn’t have any sound effects for when the player attacked, dashed, and etc. The game play was really lack luster without this and I started searching for sounds effects that would fit Terminal Grid’s Tron Technology style. I ended up finding sounds from older tech and 90s internet software.

Labyrinth Room Design

I wanted the Watchtower in Terminal Grid to give the player a similar feeling that the Thief had in the song “All Along the Watchtower”. The Thief says “There’s too much confusion I can’t get no relief”. So I decided to design the Watchtower like a Labyrinth that would confuse the player so it would match the song.

I was also inspired by other games such as Rubik’s cube & dice. This led to designing the Labyrinth to represent a 3D Cube which would be played out in a 2D world. Below you can see how the rooms are connected. I used the visual numbering design of a dice and colors of a Rubik’s cube to differentiate each room.

Art Imitating life

During the 1 year development of Terminal Grid I personally experienced Art imitating my life. It was like creating Terminal Grid and my life were intertwined.

Before I was working on Terminal Grid, I was living in the USA and my free time was primarily focused on building furniture, resin figures, & art. I was like an Alchemist transforming raw materials into products. Then I found a new job that would allow me to move to Berlin, Germany. So I decided that my next project would need to be digital and not take up any space.

An ARPG inspired by “All Along the Watchtower”

So I decided to start working on a Legend of Zelda like ARPG. I used YouTube tutorials and Gamemaker to create the basis of my game but it needed a story. I found inspiration through a classic rock song I really liked “All Along the Watchtower” by Bob Dylan and covered by Jimi Hendrix. Thankfully Nerdwriter made a great video that explained it’s meaning and story (see here). I really liked the idea of using a classic rock song for the story because I did something similar with Carlos Santana LSD drawing I did back in High School that ended up getting published.

Adventure of Life & Making an ARPG

It was an exciting phase of my life’s story. I was on a new adventure starting a new job, moving to Berlin, and creating my first Video Game. When I arrived in Berlin, I struggled to find an apartment in the highly competitive market. I was totally unprepared for this and was frustrated on how unexpected this experience was. After talking with some new found friends I figured out what I needed to do and then I was able to find a nice studio apartment with a balcony view to TV Tower in Alexanderplatz.

The view of the Alexanderplatz TV Tower inspired the design of the Watchtower. If I had found a different apartment I think the design of the Watchtower would be very different.

Living out the Lyrics

Moving to a new city and working a new job had many moments of lonerism, prayer, seeking god, and deep self reflection since I was living alone and didn’t know many people at the beginning. During this phase I felt like the Thief who was lost, confused, seeking relief, and seeking a way out.

I met many new people in Berlin and many people were not on level mind just like the business men and plowman in the song. Berlin’s culture of startups and party life allowed me see many instances of people living unbalanced lives. Some were pursuing work for meaning and others were pursuing pleasure.

There are many here who treat life like its meaningless and a joke. This Nihilist view of life was something I went through before moving to Berlin but thankfully I uncovered the power of God’s story in my life. The Nihilist view seemed to be common place for this secular tech pleasure island city.

The Alchemist Archetype

Then I decided to make the main character of Terminal Grid Watchtower an Alchemist who could create or transform anything he imagined. This was a reflection of me and my ability to create and complete any project I imagined such as restoring an 80s 5 series BMW, building furniture, creating resin figures, and etc. The Alchemist was on a journey that would transform him into a Hero. My personal journey of moving across the world, traveling, and meeting new people transformed me.

Working on Terminal Grid Watchtower was a very fulfilling experience it was an amazing project that utilized almost every part of my brain: logic, creativity, story telling, music, and marketing. Unfortunately marketing was my weakest skill but thankfully while living in Berlin I made a friend who was very talented with online marketing and helped me get on a path to improve. This felt similar to the Alchemist becoming the Hero, gaining new powers, and meeting the Grand Wizard.

Conclusion

It was odd how Terminal Grid and my life’s story felt intertwined, when I discovered my time in Berlin was coming to an end was about the same time I had finished Terminal Grid Watchtower. I felt like completing Terminal Grid Watchtower was like completing Berlin’s Alexanderplatz TV Tower which would allow me to move onto the next phase of my life. After this experience I now feel better equipped to share my life story and help others back home.

Terminal Grid’s Maps of Meaning