Introducing: Ruby!

It is time for the new and improved version of Ruby to be revealed. Number five of the six Red Girls that you will be able to play in The Path.

The other girls call her “goth”… It’s one way of killing people: stereotyping them, putting them in a box and throwing it away. But there’s more to Ruby than meets the eye. A young lady by now, 15 years of age. Life has opened up to her as a rotting flower of corruption. She can see through it all but remains an enigma herself.
When asked about her leg brace, Ruby says she’s in pain. But doesn’t specify where it hurts.
Ruby does not long for death. She takes a perverse pleasure in observing the extreme decay of adult society. But what will happen when she ceases to be a witness and becomes a participant instead?

The Ruby character was featured in the early demo of The Path that was a finalist in the Independent Games Festival. But her model and texture have been revised for the final game. The results of which can be seen on the website of The Path. You can find portraits of Ruby in the website’s gallery and another nice desktop wallpaper in the downloads section.

Ruby talks to her Livejournal as if it were a stranger. You won’t find any secrets in it. There is no man behind the curtain.

For a peek into the production process and some making-of pictures of Ruby, have a look at the development journal of The Path.

Bless me Father, for I have sinned.

I’m finally reading the lovely Chris Bateman‘s book “21st Century Game Design“. As always, I appreciate Chris’s uncanny ability to analyze games and their audience in a mercilessly dry way, illustrating the enormous gaps in its rethoric and practice. And apparently it’s not just the pseudo-biker-black-tshirt-weapons-fetishist type of game developers who are just wrong

The foundation of game design is in providing the right design work for the project, not in trying to dazzle with unfettered creativity. All game designers have a duty to the project that must always take precedence over their desires as players of games, and that duty is the core of the game designer’s role.

Oops!