Initial thoughts - setting

I mentioned briefly in the opening blog post that the core of my game idea revolves around music and shapeshifting. My first step to take from that is to find a setting that is a good fit for this and allows for both variety and a coherent style.

I have been looking into different cultures that has elements of shapeshifting in them, but in the end I feel the strongest pull from the Oceanic/Polynesian cultures in regards to this. There is also a rich tapestry of stories about spirits and gods/demigods to get inspired by.

There are some potential pitfalls I need to avoid though. First, I have to be extremely aware of cultural appropriation. To this end I need to find someone with knowledge and experience to help guide me. Do not hesitate to use the contact form to let me know of good people and sources I can look up.

If you're reading the above and your first thought is "Oh, he wants to make a game involving Maui", then no, not necessarily. While the character does fit the shapeshifting part, he is already a demigod and I feel like the player would miss part of a character journey by starting with that knowledge. It is of course possible to make it an origin story for those shapeshifting powers, but at this point I much rather want to have the player character start as for example some kind of spirit living in one of the natural settings of the islands.