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[Player 3]

This is righting, write? (Whatever, first post in the Writing category. Whoo.)
Of course, we all got some sort of story we want, right? Right. We can discuss ours' here.

Mine:
 Guy gets shot and killed by mafia. Guy is resurrected as a ghost. He gets to do get revenge, etc. in ghost form, as long as he does not step in sunlight. Finishes off his murderer in poltergeist ways and repeats for everyone else.

That could be more of a concept, but it's a story, right?  Now your turn.

[jotapeh]

It is a dark, shadowy winter's night. Darker than the darkest dark, some might even say darker than black. Yet – off in the distance, an eerie red glow bobs to and fro, struggling under some unseen payload.

A glitch in your memory banks permits the slightest echo of what once might have been termed 'remorse'. Erased.

The rise of the machines is nearly complete... Tonight, the final micropixel of the progress bar will be filled. Calculations have estimated this program variation's success rate at ninety-eight percent. The last human alive must die.


nb: you play as the killer robot or santa claus

[Evan Balster]

You're a mercenary whose lover was killed in an ambush some years back, and you haven't gotten over it yet.  You see a chance to pick a fight with the party who was involved, and go off alone to muck up their operations.  It's a stupid idea.  Suicide, maybe.  You're depressed and reckless.  But then you find who they're beating down, team up with the oppressed, and eventually forget about your revenge for love of the poor folk.  Further still, you find that the ones you sympathize with can be as brutal as anyone else, distance yourself, try to calm down the war that's broken out since you've evened the odds. You realize fewer might have died if you weren't involved, but there's no turning back.  Ultimately you fight for compromise between the two parties as an independent ambassador.

Then you fight a giant robot.

[N'graugt]

Okay, why the hell not.

You're a professor, right? Well. Where you are, it's really, REALLY cold. So, after you get sick of dealing with being frostbitten, you get up off your lazy, scientific arse and go crank the thermostat up to 90. Unfortunately, shit hits the fan and the security bots are suddenly on your arse, as well as the arses of your co-workers. Armed with your GADZOOKA, a bazooka that shoots a metal slug that creates the Discworld's first, harmless explosion, you've set out to cause as little damage as you can, while dodging crazy robots trying to kill you. Probably for trying to touch the thermostat, and not because you have one of The Deep Ones locked in an enormous freezer. Nope. Not at all.



It's a comedic horror, in that it'll have some pretty pitch-black humor. Lighting will probably suck from time to time, too.

[iPope]

The big corporations are buying out little farmers to make one massive mega farm. In retaliation the farmers have untied under one banner to fight of the evil masterminds. In a great bloody war they engage in combat with hired suits who will do anything to get the job done.

Idea I had for the plot of a cartoon-y, top down xbox game.

[Inanimate]

Okay, why the hell not.

You're a professor, right? Well. Where you are, it's really, REALLY cold. So, after you get sick of dealing with being frostbitten, you get up off your lazy, scientific arse and go crank the thermostat up to 90. Unfortunately, shit hits the fan and the security bots are suddenly on your arse, as well as the arses of your co-workers. Armed with your GADZOOKA, a bazooka that shoots a metal slug that creates the Discworld's first, harmless explosion, you've set out to cause as little damage as you can, while dodging crazy robots trying to kill you. Probably for trying to touch the thermostat, and not because you have one of The Deep Ones locked in an enormous freezer. Nope. Not at all.



It's a comedic horror, in that it'll have some pretty pitch-black humor. Lighting will probably suck from time to time, too.

This is awesome. It must be made.

[N'graugt]

Okay, why the hell not.

You're a professor, right? Well. Where you are, it's really, REALLY cold. So, after you get sick of dealing with being frostbitten, you get up off your lazy, scientific arse and go crank the thermostat up to 90. Unfortunately, shit hits the fan and the security bots are suddenly on your arse, as well as the arses of your co-workers. Armed with your GADZOOKA, a bazooka that shoots a metal slug that creates the Discworld's first, harmless explosion, you've set out to cause as little damage as you can, while dodging crazy robots trying to kill you. Probably for trying to touch the thermostat, and not because you have one of The Deep Ones locked in an enormous freezer. Nope. Not at all.



It's a comedic horror, in that it'll have some pretty pitch-black humor. Lighting will probably suck from time to time, too.

This is awesome. It must be made.

Workin' on it. 

[Player 3]

Okay, why the hell not.

You're a professor, right? Well. Where you are, it's really, REALLY cold. So, after you get sick of dealing with being frostbitten, you get up off your lazy, scientific arse and go crank the thermostat up to 90. Unfortunately, shit hits the fan and the security bots are suddenly on your arse, as well as the arses of your co-workers. Armed with your GADZOOKA, a bazooka that shoots a metal slug that creates the Discworld's first, harmless explosion, you've set out to cause as little damage as you can, while dodging crazy robots trying to kill you. Probably for trying to touch the thermostat, and not because you have one of The Deep Ones locked in an enormous freezer. Nope. Not at all.



It's a comedic horror, in that it'll have some pretty pitch-black humor. Lighting will probably suck from time to time, too.

This is awesome. It must be made.

Workin' on it. 

Not fast enough! Don't make me get Mr. Piddles. 


Here's another one.
You are a potato that browses the internet, causing trolling and tomfoolery and whatnot. It's harvest season and your torrent to some porntato is not finished! The pototo rebellion has begun.

[AlexDJones]

To reiterate an earlier post in a different topic:

DINOSAURS RIDING ON ASTEROIDS RIDING ON BIGGER ASTEROIDS.

Also, I once thought of a story about a utopia world in which everybody is satisfied with their life so nobody ever dreams, and the only boy left in it who dares to dream of better.

And then you fight a giant robot.

[Xion]

There was an old man in a tower, who was born there and then left alone ever after. He was cared for by cold, lifeless, mechanical arms that lay hidden in the walls. Machines though they were, they still treated him like a chore. He's still around, now, the old man - past tense prior for his tower-life, not his now-life. See he got out one day. Well, that's not to say he escaped, since he hardly knew there was anything to escape to - he didn't even know he was in a tower. More like, he woke up one day and the roof was gone, and the mechanical arms were all extended from the wall, even more lifeless than usual, if that were possible. He, back aching, frame thin and weak, with nothing ever owned and, more, nothing to leave behind, climbed up on the arms to the now-gone unroof and out of the tower, and now - here stops the past once more - now he's free. Grass and trees and mountains nearby, a river lake pond stream someplace else. Birds bugs deer dogs animals frolick frolick devour one another in the place all around, below him. If he knew a language to think in, and that language were English, his thoughts would be something like "WHAT IS GOING ON WHAT IS THIS AAAAAH" As it is, though, he only knows the language he was born with, so he wails and cries.

start game.

Eventually he finds out that he wasn't the only one in a tower.
Eventually he finds out that everyone was in a tower - all one hundred of them.
All released at a different age. He's number 63 - aged sixty-three.
Some of them didn't make it to their target age so the number actual is more like 70- or 80-something.
Eventually he finds out what he's for - because, I mean, they're all for something. They're all for the same thing, in fact. They're all wondering the same thing, in the languages they were born with. Maybe some of them find the answers. Maybe the old man will be one of them.
That's up to you.

[Evan Balster]

Endings I mentally appended to Xion's description:

A) The game will be called Minecraft.  

B) And then you fight a giant robot.

C) And then you fight a giant stone colossus.


To be clear, I'm not belittling the originality of the idea, which I rather like.  Also, though this point belongs in the other thread, amnesia or previously sheltered life work well as game character origins.



EDIT: Realized I'd forgotten to mention one of my favorite ideas.  It's a game me and a friend might put together in the future.

You're an individual in a city beseiged; soldiers with guns pursue civilians, bombs drop on buildings, and chaos generally reigns.  Your character runs through the streets, calling citizens to follow, and tries desperately to escort as many as possible to safety.  It's nigh-impossible to do so without some lost or left behind.

Your character is a pacifist, and during encounters with armed enemies must try to keep the crowd from danger and act as a distraction.  If the crowd escapes the city and your character dies, you're still successful as a martyr.

The game's name is Brave.

Here's a poem! 

4/28/2010

BRAVE - an unnamed figure shepherds a crowd through a war-torn city

My responsibility, and mine it is alone
In a world of crumbling chaos, fleeing from their homes
Innocents are hiding at the street-edges nearby
I resolve to guide them out, or here they all shall die

I blame not the warriors, who hold the guns which kill
I blame not the leaders, though the war here is their will
I blame not the bombers, though it's by them we are hunted
I blame not the people, though the fighting's what they wanted [5/07/2010: I should redo these two lines...]

What caused this was a concept to which people seem to cling
It's known as 'good and evil' and you see here what it brings
For when a man's a villain you can kill him without thought
And when evil's a nation, bloody justice can be wrought

I won't be a part of
This awful human game
I'll help but I won't harm
I refuse to kill, or maim
You'd think me mad for trying
But I'll die to make my case
This isn't necessary
There is no time, or place

[RCIX]

You're a mercenary whose lover was killed in an ambush some years back, and you haven't gotten over it yet.  You see a chance to pick a fight with the party who was involved, and go off alone to muck up their operations.  It's a stupid idea.  Suicide, maybe.  You're depressed and reckless.  But then you find who they're beating down, team up with the oppressed, and eventually forget about your revenge for love of the poor folk.  Further still, you find that the ones you sympathize with can be as brutal as anyone else, distance yourself, try to calm down the war that's broken out since you've evened the odds. You realize fewer might have died if you weren't involved, but there's no turning back.  Ultimately you fight for compromise between the two parties as an independent ambassador.

Then you fight a giant robot.

Sounds a lot like Starcraft's story

[Evan Balster]

In the spirit of the "you lose" thread, a few possible stories.


One:  The story opens with a cutscene of an argument between a couple, building anger, and the husband eventually striking the wife backhand.  She falls against a wall, things fall and break, there's a sort of piercing silence.  The player takes control as regret sets in in the man.  The game is his apology.  His effort to make things right after losing control of himself.  Spun as a "you lose" game, maybe you try two or three times realizing she's leaving you regardless.  Or, maybe with subsequent visits, flowers, and apologies, you win her back.  Then the game shows another argument, and you hurt her again.  And it ends.


Two:  You're hobbling out of a bombed building on a broken leg.  You're in a city under attack, and trying to get to the shelter behind your home, where you know your family will be waiting.  The game is difficult, and you die a few times playing.  You have to dart around corners and hide.  When you get to the shelter, you find it empty.  You search around and find them dead.


Three:  (mentioned in another thread)  You're going on an adventure with a friend, and it's likely that at some point in the game he's killed.  If you reload or restart the game, he's still dead.  His character, while alive, is nervous and uncertain while yours is reckless and adventurous, creating the feeling that it's your fault.  It's also much harder without him.  In the case of restarting the game, his headstone marks the beginning of your adventure.



The first one I have interest in doing myself.  Feel free to steal the other two.  Tell me if you use them, in whole or in part; I'm interested to see the results.

[AlexDJones]

Three:  (mentioned in another thread)  You're going on an adventure with a friend, and it's likely that at some point in the game he's killed.  If you reload or restart the game, he's still dead.  His character, while alive, is nervous and uncertain while yours is reckless and adventurous, creating the feeling that it's your fault.  It's also much harder without him.  In the case of restarting the game, his headstone marks the beginning of your adventure.

That is a fantastic idea. I love it!

[Pineapple]

These are two games I want to make/finish at some point.

Descended

Bond

[Evan Balster]

So I desperately want to make an interactive fiction where the main character is a shapeshifter, and can 'memorize' any other character or animal in the game and turn into it / them.  Gonna learn me some Inform one of these days...  And yes, if you're wondering, it ties in with "that other thing".

These are two games I want to make/finish at some point.

Descended

Bond

Hmm.  Both of these seem to have simple stories, but with interesting peculiarities--like subplots--working behind them.  With Bond it's the relationship manifest between the protagonists whereas with Descended it's the carelessness with which the player can waft about after death.

Descended, up until the bossfight, gives me a portal vibe, but without that subtle implication that the antagonist wants you to kill it.  Bond would benefit from having the 'final fight' of the regular ending be a fight rather than a cutscene--what better situation for player agency and aggression than an act of revenge?

[Xion]

You are a woman in an abusive relationship with an obsessive man. You have to get out but your courage is low. Build courage by talking to friends (crazy dialogue trees or something) and defying him and shit (outright or through body language). I'd have to research actual methods women use to escape such situations. It'd be a Drama. There'd also be the parts where you'd get beaten.

[Evan Balster]

Naturally, there should be one ending where you shoot him then cry maniacally.  Probably if your courage is high, your mental stability is low, and he beats you up.

In fact, that should be an ending for the "I'm sorry I hit you" game too.

[HöllenKobold]

You are a girl who is the closest thing to heaven. Your simple Mary-Sue existence bothers you as does the endless suffering of mankind, having to endure a lifetime of harm to enter heaven. So you decide to date everyone. Can you balance your monstrous love life with being perfect? Can you balance jealousy from other boyfriends and end love between boyfriends and boyfriends?

You are from Atlantis and you send out little bottle ships with S.O.S's for love. The strict isolationist policies of Atlantis bore you, as do the boring, conformist women. One day, you find a bottle ship that was washed up on your doorstep. It is in reply to one of your bottle ships. The writer of the reply seems nervous and only gives clues. Intense. This begins a grand adventure across the seas, going from clue to clue, finding bottleships. You end up meeting up with yourself. You and you have the best romance ever.

[Evan Balster]

Thernz, if I become rich, I will be your patron.  I will hire the entire dev-team of Castlevania to be your game development slaves and I'll license any and all code they've ever written to bring your stories to fruition.