The Chosen One

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Oh, so you won't think you've just exposed your idea and I just kept silent about mine, the concept I mentioned isn't entirely developed so that's why what I've wrote is considerably short. Some things I can't reveal, not because I have the some warped notion that my story is very good, but because it's all still very under development, or because telling something would likely require explanation of some other element, and so on.

 

What I can basically tell you is that it's based around an entity which once sought to bring balance to the multiverse but its plan was ill conceived and it would instead destroy it. The entity sacrificed itself to prevent its destruction and was destroyed itself, its lifeforce fragmented and scattered across the cosmos. Unable to reassemble into its corporeal form, these fragments spread out and over time, became sentient pieces of himself, individual but still linked. With the notion that they'd not survive much longer separated they tried to survive by several means: some managed to acquire new bodies, some managed to imprint themselves as the essence of newborns, reincarnating in new bodies.

 

Two beings derived from the original lifeforce - the two Chosen Ones - and they basically become the centre of the story: what was their original plan, how they survived, what happened to the remaining pieces of the life force, what they plan to do regarding the other, etc.. Initially unknown to him, the PC carries with himself a part of this lifeforce but it does not hold sway over him. He or she gets to decide just how much it will matter, and will also decide what to do regarding the other two aspects.

 

Yeah, it blows. But it's what I've got for now. Then again, my idea was never to earn the Nobel Prize for Literature. At its core, it's not about the story, it's about how the players' choices will affect the story - that's what I want to matter.

Edited January 29, 2006 by Role-Player

[Llyranor]

Yeah, there's definitely potential for good gameplay opportunities in there. I can see the similarities to PST as someone pointed out, but that of course is not a bad thing.

 

Oh, and don't feel obliged to post your stuff, I just spilled it all because we're NOT using that idea anymore.

[Musopticon?]

 

I luv you people with amazing ideas.

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Oh, and don't feel obliged to post your stuff, I just spilled it all because we're NOT using that idea anymore.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

YOU TRICKED ME, YOU ROFLTUNASANDWICH FIEND!!!

[Diogo Ribeiro]

That's okay, Llyr It thought it would be nice to just exchange ideas. Feedback was appreciated so, it's not a loss.

[Llyranor]

Yeah, but in a public forum, I can't freely point out that your story sucks. I have to be politically correct.

[Nick_i_am]

Actually, this was our second major story idea.

 

The first, we decided, was too gimicky just for the sake of gimmiks, and as such, became way too much of a 'game story'.

 

and 'game story' vs 'actual story' is an important point. For those of you who enjoyed PST, you KNOW that a game is the only medium in which it's worth presenting, but that doesn't make is a 'game story'.

[Diogo Ribeiro]

You could always PM me and tell me it sucks. That'd be fine, really.

[Llyranor]

 

Haha, like I said, that sounds like it'd be the backdrop for some pretty cool gameplay opportunities. Like you said yourself, "Then again, my idea was never to earn the Nobel Prize for Literature. At its core, it's not about the story, it's about how the players' choices will affect the story - that's what I want to matter."

 

As Nick mentioned, the first story idea we came up with had many more fantasy elements. We were pondering how to apply nonlinear principles to the main plot. Basically, you started off, naked, in the middle of a marketplace. A crowd was gathered around you. Your first task was to avoid guards who were coming and would arrest you for exhibitionism. Eventually, you would get caught, and one of the guards would recognize you. "Wait, you look familiar." "Aren't you the new recruit?" This then put you into the role of a soldier (we like this as a backdrop for our mod). Take the job, or face the charges of desertion. We played around with parallel planes and you actually being an enemy spy in the other plane who was sent to the same city to meet up with some spymaster here. Something happens, and you end up in another plane, where the cities and nations are the same. In this plane, your parallel ego, who looks exactly like you, finds you unconscious. He's a soldier planning to desert. So, he steals your clothes, and throws you naked in the middle of the marketplace. Come morning, people gather around you. Basically, the deserter figured that doing this would ensure your getting caught, so that he could leave the city more easily.

 

Storywise, we eventually came to the conclusion that we played too much on plot twists and fantasy gimmicks. The bottomline is, we didn't like it enough. Gameplay-wise, though, it would have been quite nice, given how you have multiple allegiances and missions.

 

1) You're a soldier, so you have quite a full plate already. Lots of things going on and such.

2) You're an enemy spy, but from the *other* plane. The spymaster you were supposed to meet (which you'll investigate in your free time as a soldier) turned out to have died 10 yrs ago in this plane. Also, having this dual-layered storyline would have been nice in terms of meeting friends from the other plane. Eg. a spy gets caught, whom you recognize as a friend from the other plane.

3) Investigation what the crap happened. Why does no one recognize you? Why are you suddenly a soldier? Why were you naked in the marketplace? This would start off as you looked for clues by visiting familiar places of the city and asking familiar people (bear in mind you were new to the city anyway, but you did go to a few places). Also, eventually, you would meet a beggar wearing your old clothes, and you'd have to track down where you got it from (eventually leading to a 'wait, you gave these to me').

 

The problem, of course, is that too much backstory is included. We'd have to play a lot with chronology, going back in time before the marketplace incident, so that the player could understand the protagonist's spy role, and where he's been in the city before the incident, etc. This could have been done, but - in the end - we made the story too complicated for its own good, to the point where it lost its focus, and we realized we did too much. We were just adding layers and layers of superficial complexity. When we were considering adding time-travelling lizards to explain some of the fantasy components (not as a stab to any particular company, of course but just because time-travelling lizards are awesome), we realized we were going too far.

 

What I'm working on now is much less ambitious storywise. Basically, you're a soldier (again), and the main storyline consists mostly of your day-to-day jobs. I figure the life of a story could be well adapted into a RPG. You're not just doing irrelevant sidequests, you're doing your job, and it feels more natural. Going on patrol, sent to do investigations, night guard duty, etc. Furthermore, you're doing it with collegues, and that leads to lots of possible interesting interaction. We're not using typical Western fantasy influences anymore. Rather, we're basing it on Wuxia (martial chivalry --> think Crouching Tiger). Storyline is being worked on. My design focus now is much more on choice-based gameplay, instead of relatively linear storytelling.

Edited January 29, 2006 by Llyranor

[Nartwak]

Of course there had to be a JRPG style game with the same idea... only twisted.  Ugh.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Try it out.

[Cantousent]

Of course there had to be a JRPG style game with the same idea... only twisted.  Ugh.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Try it out.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Okay, I will.

[Nartwak]

[Cantousent]

It's a strange game, but I'm going to play more of it when I get back to my home. Right now, I've been forced to spend the past couple of weeks in Las Vegas. I've been staying with my sister and brother in law. My sister saw the intro and watched me play about 20 minutes of the game and now she wants me to make a copy of it and leave it with her.

 

It's not really what I suggested. In my idea, the player character is the guardian and the child is an npc. In Princess Maker 2, the child is effectively the player character for whom you make decisions at the beginning of each month. You never actually see or access the information for the guardian. However, it's similar in that you build up the child into adulthood and that child is the "Chosen One."

 

I'll finish up a game of it and let you know what I think.

[Blank]

...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I really liked both your story ideas. those games would be so cool.

Edited January 30, 2006 by Blank

[Diogo Ribeiro]

*snip*

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

(w00t)

 

Really, that's very good

[Llyranor]

Well, it had potential, but that would been too much effort just to make something, then go "TIME-TRAVELLING LIZARDS, SUCKER"

 

Then again, it was tempting. Make the game long enough to enthrall him, then throw in the greatest plot twist of all time. The comedic value would have been priceless.

 

Wait, didn't Bioware do that already?

 

Wait, does that mean I would take a direct stab at Bi... never mind :D

[Nick_i_am]

The way that people 'instictively' seem to be drawn more to the second (planes) idea kinda proves our point about the first one (psycosis).

 

One uses a 'game convention' pretty much for the sake of using one, one uses and idea playing off the fact that people will get the wrong idea BECAUSE of a game convention.

 

I know which I would find more interesting, if done right.

[Llyranor]

Then again, the "TIME-TRAVELLING LIZARDS, SUCKERS" punchline would have made it all worthwhile

[Jorian Drake]

Actually ,the 'ancient ones' (the 'lizards') were already in-game(pnp i mean), and that was not the idea of Bioware, and actually i liked how they used that race...well, tghe part with the time-travel was interestin, but that only the char did, no lizard: they were closed in that stone, or were cursed or were powerfull Sorcerers/Wizards

 

Oh and there was one 'lizard' in the underdark exp. : the man with the boat near the town and the underworld sea

[Jorian Drake]

The problem is that Biwoare used them out of context and made them look like they were the only creator race which is wrong.  They were one of five and of those five humankind is counted.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

If you would remember (I do, but not who did say it), someone mentioned that there were others, like the Dragons...actually they telled about all 5 races,

and what races they became in 'present' time

(or who it was, maybe it was just written in one of the books...you DO read the books in-game,do you? )

Edited January 30, 2006 by jorian