Charas-Project
Off-Topic => Really Old Stuff => Archive => Community Contest Team => Topic started by: Osmose on August 01, 2006, 06:24:16 PM
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Here are the original posts I made regarding the story:
A simple framework for a storyline - the classsic hero game - the world is in danger, and he has to save it. Half the game is him going through this cliche, but midway through, when he confronts his enemy, he is told WHY this madman is trying to take over the world.
The evil guy wants to take over the world and seperate it from the game. He realized that he was part of just a simple videogame, that he wasn't real, and that it was all an illusion to entertain the player. The hero, not believing this, defeats our enemy. But afterwards he has some doubts, and the evil guy's theory is proved true when he finds a developers room. This disturbs the hero, and so he quests to find a way outside of the game. The gamer, not pleased by this, calls in a programmer to help him stop the hero - he's lost control and can only watch what goes on in the game now.
The programmer, unable to delete the now-malicious software, decides to up the ante and throws brand new enemies at the hero. Due to the limitations of his own pre-compiled coding, however, he cannot uber-power his monsters to defeat the hero, and instead can only try to make bosses within the window of the game that can defeat the hero.
The hero, through many fights, eventually escapes the exe and falls upon the desktop. Here he sees My Computer, My Documents, Network Neighborhood, all the Windows desktop items, only by his point of view they are houses and storage places, with filekeepers running in between. This, being the final dungeon, will be filled with strong anti-virus enemies, and he fights his way across the crowded desktop to the mouse at the other end. This is where we could create mini-scenes of various games and programs. A Halo PC world, where Covenant attack the hero and the master chief gives him a stat boost as well as offering to spar. A Firefox world where websites load faster and better, but as a result of the spyware not entering the browser, they populate the area. An RM2K3 area, where our hero briefly joins the RTP heros to beat an RTP boss.
He finally confronts the mouse, which is an easy foe. But, after being deleted, the mouse calls upon the TRUE final boss, CTRL ALT DEL, which battles our hero relentlessly.
Title of the Game: Faded Reality
Genre: Classic RPG(so as to not spoil it)
THE BELOW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR WHAT COULD BE THE FINAL PRODUCT, ONLY LOOK AHEAD IF YOU WANT TO WORK ON THE GAME OR DON'T CARE ABOUT RUINING THE STORYLINE.
Setting: Cliche RPG world, but a bit more technologically advanced, like it's on the verge of an industrial revolution that could be fuled by Tark's steam engine. Guns are rising in popularity, although still sparsely used, and even though Tark invented the gun, others refined it to create better ones, hence why he's not some sort of super rich inventor. Anywho, towns live on trade or are self sufficient, with a few sprawling centers of commerce forming the major cities in the game.
Main Characters:
Balanced Hero: Jefferson
Description: Jefferson is your average hero. He was born and raised in the village of Resan. Since childhood he trained to be a fighter like his father. After his father dissappeared on a journey, Jefferson was given the responsibility to protect the village from monsters. He is proficient in blades, but his current weapon are the guns his friend Tark recently invented.
Magic-Powered Heroine: Mora Olimbar
Description: Mora's birthplace and histroy before age 5 are unknown. At age 5 she was left on the doorstep of Mayor Boar's house, and he took her in as his own daughter. Although, in private, she is a fierce warrior and has bested her own father a few times, she rarely talks in public and is very shy of the villagers, whom she thinks considers her an outcast. Recently, she has been forced to take care of the village in her father's steed due to his illness.
Powerhouse Hero: Ignar Pothuk
Description: Ignar is a dwarf from the dwarven kingdom of Krashnik. For years he has been a high ranking soldier in the army, and one of the strongest dwarves in the kingdom. Recently, however, he had a fight with the King and challenged him to a duel. He lost, and was banashed from the kingdom for his insolence. Since then he has been wandering, searching for a fight.
Black Sorcerer: Ordoth Deckra AKA Ordeck
Description: Born Ordoth Deckra, he shortened his name to Ordeck around the same time he started studying the dark arts. Although not entirely evil, simply working for his own ends, he has been disturbing the city of Desra recently and capturing young women for whatever experiments he wants them for. He is strongly opposed to the Overloard's actions and abuse of black magic and giving his kind a bad name.
Supporting Characters:
Jefferson's Father, Daren - Daren was known throughout the land in his younger ages for his strength and bravery. He travelled the world in search of adventure, and found his share of it. After awhile he settled down in a quaint town and started a family with a local woman who captured his heart. The village had a monster attack problem, and he regularly held off the monsters from attacking the city. To prepare for his death, he trained his son in the art of combat so that he may one day take over protecting the city. A few years ago, however, he suddenly packed up, bid his wife and son goodbye, and left on his own adventure, promising to be back soon. He was never seen again.
Jefferson's Mother - Jefferson's Mom is a strong willed woman, who was able to tame her husband into a quiet life... at least for a little while. After Daren left, she took the fatherly position as well as the mother role and raised Jefferson to be strong, but not reckless and stupid.
Tark - Tark and Jefferson have been best friends since childhood. Tark always had an affinity with technology, and practiced his inventing skills as he grew up. He gained a bit of fame after he invented the gun, but soon after he presented it at the annual Technology Fair(a fairly new gathering for inventors), others improved upon his initial design and he lost interest in the project. He is currently finishing his new Steam Engine, which he plans to present at this year's Science Fair and use it to power a wagon by rotating the wheels.
Boar - Boar is Mora's father figure, and has raised her to be just as strong as himself. He is the Mayor of Odel, and gained that title by defeating the prior Mayor in a fight. The old mayor, accepting his defeat, decided to go out adventuring and train to come back one day and reclaim his title as mayor. Recently Boar has fallen ill and given his daughter power of the city, which she hates. But he is confident in her abilities, once the right event triggers her to show her true character...
The Overlord - An evil being who uses Black Magic to terrorize the poplation of Izlam(the continent where the story takes place). He appeared out of no where three years ago and is slowly spreading his influence to the monsters of the world. He is planning something, but what, who knows...
Og the Hobbit - Og, one of the few remaining Hobbits left in the world, has taken an interest in Jefferson's travels and records all that he sees in his Chronicle.
SPOILERS MAJORISH!
Rough Draft Storyline:
Life is normal for Tark and Jefferson. Jefferson defends the city while Tark works to finish his masterpiece, the Steam Engine. Jefferson's Mom has been worried about the recent surge in monster attacks, but Jefferson is confident he can handle them. Then, one fateful night, a man wearing a long dark cape and with purple skin attacks the village, and hurts Tark. Jefferson attacks and kills the creature, and with it's dying breath says, "The Overlord will see to it that you die!"
Tark is bedridden with his wound, but will survive. Jefferson, intrigued by this attack, wants to go out and find who this "Overlord" is, but knows he must stay to protect the city. After a day or two of normality, the villagers all gather at the entrance to the village. Jefferson is in front of this crowd, and his mother tells him, "We all know that you want to go find the Overlord. We're going to allow you to persue him." A few men from the village promise to protect it, and assure Jefferson all will be fine as he is gone. Jefferson thanks them all, and after saying goodbye to Tark and his mother, leaves the village.
Jefferson, on his way to where the creature came from, meets a wandering hobbit named Og. Og greets Jefferson and listens to his story in earnest. Intrigued by his story, Og decides to travel with Jefferson and record all that he does. However, in towns and such, he will go off and do his own things without telling, and can only reach certain places in dungeons to record Jefferson's journies.
Jefferson reaches a town called Odel, and learns of a new controversial Mayor, aparently the former Mayor's daughter. Some say she is a fine canidate, others shun her for being "wierd". Jefferson decides to meet this Mayor, but cannot find her anywhere. While he wanders around the Mayor's large basement, he finds a combat room, and a large man exercising in it. The large man sizes up Jefferson, and then attacks him.
Jefferson wins the battle, and then notices that the man he fought was actually very sick. Mora runs in and scolds her father for trying to exercise in his condition, and Jefferson for fighting him. Jefferson apologizes and they both help Boar back into bed.
Boar praises the young warrior for beating him and offers him to become the new Mayor of the town. Jefferson, surprised by this, declines and thanks him politely for the offer. Mora looks dissappointed but says nothing.
Jefferson gathers up his things and is ready to leave when he notices a mob at the Mayoir's House. He comes to find Mora on the front steps, standing silent as the villages throw questions and insults to her abilities at her. Jefferson runs in and asks Mora why she doesn't defend herself, and Mora whispers to him that she is afraid. Jefferson takes the initiative and scolds the crowd for being so ruthless to a women from their town, but Mora interjects and explains that she is NOT from the town. Jefferson asserts that that doesn't matter, that she was raised there and deserves a chance as much as anyone else. Mora is speechless, and the crowd disperses.
Jefferson apologizes to Mora for being so pushy about defending her and is about to leave when she stops him and asks if she may travel with him. Jefferson, stunned, reminds her of her father, but Boar appears from inside the building and assures him that he can handle a town while his daughter follows her heart. Mora hugs her father and then joins Jefferson on his journey.
(also, sometime during all of this boar tells of the old mayor and his leaving)
Once again, SPOILERS FOR THE WARY - I want at least SOME people still surprised by this :P
Also, if you haven't surmised, Og is the savepoint man. You don't really ever see him except when he's standing there as a save point.
When we left off, Mora and Jefferson had just left Odel in search of clues about the Overlord. Mora mentions that she heard of a strange man who appeared recently in the nearby town of Pofra, a satellite village that makes most of it's money with the trade route between it and Ridhelm, the main city of the area.
Our heros arrive at Pofra and notice that everyone is excited about the coming Festival of Life. They hear around that the main event will be a long procession going from Pofra to Ridhelm to party all night long. Jefferson, a bit low on cash, decides to offer to help defend the parade for a bit of money. He is accepted, and is given a funny costume to wear so as to disguise himself with the rest of the guards.
Dusk comes, and already the town is alight with lights and candles and all manner of fireworks. Mora is dressed in a very colorful, and, er, revealing party dress, to which Jefferson has no objections, and gets slapped for a comment.
The parade begins and Jefferson settles down near a desert-themed area of the parade, aparently selebrating some far off culture he's never heard of. All goes well, until a signla flare in the back of the parade goes off, calling all guardes to come quickly with swords out. Mora, Jefferson, and a handful of other hired guards a running too.
When they reach the area, they meet a tall man with purple skin, and Jefferson recognizes him as...
Jefferson: "You!"
It's the creature that attacked his town, or so he thinks. The creature, while holding a limp guard in one hand and a long ornamental curved sword in another, explains how he and the other creatures are warriors in the Overlord's vampire army. Moose has heard enough and attacks the creature, but loses. The creature takes on of the guards, calls him "suitable", and flys off to the west.
The parade is obviously ruined, and the rest debate if it should continue with these new events. A red glow from Pofra, however, drives them back to find their town in flames. A firefight ensues and Jefferson bravely runs into houses to save trapped townspeople. Mora uses her water magic to help with the fire.
Afterwards, the town thanks both of them, along with the guards and firemen, for their great service and offer them all free passes to the High Trading Center in Ridhelm. Mora and Jefferson, seeing no reason not to, decide to head to Ridhelm and see what's there anyway.
During their travel to Ridhelm they camp out for the night, and we learn a bit more about Mora's past. About she has flashes of her memory before being brought to Odel, and how she was, and still is, very shy around people. We also see the growing affection between our hero and heroine, but nothing too open yet.
The next day goes normally, and eventually they reach Ridhelm. It's a sprawling city with huge main streets, tons of smaller streets, and many back alleys for unfreindly types to lurk. Jefferson and Mora decide to walk around seperately for awhile, and to meet up at the High Trade Center later.
Jefferson does his fair share of wandering. There's a shop for everything you can imagine, including one selling improvements on Tark's basic gun technology. In that store he also is introducedc to something called a "Telephone". It's some mechanical device the runs on waves through the air to communicate. With it, Jefferson is able to talk to Tark, who has recovered and is currently at the Invention Fair. He invites him to come to it sometime, as it is at a convention center somewhere. As to how Tark got there Jefferson can only guess.
The back alleys have shops with less than legal products, but at reduced prices. The sellers warn, however, that if he sells them anywhere besides these back alleys, he will not get paid anything due to them being stolen. There's also a craps and poker minigame.
Jefferson has had his fill of the city, and decides to go to the High Trade Center. It's a large dome near the center castle, and holds some of the best shops in Ridhelm. He meets Mora and they both enter the dome with their passes. Once inside they see shops with some of the best equipment in the world, but none of the shops take gold. They ask a man at an information booth and he tells them that the High Trade Center runs on a special type of currency called SC, or special coins. These coins can be found all over the world, or can be bought at a rate of 1000 Gold for 1 SC. Whether the player has enough to buy something at this point depends on their skill.
So, Mora and Jefferson are in the High Trade Center. After a bit more perusing they leave and start asking around the town for someone who saw a vampire flying off in the sky. One person points them in one direction, one in another, and one says that he recently saw the vampire within the city. Here's where our players get to make a choice of which lead to persue first. These events are totally seperate of each other, so the player can switch between them, do multiple paths at once, or just follow them in the order that they wish.
Lead 1 - Vampire to the (some direction to be determined by the mapper)
This vampire was the one carrying the soldier, the one who defeated Jefferson but let him live. After heading in the direction they're told, our heros come upon a Dwarf by the name of Ignar. Ignar, after introducing himself, challenges them both to a fight. Jefferson is all ready to face this challenge, but Mora stops him and declines, much to Jefferson's displeasure.
Ignar is thirsty for a good fight, but accepts this decline and goes about his merry way. He does warn them of a wierd forest in the direction they're headed in. He tells them of the rumors of witches and warlocks, fairies and demons, and the Great Tree of the forest. Jefferson and Mora decide that this Great Tree would know of the vampire's whereabouts, and so go to ask him.
Once inside the forest, which is nestled in a nice cozy mountain valley, they find the monsters withing the forest are much much more powerful than they've seen so far, and reconsider entering when a Fairy appears and asks them what they're doing in the forest. As Mora begins to ask her about the vampire, the Fairy turns into a flying demon Imp, and waves his spear to command the tree roots to grab the two heros. The Imp summons a Great Wolf to take care of our heros, but then the tree roots release them and attack the wolf, dragging it underground. The Imp, scared, flies away. Mora and Jefferson are about to run away when a deep voice greets them and introduces itself as the Great Tree. He bids them to come deeper into the forest to talk with him, and they agree.
After making their way through the forest, they reach the Great Tree in the middle of it, but the tree is half covered in a squishy rancid film-goo, taking up the left side of his face. He speaks with half a mouth and asks Mora and Jefferson if they could find the Imp they met earlier and squirm a cure from this dreadful illness out of him, who caused it.
They agree and eventually track the imp in a deep, dark part of the forest. The imp summons another Great Wolf, but this time our heros defeat the wolf and capture the imp in a jar. They take the imp to the Great Tree, and it asks Mora to channel her energies through him so that he may cure the Tree. Mora has her doubts, but the Great Tree tells her she may trust him and she agrees. The Imp, with Mora's powers, heals the Great Tree and apologizes. In reality he only wants to cause mischief, not real trouble. He ntells them that he infected the tree with the power from the strange purple skinned man who passed through here and instructed him to do so.
Mora and Jefferson are eager to go after the vampire the Imp mentioned, but the Great Tree tells them that they cannot leave the forest from the other side without two items: The Sceptre of the Ridhelmian King and the Scroll of Passage. Either that or they learn how to fly, which is not an option at the moment. Mora and Jefferson ask where the Scroll is, as the sceptre is obviously with the king at Ridhelm. The Tree says that the last time he heard of the scroll it was heading towards a small city of magicians called Jellen. Mora and Jefferson thank the tree and go off to find the two items.
Lead 2 - Vampire to the (some direction to be determined by the mapper, but not the first one)
Mora and Jefferson head towards where they were told a vampire was seen flying, and eventually arrive at the city of Homel. Homel is another Satellite city of Ridhelm, and use the trade as a way of attracting customers. Mora and Jefferson enter the town and are surprised when they are greeted by none other than Tark! Tark and Jefferson are greatly surprised to meet eachother, and Jefferson introduces Mora to Tark. At this point our attention is, albeit covertly, drawn towards Mora's rising confidence in herself and how she isn't as shy as she used to be at her old town.
Anywho, Tark reveals how he got to the town far before Jefferson and Mora did - a car powered by his new Steam Engine! Soon after Jefferson and Mora had left for Ridhelm, Tark finished his steam engine and built a car system around it. Using this he whizzed past Ridhelm as Mora and Jefferson were wandering the town, and arrived in Homel, home of the Invention Fair. JEfferson and Mora use their time here to stock up on brand new weapons, including a new prototype gun that shoots elemental bullets!
Tark invites Jefferson and Mora to stay in his hotel room that night while he demonstrates the power of his car to the night crowd. They agree, and the night goes by. In the middle of the night, though, Jefferson wakes up, goes outside, and eventually finds himself at Tark's stand. No one is there to see him sow them the car as they are all busy staring in awe at the new guns some smith has made. Tark is really disappointed that these ignorant people would rather shoot eachother than look into the new and revolutionary technology of the Steam Engine.
Jefferson cheers Tark up and takes his mind off the matter by asking him how things have been going back home. Tark says that everything was well when he last checked in - the Telephone system he installed there has kept him in contact with the villagers. Jefferson is relieved that the village is surviving without him, and gains a confidence boost in this.
The next morning, Jefferson and Mora are set to go, after Tark mentions rumors of a vampire seen headding towards the nearby magician town of Jellen. He bids them goodbye and uses his car to travel to another town far away that will appreciate his genius.
Mora and Jefferson reach Jellen and find it in ruins. Tents have been put up over the rubble of what once was a magnificent city. The people they ask say that "it" came and destroyed their town, with Dark Magic matched only by the White Magic of Priestess Shira. They meet Shira, head of the town church, and ask her what happened. She retells about how the Vampire came, used his magic to attack the weaker citizens, and was pushed off into a nearby cave with her white magic. They decide to persue the vampire, and Shira offers to go with them, but she must stay in the city.
They delve into the maze cave and eventually find the vampire, badly hurt by Shira's White Magic, but still strong enough to be a threat. They defeat him, however, and his body explodes. In it's place is a nearly-naked man, with a wierd amulet around his neck. They take the unconscious man back to Shira, who immedietly removes the amulet and destroys it. The man comes to, and says that he was a warrior in his kingdom, one oif the best, when a vampire captured him and brought him to the Overlord, who used the amulet to transform him into a vampire. He thanks them all, and Shira thanks Mora and Jefferson for saving the man and the village. In return she heals them, teaches Mora an advanced spell of her choice, and gives them the Church's sacred treasure: The Scroll of Passage. Mora dn Jefferson thanks Shira and backtrack to Ridhelm to continue their fight.
Lead 3 - Vampire in Ridhelm
Rumors of a Vampire in Ridhelm lead Mora and Jefferson on a search throughout the city, following a trail of clues and sightings left by the vampire. Eventually they track him down to a building in a back alley, the headquarters for the "Black Cat Gang", a ruthless group that steals and plunders from shops and houses all over the city. Mora and Jefferson fight their way to the top of the building, and find the leader of the Black Cats almost dead. He tells them before dying that the Vampire stole a set of Royal Keys that he was saving for robbing the castle one day.
Jefferson and Mora head to the castle and find the guards outside dead. Inside is more of the same, but most of the non-warriors are hiding in kitchens and side rooms, safe. The castle is also infested with monsters, following the scent of blood. Mora and Jefferson eventually go through all the caslte levels to the throne room, where they find the Vampire mad for he has lost the King and Queen. He decides to take his anger out on Mora and Jefferson, who fight him off and defeat him. The purple skin on the man withers away and reveals a near-naked man of strong build.
They notify the castle that it's all clear, and the King and Queen come out of their emergency hiding spot under the throne. A nurse comes to look at the man and removes the cursed amulet so that a White Mage may destroy it. The man wakes and tells of how the Overlord used him as a host for the evil spirit within the amulet, and that nearly all of the Vampires are warriors filled with evil spirits.
The King thanks Mora and Jefferson and asks them what they would like in return. They explain to him their story and the reasons behind their journey. The King, intrigued by this, gives them his royal sceptre, and hints at them needing it sometime in the future.
So, as you see, once all three paths are complete, our heros return to the Great Tree, who uses the Scroll of Passage on the Royal Sceptre to create the Wind Rod, a very very powerful weapon. They use the rod to dispel the harsh magical winds blocking them from leaving the forest, and move on.
Alright, so Mora and Jefferson have gotten through the Great Tree's Forest. Now they're heading through the mountain pass beyond, and meet none other than their old friend Mr.Vampire. A bit of dialogue:
Jefferson: "Wait! I see something up ahead..."
*scroll to "ahead" and then have Mora and Jefferson run in from the bottom*
Jefferson: "Vampire!"
Vampire: "Please, call me Vidnir. I'd like to be known as a bit smarter than my other vampire brethren..."
Jefferson: "Enough! We're here to put an end to you and the Overlord."
Vidnir: "You think it's that easy to destroy the Overlord? Well, why not ask him yourself?"
*Vidnir moves aside as the Overlord walks in from above*
Mora: "The Overlord!"
Overlord: "Glad you recognize me. I'm flattered, really. But enough. You two have been a thorn in my side. I've lost three good soldiers to you. This must end NOW!"
*The Overlord throws a bean of lighting at Jefferson and Mora - they are thrown backward by the blast*
Overlord: "Children who play with fire are bound to get burned!"
Ignar: "Aye, but the old man who plays with fire just wants to cook his bacon!"
*Ignar jumps in from the cliff side and slashes the Overlord across his chest*
Overlord: "Foul dwarf! Your jokes are weak, as are you. Vidnir!"
*Vidnir rushes into Ignar and throws him back with Mora and Jefferson, who have just recovered from the spell*
Overlord: "Vidnir, finish them off. I must visit Ordoth."
Vidnir: "Yes, master."
*the Overlord beams away megaman style as Vidnir closes in on his prey*
Vidnir: "As my master said, play with fire -" *he lights on fire as he walks towards them* "- And your going to get burned!"
*enter fight sequence of Jefferson, Ignar, Mora vs Vidnir*
After our party wins...
Ignar: "Not so tough now, eh, flame boy?"
Mora: "Now to remove his amulet..."
Jefferson: "Wait, look!"
Mora: "What....? He has no amulet?"
*Vidnir rises and staggers backwards*
Vidnir: "Fools... I have no amulet... I am a REAL Vampire! And, as the control of the Overlord spreads, my powers grow! This will not be our last meeting."
*Vidnir warps away megaman style*
Ignar: "Lighty little fellow, that one is. But we showed him, eh?"
Mora: "Thanks for saving us, Ignar."
Jefferson: "Yeah, we definately needed you at that moment."
Ignar: "Think nuthin' of it, me lads! In fact, you might need me again in the future. This Overlord guy doesn't seem to be willin' to gie up his lil' quest anytime soon, so why not take this old soldier along for the ride?"
Jefferson: "We'll gladly accept your help anyday, old man!"
Ignar: "Ey! That's "Sir" Old Man to you! I may have a few years on ya, but a dwarf's ten times stronger'n any man any day."
Jefferson: "We'll just have to see that, eh? Ha ha ha ha!"
And so Ignar has joined our heros on the quest. We learn more about this mysterious Vampire, and we finally see the Overlord for the first time. Our heros, now full of determination to stop the Overlord, head north to the small town of Deckra. But the inhabitants are nowhere to be seen out in the streets, and all the houses are locked up tight. All, except for one.
Our heros enter the house and find a family, hiding in a back room with their daughter, Lilly. They explain how the evil sorceror, Ordoth, has been taking the young women of the town for his own evil needs. Our heros, full of bravado, enter his tower, after stocking up on the town that now welcomes their help.
Midway through the tower our heros pause for a rest, as we cut to a scene in the top:
Jess: "No! Stay away from me you mad freak!"
Ordoth: "Please. You villagers all think I'm doing something horrible to your women, right? I just need you for one little expriment, and you'll all be allowed to go home.
Jess: "Liar! All the other girls are over there, dead!"
Ordoth: "Dead? Don't be silly! They're unconscious. You see, I'm developing a new knockout potion that will work only by smell. So far my only successes have been with women, so I need women to test my new ones on. Once I've perfected it for young women, I can start refining it until it works for all people. Then, I can market it to assasins, thieves, all manner of people who will do what the will with it."
Jess: "I don't care! I just want to go home!"
Overlord: "Your lust has grown, Ordoth."
*Ordoth turns so we see his front*
Ordoth: "I have no lust for the unwilling! Unlike you, I have pride in delving in the dark arts, where your foul touch only puts me in the wrong mindset!"
*the Overlord warps in*
Overlord: "Why do you always treat me as if I am scum? We are brothers, both dark sorcerers, and of the same cloth."
Ordoth: "We know eachother neither by blood, nor by cloth. Only by my hatred for you will we ever speak."
Overlord: "Fair enough. But please, just hear me out. I come with news of great importance. Those heros I mentioned for you, Vidnir is taking care of as we speak. I have saved your expriments-"
Ordoth: "From some innocent travellers who might have ingredients I need. You don't get it, do you? I don't care what you're doing, or why, but it disgraces Black Magic. Now leave me before I try my new potion on you."
Overlord: "This deed I do for you goes unrewarded? You are not the honorable man I thought you to be."
*Vidnir warps in, badly hurt*
Vidnir: "Sir.... I have failed....."
Overlord: "Failure is not acceptable! You are lucky that you are a vampire, and your strength is guarenteed with mine. You shall fight them again, and you shall win then. But now, go lick your wounds, you dog!"
Vidnir: "..."
*Vidnir warps out, and the Overlord turns back to Ordoth*
Overlord: "You see, they are a danger to us all. They will not see you as a dark alchemist, they will see you as an evil sorceror! We must-"
Ordoth: "YOU must leave. Now."
Overlord: "Once my plan comes full fruit, you will be left behind, Ordoth. You have turned away a chance for the truth."
Ordoth: "The truth you know is but a lie of a lie."
*the Overlord warps out*
So we get a tiny hint as to what the story will do, and we learn of the quarrel between the Overlord and Ordoth. We cut back to our heros, who gather up and reach the top fo the tower. Ordoth attempts to welcome them, but they attack him. AFter they defeat him, he explains what he was really doing, and as a show of faith, returns the women to the town. Through a bit more dialogue, including Ignar not trusting him but Mora trusting him, Jefferson decides to trust him and heals him.
Ordoth apologizes for the mix up, and concludes his potion was far from completion anyway. He inquires as to their destination, and they explain their journey. He is intrigued by these events, and offers to come along with them to settle his scord with the Overlord. They agree, although Ignar reluctantly, and they journey off to Krok, the town at the base of the Overlord's mountain.
So last time we checked Jefferson, Mora, Ignar, and Ordoth were all heading towards Krok, the final town before the Overlord's castle. It's your ordinary town before final dungeon, with people speaking of how the Overlord terrorizes them with monsters from time to time, but funds them as well, in order to get their crops and supplies.
The mountain on which The Overlord resides is a cliche dungeon level, with rocky crags and dark monsters and such. At the entrance to the castle, Vidnir warps in and attacks our party for the last time, finally dying after he is defeated. But, as he dies, he takes all their skills and equipment away from our heros, leaving them only with physical attacks. They then have to traverse the lower levels of the castle to refind their items, weapons, armor, magic, techniques, and gold. Also, as a little sidequest, in order to save, you need to find Og's Journal, also taken by Vidnir but not noticed.
Anyway, as our heros approach the second or third floor, they notice a change in the setting. The castle has gone from dark, moldy, and scary to bright and crystallized. Ordoth suggests that the castle was built over a crystal formation that formed over an old castle.
On the next floor (Well, some floor above them, there can be a few in between for dungeon purposes) they start to notice some more radical changes. The inside of the castle is all green, with transistors and circuts and electricity running across the walls. They also notice some NPCs lying around, saying different things such as "TEST" or "NPC #83: Townsfolk". Lastly, they find a wierd item that plays several different clips of music heard before in the game - it's a sound test item!
During all this, there may be a few guardian bosses and such.
As our heros near the top the random battles stop. They pass through the lab of the Overlord and see lots of different testing scripts on screens on the wall. Suddenly, right before the very pinaccle of the castle, they find the Overlord.
Jefferson: "Overlord! We've come to destroy you!"
Overlord: "Ah, my little friends. You have made it. Well done. Your player must be very skilled."
Jefferson: "Player?!"
Ordoth: "Don't worry about that, Jefferson, we need to kill him now before his plans are complete!"
Overlord: "Don't change the subject, traitor! You too are controlled by him! Don't be manipulated!"
Jefferson looks at Ordoth, then at the Overlord, and walks over to a screen on the wall.
Jefferson: "Player.... of a game?"
Overlord: "Yes! You're starting to see. Don't you get it? We are not real, merely pawns to entertain a supposedly 'higher being'."
Jefferson: "Being controlled.... yes....."
Ordoth: "Don't listen to him, Jefferson! He is mad!"
Jefferson: "No.... I've felt it before. The presance of someone else in my head, telling me what to do. Though I only just barely realized it, I can agree that there has been someone else controlling my actions."
Overlord: "Exactly! Do not let him control you! Join me and we will deny him his satisfaction."
Ordoth: "You fool! He is using some sort of mind control!"
Overlord: "Don't you speak! Let the child see the truth!"
Jefferson simply stares at the screen. Mora walks up beside him.
Mora: "I've felt it too."
Jefferson turns towards Mora. Ignar walks up beside the both of them.
Ignar: "Aye. I know what you mean."
Ordoth simply stares at them all.
Overlord: "Yes! We must break free of our bonds. Help me free the world!"
Jefferson walks towards the Overlord as he talks.
Jefferson: "We understand that there may be something controlling us, but we will NOT help you take over the world. Your evils are not justified by your reasons. We WILL punish you for all that you have done!"
*insert big final battle*
After the Overlord dies, Ordoth walks up to the door the Overlord guarded. The others, tired from the battle, decide to head back to the town, but Ordoth stays to investigate.
Peace returns to the land. A bunch of filler here for how great things are again. Insert some excuse to go visit Ordoth, who has moved into the Overlord's castle. Jefferson and Mora make the trip from Jefferson's hometown.
They arrive at the top floor to find Ordoth speaking of unexistance and Faded Realities. Mora and Jefferson, after finishing a very strange conversation with him, attempt to go into the back room that the Overlord had guarded, but Ordoth stops them and attacks them.
They defeat Ordoth and move on, into a developer's room. Here they talk to NPCs of the game developers who explain that, yes, they are in a game, and offer them a way out. Before they leave, however, they visit a dev drone that allows the old Ordoth and Ignar to rejoin the party and go with them.
They leave the game and traverse the desktop. Among the many icons and their corresponding minworlds is "The Adventures of Daren", where they find Jefferson's father, the ex-mayor of Odel, a tree-man(the great tree before he rooted himself), and Vidnir as a human. The two parties battle at first, thinking eachother enemies. After the battle, however, they talk and realise who they are. Jefferosn offers to bring his father to see his mother, but Daren declines and says that his place is here. He urges Jefferson to find a way out of this computer world.
Eventually, through the desktop world, the heros come to a giant Mouse, which attacks them. Though huge, it is a weak monster and is easily defeated. After they defeat it, however, the true final boss appears: CTRL ALT DEL!!!!!
Final battle, yadda yadda yadda, Jefferson and friends find an open outlet to the Internet and free themselves from their bonds, and become viruses devoted to destroying the false realities that bind other game characters.
Now there's a lot of changes that need to be done. Speak your mind - input, both good and bad, is welcomed. The only thing I ask is that you don't request that we re-start from the very beginning - we've already gone far enough that it would be too inconvinient to go back.
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First of all, the names - they suck. I knew this when I made them, and I know this now. Any suggestions on better ones would be greatly appreciated.
Next, as Ari said, Tark is pretty unbelieveable. I still want him to be obsessed with technology, but downgraded somewhat. Perhaps working on simple-clockwork-like technology?
Obviously, what comes with that is the removal of guns. Jefferson's main weapon should be, I believe, a sword. Traditional, cliche, something I was really going for.
Another idea I've been toying with is how it is explained that the characters can actually fight and delete files. It will probably be easier to show you the chat log where this idea was discussed:
[17:49] Moose: What if the game was coded using a brand new experimental file system that worked to make the game more realistic by having a limited number of enemies? Like one special process spun off files containing enemy data, and by defeating an enemy, you delete a file.
[17:49] Harvey Steffke - Sai'Kar: Oh... kay...
[17:50] Moose: But as the game goes on, you defeat a few glitched up monsters which are just wierd to the heros, but to the guy playing the game, start making his computer act wierd.
[17:50] Moose: When he troubleshoots it, he finds that some of his system files were mistaken for monster files.
[17:50] Moose: Hence why, when the heros break out, they can delete files by fighting them.
[17:51] Moose: IT's the best explanation I can think of, anyway.
[17:52] Harvey Steffke - Sai'Kar: But if the system originally worked by dead monsters = deleted files, why all the other stuff?
[17:53] Moose: What, you mean the system files that accidentally get deleted?
[17:53] Harvey Steffke - Sai'Kar: Why do system files need to be deleted at all?
[17:54] Moose: Well it'd be a precursor hinting at how the heros can fight when they break out of the game. Because they've been deleting files all along, they have no problem defeating any anti-virus file that attacks them.
[17:55] Harvey Steffke - Sai'Kar: Ohh I get it. You mean the file deletion system would start deleting things other than just monsters.
[17:56] Moose: Yeah.
[17:56] Moose: Like at some point a monster appears that looks all fragmented or glitched up.
[17:56] Moose: They defeat it, wonder what the hell it was, and move on.
[17:56] Moose: Cut to the kid playing the game.
[17:56] Moose: He shuts it down for the night, and then notices his speakers aren't working.
[17:56] Harvey Steffke - Sai'Kar: Kid: "Dude what happened to that mp3 I just downloaded?"
[17:57] Moose: Checks it out - his speaker drivers were deleted. wtf?
[17:57] Moose: Yeah.
[17:57] Moose: As to why the system would even exist, it could be a way for the player to mod their own monster in if they want.
[17:57] Moose: Which is how the programmer who comes to help the kid out puts in new monsters to stop the heros.
[17:58] Moose: But because the game limits what types of powers you can use in a monster (Like you can't encounter god-like enemies until after level 70 or something, making it possible to die but not impossible to survive) he can't just wipe them out.
[17:59] Moose: Are you starting to get it now? :P
[18:00] Harvey Steffke - Sai'Kar: *shrug*
[18:01] Harvey Steffke - Sai'Kar: It seems like a programmer could just break the code and smite the heroes if he really wanted to.
[18:01] Moose: The code is compiled.
[18:01] Harvey Steffke - Sai'Kar: But he doesn't because, at least until the computer starts having problems, it's all fun and games.
[18:01] Moose: Once compiled, you have to know machine code to be able to edit anything.
[18:02] Moose: And the computer is already starting to bug out once he's called in.
[18:02] Moose: He's called in because the game keeps running and the computer won't respond.
[18:02] Moose: The kid turns it off and on but the game just starts where it left off after it boots, and, being a stupid kid, he leaves it on to watch it while he waits for the PC support to arrive.
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[17:42] Moose: Well what if I made one of the first quests once they break out of the game being them freezing the OS from shutting down? Then they have to unlock the firewall blocking them from the internet, and then have to race against time as the computer/s power source runs out of power - at this point the player has had the sense to unplug the computer.
Thoughts? Comments? Please share.
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I have no objection to that idea except that I'm not sure you'd be able to convey and explain it to the player simply. I'd like to be proved wrong.
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I had an idea for the ending bit of the story. I know quite a bit about how CPU's work, and I know a lot about the different micro-parts involved like JFET's MOSFET's, TTL gates and all that shtuff. I was thinking that in the end of the game, in order to completely take over the computer, the hero would have to rewire the CPU circuit, and do it in a way without short-circuiting the computer. The hero would also have to disable the fierwll by travelling through the firewire or usb cord (we could have it so that firewire takes a shorter time, but has tougher enemies along the path, and that usb has weaker enemies, but takes a longer time) into the fierwal hardware and use his almighty sword to attack the transistors without A: getting fried on the circuit (there IS electricity there, :P) and B: getting eliminated by some random anitviurs script
And you know how CTRL-ALT-DEL always takes a while to end the program? Well we could have the hero have only a fixed amount of turns in order to defeat CTRL-ALT-DEL. And to cement the story, we could say that since the mouse is dead, there is now one to press the "end program now" button. But all of a sudden, the hero realises that the programmer could press enter to activate the button, because he sees the little dotted line border around the button. Thus the hero would have two targets to defeat in a short amount of time, and making the end climax of the story more suspenseful.
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Moosetroop: Yeah, that was one of my concerns too. I'm thinking something along the lines of revealing the symptoms of it and having a developer-person in the dev room explain why if you take the time to find it - I'm thinking that the dev room should be optional, and the door simply takes them out of the program, since it flows better like that.
The whole thing is that Sai was pointing out that we've really got to convince the player that this is possible, not in the real world, but in this fake world - if we don't have some reasoning behind everything than it just seems so outlandish that the player isn't convinced. If you've got an alternate explanation that makes a bit more sense I'd really love to hear it, as it's kinda far fetched even with my crappy explanation. :P
Link: It's a kinda cool idea but I think it's a bit TOO technical. Plus they're just trying to escape the computer, not kill it. :P
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Story sounds good! Ooh, I bet you could have them go into MS Paint, and they would battle tons of badly-drawn creatures, constantly being created, at the same time as dealing with the eraser and such. But I'm still worried about the,"Huh? Can't the programmer just unplug the computer or something?" thing. Also; they could use the command,"Start--_>Run..." to be teleported to any file. And in Start--_>Programs--_>Accesories--_>System Tools--_>Disk Defragmenter you'd have to battle a boss that starts out as lots of databytes, but it compounds into a giant file cluster.
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Kool idea. Lets wait for Osymose's opinion.
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Thanks! I wonder what he'll say.
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I have a cool idea. Right now the game is called "Faded Reality", or as I call it "Charas Cliché Wonderland". I think we should call it "First Reality". Most Chara's Members's perception of a really clichéd game is a Final Fantasy fan game. The name "First Reality" could be an inside joke. Get it? "Final Fantasy", "First Reality"? "Final"="First", "Fantasy"="Reality". Lol.
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[SARCASM]Wow. That's soooo funny![/SARCASM]