What do you think?
by Mehdi Aghakazem Jourabbaf · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 02/07/2008 (11:27 am) · 15 replies
BACKSTORY:
Throughout the mid 2060 AD, the West and the East separated politically and began
"The Resonance war" over the very little natural gases scattered throughout the planet.
The battle lasted for 10 years till 2070 AD. The battle was over with the agreement of both sides due to extreme high casualties as the population dropped from 18 billion to the population alike in the 1940's with only 2 billion humans remaining.
Cities wrecked and destroyed as New York and the majority of the Western Europe received the most damage.
In the process of rebuilding the planet the new Coalition of ordered government ordered all the man power to be focused on building the only major city that would hold all the survivors and humans all in one gigantic city called "ZERO".
The plan was to cover the entire city with thick 100 meter high walls to separate the Dead lands/Wasteland with the city ZERO surroundings. The only two structures that wear isolated from the city but not far from the city were the Aero Science Lab (ASL) and the oil refinery pumping station/factory.
* The dead lands or the wastelands were areas with the most damaged that turned cities to deserts of ashes. This was all because of the bombing raids that were going on during the Resonance war. The bombings created high radioactivity areas with possible mutation creatures being created within its surface.
10 years later in the mid 2080's AD the economy was improving all thanks to Scientist Zuckler and his science team within the Aero Science lab (ASL) outside (20 miles) off the city walls. Technology breakthroughs such as Portals to galaxy travel, Weapon advancements, and an extremely fuel efficient gas called V-PEG (vital-petroleum efficient gas) allowed the humans to travel to new worlds and galaxies by 2085 AD.
Mother ships including special armed soldiers were sent to explore the uncharted world around the home planet. Outpost stations were scattered around the home planet for security (orbiting) and exploration.
As the story goes outpost 210 is on its verge of exploration of the galaxy as it runs into a huge Mother ship like entity that is not human alike or controlled by the humans and abandoned!
Outpost 210 reports the object to the HQ back in Earth. HQ orders a dropship with templar marines to further investigate the interior and inner structure of the abandon seem like mothership.
Further more the lost in transmission with the templar marines 10 minutes into the mission inside the abandon mothership warns the HQ that something is going on. HQ orders its highly trained soldier named CODE to get geared up to further investigate the abandon mothership/station. The high tech combatants along the leader CODE (The player) are a highly specialize bunch as they would only go to the worst situations of all. They were called the Fossil unit...
Without giving too much detail on the story and its outcome it could be said that something goes wrong within the abandoned mothership (DUH!) as the mothership is not safe and it will need to be destroyed. In CODE's return to Earth the dark force (X name) has already attacked the planet as the planet is ruined by war using these randomly placed dark portals. With not much you can do your main objective is to evacuate the planet with all the important remains of the humankind.
*Note: throughout the game the player can choose to explore the given level for artifacts and important scientific human remains for EC (electronic cash) which he could then choose to buy better weapons, equipments, an upgrade and more. Therefore there is an RPG element to the game which I am working on to making it more complex than just upgrades and buy like we have seen before in games. (although its great I would like to push it and innovate)
Continue...
Throughout the mid 2060 AD, the West and the East separated politically and began
"The Resonance war" over the very little natural gases scattered throughout the planet.
The battle lasted for 10 years till 2070 AD. The battle was over with the agreement of both sides due to extreme high casualties as the population dropped from 18 billion to the population alike in the 1940's with only 2 billion humans remaining.
Cities wrecked and destroyed as New York and the majority of the Western Europe received the most damage.
In the process of rebuilding the planet the new Coalition of ordered government ordered all the man power to be focused on building the only major city that would hold all the survivors and humans all in one gigantic city called "ZERO".
The plan was to cover the entire city with thick 100 meter high walls to separate the Dead lands/Wasteland with the city ZERO surroundings. The only two structures that wear isolated from the city but not far from the city were the Aero Science Lab (ASL) and the oil refinery pumping station/factory.
* The dead lands or the wastelands were areas with the most damaged that turned cities to deserts of ashes. This was all because of the bombing raids that were going on during the Resonance war. The bombings created high radioactivity areas with possible mutation creatures being created within its surface.
10 years later in the mid 2080's AD the economy was improving all thanks to Scientist Zuckler and his science team within the Aero Science lab (ASL) outside (20 miles) off the city walls. Technology breakthroughs such as Portals to galaxy travel, Weapon advancements, and an extremely fuel efficient gas called V-PEG (vital-petroleum efficient gas) allowed the humans to travel to new worlds and galaxies by 2085 AD.
Mother ships including special armed soldiers were sent to explore the uncharted world around the home planet. Outpost stations were scattered around the home planet for security (orbiting) and exploration.
As the story goes outpost 210 is on its verge of exploration of the galaxy as it runs into a huge Mother ship like entity that is not human alike or controlled by the humans and abandoned!
Outpost 210 reports the object to the HQ back in Earth. HQ orders a dropship with templar marines to further investigate the interior and inner structure of the abandon seem like mothership.
Further more the lost in transmission with the templar marines 10 minutes into the mission inside the abandon mothership warns the HQ that something is going on. HQ orders its highly trained soldier named CODE to get geared up to further investigate the abandon mothership/station. The high tech combatants along the leader CODE (The player) are a highly specialize bunch as they would only go to the worst situations of all. They were called the Fossil unit...
Without giving too much detail on the story and its outcome it could be said that something goes wrong within the abandoned mothership (DUH!) as the mothership is not safe and it will need to be destroyed. In CODE's return to Earth the dark force (X name) has already attacked the planet as the planet is ruined by war using these randomly placed dark portals. With not much you can do your main objective is to evacuate the planet with all the important remains of the humankind.
*Note: throughout the game the player can choose to explore the given level for artifacts and important scientific human remains for EC (electronic cash) which he could then choose to buy better weapons, equipments, an upgrade and more. Therefore there is an RPG element to the game which I am working on to making it more complex than just upgrades and buy like we have seen before in games. (although its great I would like to push it and innovate)
Continue...
#2
02/07/2008 (12:15 pm)
It reminds me of a space-horror movie (there was one with Laurence Fishburn in it, but I forget the name), but with a leaning towards action (or maybe not?). Not a bad storyline overall, but in regards to the scripted sequences ("lots"), if it's an RPG, why not have the player interact and make the story a little less linear in that regard? Just an idea, but again, the story sounds good, and if you get the game mechanics done well, then I think you'll have a pretty nice game.
#3
What I was trying to get across was I want the game to be be action based but just have that little RPG element to it for the main character to get stronger and better through purchasing better weapons, equipments or even an upgrades, etc.
I believe this by itself is a motivator for having the user to keep playing the game, maybe even after they beat it.
I believe RPG based games are far too complex for any developers first game, even for advanced developers. So I like to keep myself away from that path at least for now LOL! But of course adding just a small ingredient from the RPG genre (Exploring to enale you to buying, upgrading etc) to keep the gamer interested.
What I meant by scripted sequences was having some sort of scene that after the script gets triggered the player is about to say "HOLY $hit or WOW!" (At least this is what I am personally shooting for)
What is your take on this?
Sorry if I'm writing my message too long :(
02/07/2008 (1:23 pm)
First of all thank you so much for reading through my post. I appreciate it.What I was trying to get across was I want the game to be be action based but just have that little RPG element to it for the main character to get stronger and better through purchasing better weapons, equipments or even an upgrades, etc.
I believe this by itself is a motivator for having the user to keep playing the game, maybe even after they beat it.
I believe RPG based games are far too complex for any developers first game, even for advanced developers. So I like to keep myself away from that path at least for now LOL! But of course adding just a small ingredient from the RPG genre (Exploring to enale you to buying, upgrading etc) to keep the gamer interested.
What I meant by scripted sequences was having some sort of scene that after the script gets triggered the player is about to say "HOLY $hit or WOW!" (At least this is what I am personally shooting for)
What is your take on this?
Sorry if I'm writing my message too long :(
#4
02/07/2008 (2:28 pm)
I don't have a whole lot of feedback, but this idea sounds great. I look forward to seeing more on this in the future.
#5
02/07/2008 (2:33 pm)
Thank you :)
#6
02/07/2008 (7:14 pm)
Hiya Mehdi, just one concern in the storyline, before humans try to venture into space, wouldnt we try to reconstruct earth so its more stable for us? Love the idea, just that one concern comes to mind.
#7
Sounds like what Call of Duty 4 used at several points in their missions, where certain events get triggered while you're still playing, and you get to play through the event (like in the first mission where the tanker is collapsing around you in scripted ways, but only serve as events and obstacles for the character to get past). If that's the idea, then that's a very good feature to have in a game.
02/07/2008 (7:33 pm)
Quote:What I meant by scripted sequences was having some sort of scene that after the script gets triggered the player is about to say "HOLY $hit or WOW!" (At least this is what I am personally shooting for)
Sounds like what Call of Duty 4 used at several points in their missions, where certain events get triggered while you're still playing, and you get to play through the event (like in the first mission where the tanker is collapsing around you in scripted ways, but only serve as events and obstacles for the character to get past). If that's the idea, then that's a very good feature to have in a game.
#8
Well let's just say Earth isn't ready! Humans were through the Resonance war and are recovering well but are just not ready to what is about to hit! That's why there is no reason waiting and killing these unforgivable foes than just to get off planet and start new :)
Furthermore, as you come back to Earth to help everyone get off the planet you see these structures that were in the process of being built as they are now being destroyed and etc.
But the main answer to your question is humans are rushing the exploration to outer space and are not ready!
02/07/2008 (7:40 pm)
Dear Ben that's an excellent question! (Honestly)Well let's just say Earth isn't ready! Humans were through the Resonance war and are recovering well but are just not ready to what is about to hit! That's why there is no reason waiting and killing these unforgivable foes than just to get off planet and start new :)
Furthermore, as you come back to Earth to help everyone get off the planet you see these structures that were in the process of being built as they are now being destroyed and etc.
But the main answer to your question is humans are rushing the exploration to outer space and are not ready!
#9
To be honest in the game document in which Im currently writing I want there to be more than just explosions.Im going to go through that process as soon as I finish the story and objectives of every mission in the next two weeks (hopefully).
My main objective is to innovate on these scripted sequences and hope they go well :)
Thanks again
02/07/2008 (7:45 pm)
YES! The Call of duty is a great example of that ;)To be honest in the game document in which Im currently writing I want there to be more than just explosions.Im going to go through that process as soon as I finish the story and objectives of every mission in the next two weeks (hopefully).
My main objective is to innovate on these scripted sequences and hope they go well :)
Thanks again
#10
Anyway, sounds like some good gameplay ideas you have. Good luck!
02/07/2008 (11:41 pm)
Backstory is good enough for a video game, but just one question. If your player is an elite government soldier sent with a crack team to an alien starship, where's he going to buy equipment from? And wouldn't the government just give him the equipment he needs when he leaves, rather than saying 'Well, here's a pistol - you'll have to pay for it yourself if you want anything else.'Anyway, sounds like some good gameplay ideas you have. Good luck!
#11
02/08/2008 (7:00 pm)
I dont know how much it would break the backstory, but to get a system of buying equipment working, instead of being from the government, be contracted by the government, then bam, great reason why you have to buy the weaponry.
#12
Reply to Daniel:
To be honest I haven't paid that much attention to these kind of things yet since I was and am so busy with the story itself and the website which took the all my hours today (I won't lie, but I'm very passionate to really pull this off).
I truly appreciate you raising that question to mind! It didn't even occur to me! hehehe
But I have to say you made my life much easier in that regard since all I have to do now is to just think and come up with a solution. To be honest I don't know how I would like or should implement this mechanic into the game but I have put it on my questions list ;)
[Thank you]
Reply to Ben:
Ben you have a great suggestion, honestly! I can't shake my head and say no to that!!! LOL
Guess what, you are hired! :) LOL
[Thank you]
02/08/2008 (9:11 pm)
I would try to keep the post short! LOLReply to Daniel:
To be honest I haven't paid that much attention to these kind of things yet since I was and am so busy with the story itself and the website which took the all my hours today (I won't lie, but I'm very passionate to really pull this off).
I truly appreciate you raising that question to mind! It didn't even occur to me! hehehe
But I have to say you made my life much easier in that regard since all I have to do now is to just think and come up with a solution. To be honest I don't know how I would like or should implement this mechanic into the game but I have put it on my questions list ;)
[Thank you]
Reply to Ben:
Ben you have a great suggestion, honestly! I can't shake my head and say no to that!!! LOL
Guess what, you are hired! :) LOL
[Thank you]
#14
I seemed really negative but good luck, it's a really good idea. If you don't want to explain everything in detail, just tell the user "screw you, have some imagination!" Ha ha.
02/17/2008 (2:04 pm)
Good luck with the project Mehdi! I just have a few questions. If the world was that badly damaged, how can these survivors still have food, CLEAN water, and enough room in this "city"? If no one had a military afterwards since they all got wiped out, why bother making militaries? The planet's main goal should be to re-populate the humans and make it livable again. With how badly the war was, I'd imagine the sun would be partially blocked out, the air and water sources would be polluted, animals for food would be sick and bad to eat, and vegetation really couldn't grow. Also, imagine the freak weather the planet would have. How did the really smart scientists and the technology to make space ships conveniently survive the war? Say this technology existed prior to the war, wouldn't there be colonies in space somewhere so the humans would have never had to live on the planet after the war? East vs. West? That's a very random divide of allies, it would be a lot more scattered and blurred as to who's really on who's side. Finally, If the planet was that badly damaged, even after humans tried to recover, I'd imagine they would all have cancer of some form (chuckle) and a foreign life could easily wipe them out.I seemed really negative but good luck, it's a really good idea. If you don't want to explain everything in detail, just tell the user "screw you, have some imagination!" Ha ha.
#15
Just a thought.
Perhaps an entire game that has multiple or hundreds of endings.. and when the player wins the Game would show a Mini movie of that Players actions via cut sceens at the end before the credits roll. ?
All in all, i enjoyed reading it.. but just as one possible ending.
02/27/2008 (2:57 pm)
Medhi I liked the story as one possible conclusion. That is to say.. your story could be the way it was played for that person and the game flow went that way because of Player actions.. Perhaps the player stole too much from a warehouse storage and Gangs are out seeking the theif.. or the Player killed a key character so the game flow would take another direction..Just a thought.
Perhaps an entire game that has multiple or hundreds of endings.. and when the player wins the Game would show a Mini movie of that Players actions via cut sceens at the end before the credits roll. ?
All in all, i enjoyed reading it.. but just as one possible ending.
Mehdi Aghakazem Jourabbaf
Possible game features:
>> Episodic content (Gamers hate waiting!!!! They are eager to just play and not wait for so long for a game to come out so the game will be divided into X episodes.)
>> Cinematic Camera angle view (FPS when navigating the environment and shooting) (Third Person when you are doing a certain action in the game like taking cover, Sprinting, reloading, melee combat, button mashing mini games [crucial for staying alive in certain close quarter combat situations])
>> Engaging story: A story that evolves from a simple task for investigation a Mothership station to saving mankind from the verge of extinction
>> Dark and nasty environments
>> Game play mechanics such as seeking the light or the forces of (X NAME) will tear you apart in no time. Along other game play mechanics such as the exploration for artifacts which leads to electronic money which further enhances the gameplay for better weapons upgrades, equipments, and etc.
>> Lots of scripted sequences
>> Extremely violence and nasty
I was also inspirited by Kill Switch and Gears of war for the dynamic covers system which I am trying to think through. Maybe not just create cover and take cover, BUT to move cover and destroy cover.
Thanks all for reading as I am hoping to hear back from you all.