Demo Progress (Yes, I am making it!)

[Ivan Rosenguard]

So, I realized why I've been so unenthusiastic about making my game lately: I've been trying to pump out a demo when there's still plenty of stuff I'm not sure about yet, so really, though I've made alot of stuff in my game, most of it is so many different parts that I've nothing for a demo, really, even after months of trying to make it look like something.

Again, I've got alot of events, items, locations, battles, ect. made, but its all over the place so theres not enough of one thing to make a demo, and I've sort of been forcing stuff together.

But now I've got a better idea:

Instead of the demo being a specific part of the full game (and ruining it for when the full game is played) I'm now using many of the enemies, locations, ect. to create a sort of "side story" to the actual game. It will be something of a teaser, as it will include every aspect of the full game's gameplay sampled in its 2 or so hour span, as well as touch on the major themes of the game (and have some of its own), and hint at major plot points. The real kick of this "Preliminary Mission" (that's what I'm calling it "The God Gene: Preliminary Mission") will not be about any central characters.

Have you ever taken down that Random Enemy Soldier #458 and thought to yourself: "Hey, what the hell have I done!? He could have had a family! A wife? I wonder what life he had led that I so cruelly wrested from him all for a few measly experience points!"

Thus where Zatch Bretson comes in. You'll play Zatch, a recruit in the United Clean Earth Alliance's Marine Division. You'll go endure basic training, strenuous combat simulators, space-flight battle simulators, and superior officers who love to get new recruits with the old "Place a tree right outside the door of a tear gas chamber when you gas trainees, and see how many of them run smack into it when you let them out" gag, all to fulfill your ultimate destiny: To murdered in cold blood by the main heroes of the game, all for your sweet, sweet 32 experience points.

How's that for dark comedy?

[Wavelength]

Re: Demo Progress (Yes, I am making it!)

It sounds like a page out of Gobli's Quest, which is a promising concept that hardly anyone ever uses, so yeah, pure gold.

Great idea to make the Demo this way, too. I don't think I've ever seen it done this way before. The great thing is that you don't need to worry about open plotlines and you can add a lot more direction to the gameplay. Please be careful not to become content to let this be the only thing that becomes of God Gene, though... we want the game way too much!

One piece of criticism (among mounds of well-deserved praise) would be the "you're murdered for 32 experience points." I like the idea of playing as a redshirt in the demo, but I think you're really wasting an opportunity to make us salivate here if you do it that way. The heroes are obviously fighting for more than just stats... and if you can set it up so that the heroes kill [you!] for what's obviously part of a larger cause, that will be intriguing. Just give an intimation of their motives now, and it'll pay off when the full game is ready.

At any rate, it's always great to hear from you. Keep us posted on the progress!

[Big Rick Cook]

Re: Demo Progress (Yes, I am making it!)

So, I realized why I've been so unenthusiastic about making my game lately:

I thought it was because you're a teenager and apt to wild flights of non-determination.

[Ivan Rosenguard]

Re: Demo Progress (Yes, I am making it!)

I thought it was because you're a teenager and apt to wild flights of non-determination.

That too...

To Wavelength:
The 32 exp. thing was mostly a joke. But remember: This is a dark game, but it isn't always SERIOUS (though the situations are). Absurd things will happen to reflect absurdities in the real world. I'll be giving you an idea of what the "good guys" are trying to do in other ways. The whole "murdered for 32 exp." thing was to demonstrate just how insignificant Zatch is to anything in the eyes of most. He's just a Marine, and while that SHOULD mean something, it doesn't to many that are "important".

The battle that Zatch dies in will be meaningless; the result of fear mongering and corporate interests. That's a point I wanted to make with the demo because it wasn't something I could do in the main game I could do without leaving the main character's perspective (and I've opted never to do that).

[Wavelength]

Re: Demo Progress (Yes, I am making it!)

I thought it was because you're a teenager and apt to wild flights of non-determination.

I'm living proof that it doesn't stop in your teens.

Ivan: I've been thinking about it, and I feel less strong about introducing motives into your demo as I did when I originally posted here. The "offed for 32 exp" is definitely fine as dark comedy, too. But I will say that I still think this "climactic" battle in the demo would be a wonderful place to give the player a glint of the "main" (game) plot from Zatch's point of view--that would be a very effective teaser, and anyone who liked it would be waiting with bated breath for the full game.