Anyway, I've been thinking a lot in the past few days about doing a game that actually has some semblance of story. In my RPGM Mag preview, I mentioned that with all my games, I work on the technical aspects first, and the story sort of comes as an afterthought. With this idea, I'm really trying to focus on having a cohesive storyline throughout the entire game. Sometimes, I'll turn on RPGM for inspiration without even touching it, and sit there thinking for hours on end. Well, that's happened twice in the past three days. Okay...here's the skinny.
My buddy was talking about making a game where you finish the game and start at the beginning with all the weapons and items you've accumulated. I told him it's been done, and didn't really interest me, as setting all the modes and variables back to their initial settings would be a tedious, time-consuming process. But then I was at his house this past weekend, and we started to get into these deep religious/political discussions. And we talked about my game ideas. And something he said triggered something in my mind that I've not been able to shake ever since.
I had been thinking about making my next (well, we'll see if it even comes out, knowing my track record!) game based on belonging to a thieves' guild or an assassins' guild. After that, though, I did not know where to go with it. I just thought it would be cool to play a game as a thief or an assassin, something I had not seen yet on RPGM3. Then in the discussion with my buddy, I came up with the idea of...well, I'm not sure if I should say this, as it might spoil the suprise...but, at the end of the game, reverting back to the beginning to experience an alternate reality. Everything you experienced the first time will still be there, but knowing what you know from the first playthrough, you will make different choices the second time, and the story will turn out differently. I'm also thinking of a way to have "astral projection" where you can leave your body and talk to people incorporealy, where you might find out different things than if you had never done it (ie-when you go into a house to steal something, you do not know which door contains a guy who will catch you breaking into his house, or if it contains the item you are trying to steal. Therefore, you can astrally project (possibly picking a different "avatar" than your main character) and scope out the house beforehand without risking anything). And with anyone else who is "attuned" to this the way you are, you will be able to hold conversations that ordinarily the person would not hold with you. I really do not know if I'm even going to try making this anytime soon. It's just an idea I've been hashing out, and one that's gotten me more excited than any of my RPGM projects since my first game, Series 1. I just need a really strong cause-and-effect relationship between the things you do as a thief or an assassin and how the story turns out. I'm thinking of making 2 "houses" (ala Morrowind), with one backing the thieves and one backing the assassins, and with both guilds being pawns in the power struggle between the two houses. I just need enough interesting quests for you to undertake that relate to the backdrop of this power struggle, and that will ultimately lead to the chain of events that culminates in the end of the first "reality" or playthrough.
Two movies that are weighing heavily in my mind as I think about the logistics of doing a game like this are Run Lola Run and Waking Life. Both reference the concept of alternate realities, and it can be viewed from one perspective that Waking Life includes astral projection (even though in the movie, they call it dreams).
I feel so crappy for posting all of these ideas here, getting people interested in them, and then abandoning them and moving on to something else. But such is the way the mind of Perversion works. Like I said, this is still in the idea stage, so nothing concrete has been made yet. Two things I can definitely say...1) A Series Aside will not be abandoned. It WILL come out in time for the Pav contest. 2) Once again, there will be no random battles in this idea for a game, as I know how much people hate them.
Okay, I think I've rambled for long enough for today. Any comments would be appreciated...and please keep the "Damn, Pervy...finish one thing before you move on to something else" comments to a minimum, please. Thank you for your time and your interest in my constantly flowing stream of ideas.
My buddy was talking about making a game where you finish the game and start at the beginning with all the weapons and items you've accumulated. I told him it's been done, and didn't really interest me, as setting all the modes and variables back to their initial settings would be a tedious, time-consuming process. But then I was at his house this past weekend, and we started to get into these deep religious/political discussions. And we talked about my game ideas. And something he said triggered something in my mind that I've not been able to shake ever since.
I had been thinking about making my next (well, we'll see if it even comes out, knowing my track record!) game based on belonging to a thieves' guild or an assassins' guild. After that, though, I did not know where to go with it. I just thought it would be cool to play a game as a thief or an assassin, something I had not seen yet on RPGM3. Then in the discussion with my buddy, I came up with the idea of...well, I'm not sure if I should say this, as it might spoil the suprise...but, at the end of the game, reverting back to the beginning to experience an alternate reality. Everything you experienced the first time will still be there, but knowing what you know from the first playthrough, you will make different choices the second time, and the story will turn out differently. I'm also thinking of a way to have "astral projection" where you can leave your body and talk to people incorporealy, where you might find out different things than if you had never done it (ie-when you go into a house to steal something, you do not know which door contains a guy who will catch you breaking into his house, or if it contains the item you are trying to steal. Therefore, you can astrally project (possibly picking a different "avatar" than your main character) and scope out the house beforehand without risking anything). And with anyone else who is "attuned" to this the way you are, you will be able to hold conversations that ordinarily the person would not hold with you. I really do not know if I'm even going to try making this anytime soon. It's just an idea I've been hashing out, and one that's gotten me more excited than any of my RPGM projects since my first game, Series 1. I just need a really strong cause-and-effect relationship between the things you do as a thief or an assassin and how the story turns out. I'm thinking of making 2 "houses" (ala Morrowind), with one backing the thieves and one backing the assassins, and with both guilds being pawns in the power struggle between the two houses. I just need enough interesting quests for you to undertake that relate to the backdrop of this power struggle, and that will ultimately lead to the chain of events that culminates in the end of the first "reality" or playthrough.
Two movies that are weighing heavily in my mind as I think about the logistics of doing a game like this are Run Lola Run and Waking Life. Both reference the concept of alternate realities, and it can be viewed from one perspective that Waking Life includes astral projection (even though in the movie, they call it dreams).
I feel so crappy for posting all of these ideas here, getting people interested in them, and then abandoning them and moving on to something else. But such is the way the mind of Perversion works. Like I said, this is still in the idea stage, so nothing concrete has been made yet. Two things I can definitely say...1) A Series Aside will not be abandoned. It WILL come out in time for the Pav contest. 2) Once again, there will be no random battles in this idea for a game, as I know how much people hate them.
Okay, I think I've rambled for long enough for today. Any comments would be appreciated...and please keep the "Damn, Pervy...finish one thing before you move on to something else" comments to a minimum, please. Thank you for your time and your interest in my constantly flowing stream of ideas.
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