taxalot
I'm a spicy fellow.
I have some time to lose, and so I have been thinking about a little game.
1. Starting point.
The setting is Paris, 1862.
Victor Hugo, famous novelist has just released his latest book "Les misérables", the tale of the city poors and their destiny fighting oppression and protecting the ones they care for... A marvelous tale about mankind in general.
The book is an utter failure.
As he stands at Novelcon, Hugo is saddened to see his only few fans cosplaying as Valjean, Cosette and looking for his approval. But far from it, the only thing Hugo is able to give is his complete incomprehension. The real buzz at Novelcon is Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian poet. His latest book "Trodjmann dus Apfelglück" is an astonishing success and is stealing the show despite the fact that nobody understands the language in Paris.
Alone, in his mansion, Hugo despairs. Until one day, the ultimate humiliation comes in the form of a letter from Ibsen asking Hugo to meet him the evening at some place of his chosing. Desperate, he goes at the appointed place. Ibsen greets him, gives him a chair in some very large room. A lot of Ibsen's friends are here too.
On a stage in front of everyone present in the assembly, some people move and talk to each others. The thing seems to tell a story.
"What devilry is this ?!" exclaims Hugo.
"This, my friend" replies Ibsen, "is the future of entertainment and culture as we know it. I calle it a 'play'. I have already patented it.".
Hugo is astonished at what he sees ; everything is so alive ! This is absolutely unlike books !
And a new fire starts to burn inside of him. This might be a new start. Yes, Hugo decides to challenge Ibsen : he will write a "play" too. In fact, he will be the greatest writer of plays of history ! Hugo asks Ibsen to meet him again in two months. And this time, he won't hold back.
However, as Hugo starts writing, inspiration doesn't come. He meets his old and best friend, Orson Welles.
"Hugo, my boy. The key to your audience's heart is another heart." he says. "You need a woman. And you will soon see that putting your emotions on paper will become a lot easier."
Reluctant at first, Hugo accepts. He realizes that in the next months he will need to find actors, write a script, promotes his work... but also he'll need a woman. Following some directions given by Welles, he meets enigmatic pick-up artist Mr Darcy, who leads him down a path of womanizing and debauchery. Hugo will need to learn fast ; and at the same time, work very hard on his groundbreaking play.
2. The Game World
The setting is an anachronistic Paris, in the 1860s but also with lots of element taken from the modern days. The ensemble is a strange mixture with some steampunk and even at some place some cyberpunk elements.
The characters inhabiting the towns are, for some, complete idiots infatuated with the Norwegian works although they understand no word of it. However, they love the "way it sounds" and how "trendy" it is.
Other characters involve lots of novelists (expect to meet Balzac, Zola, but also Ayn Rand, Marx, Hemingway, Jane Austin), but also their characters as it is strongly hinted in the game that novelists are pretty much lazy people who just put people they know in their books instead of thinking up characters.
The city is buzzing with technological advancement ; of course, there is the "plays", but the VERNE-Vrydenberg-Yoshimito megacorporation, headed by CEO Jules Vernes (whose extreme longevity (300 years old) is the talk of town) provides the people more and more complex machinery. Ibsen, a friend of Verne, is what you could call a "early adopter" and he has solved his inspiration issue by purchasing a japanese robot maid girl. Hugo feeling bad at easy next to her decides quickly he will not resort to such trickery in his quest of finding a woman. Lately, VERNE has also started to work on human augmentation/implants... How far will these guys go ?
3. Gameplay
At first, I envisioned stills taken from old photographs, and menus that helped you move around, but I am now more thinking of the terms of overhead RPGs, a bit like something you would see in RPGMaker.
The game would pretty much play like a mix between a dating game and a RPG. Hugo has 60 days to
-Write a play
-Hire actors
-Becoming the buzz of the town so that a lot of people go to see the play
The play's quality is dependant on how much time he spends working on it, but also on his personal experience. As he moves around town, he meets people that inspires him, situations that give him ideas. But all of this is NOTHING if he doesn't get himself a woman. Following Mr Darcy around, Hugo gets to know a world he doesn't understand : the female mind. If he can find happiness in love, then the play ought to be better. Right ?
The game would then climax on the play itself ; if you allow a bad pun, the play would play very differently depending on how successful Hugo is at his various endeavours. Player would see the results happening storywise in the last chapter of the game, and then be given a final score according to the reviews of the play, and the numbers of tickets sold.
I have been thinking a lot about story and universe over the last few days, sadly, neglecting gameplay... Because that's a tough one. I have hesitation on the presence of fighting in the game, for example. How I envision it so far is :
-Hugo has a number of turns everyay
-You can use these turns to write or do other stuff. This other stuff involves enhancing some stats that will appeal to women, finding actors, and doing shit in general.
-You do these things by moving around town, in the map of Paris etc. The 60 days are planned out so that it doesn't feel boring : Mr Darcy calls you and introduces you to many women, Hugo needs to break in at some point in the VERNE-Vrydenberg-Yoshimito corporation and learns the horrible truth about Jules Vernes. Those things happen after Hugo's turns are done or right in the middle of the day. Even the act of writing might lead to substories.
-You meet a lot of people in the game who volunteer to act in your play. You need to audition them, train them. They are all part of the story at some point and both their personality and training will impact the success of the play. You can pick which role goes to which actors too.
This is obviously all very vague and no actual work besides a (very vague) design document has been produced so far.
Still, Codex thoughts?
1. Starting point.
The setting is Paris, 1862.
Victor Hugo, famous novelist has just released his latest book "Les misérables", the tale of the city poors and their destiny fighting oppression and protecting the ones they care for... A marvelous tale about mankind in general.
The book is an utter failure.
As he stands at Novelcon, Hugo is saddened to see his only few fans cosplaying as Valjean, Cosette and looking for his approval. But far from it, the only thing Hugo is able to give is his complete incomprehension. The real buzz at Novelcon is Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian poet. His latest book "Trodjmann dus Apfelglück" is an astonishing success and is stealing the show despite the fact that nobody understands the language in Paris.
Alone, in his mansion, Hugo despairs. Until one day, the ultimate humiliation comes in the form of a letter from Ibsen asking Hugo to meet him the evening at some place of his chosing. Desperate, he goes at the appointed place. Ibsen greets him, gives him a chair in some very large room. A lot of Ibsen's friends are here too.
On a stage in front of everyone present in the assembly, some people move and talk to each others. The thing seems to tell a story.
"What devilry is this ?!" exclaims Hugo.
"This, my friend" replies Ibsen, "is the future of entertainment and culture as we know it. I calle it a 'play'. I have already patented it.".
Hugo is astonished at what he sees ; everything is so alive ! This is absolutely unlike books !
And a new fire starts to burn inside of him. This might be a new start. Yes, Hugo decides to challenge Ibsen : he will write a "play" too. In fact, he will be the greatest writer of plays of history ! Hugo asks Ibsen to meet him again in two months. And this time, he won't hold back.
However, as Hugo starts writing, inspiration doesn't come. He meets his old and best friend, Orson Welles.
"Hugo, my boy. The key to your audience's heart is another heart." he says. "You need a woman. And you will soon see that putting your emotions on paper will become a lot easier."
Reluctant at first, Hugo accepts. He realizes that in the next months he will need to find actors, write a script, promotes his work... but also he'll need a woman. Following some directions given by Welles, he meets enigmatic pick-up artist Mr Darcy, who leads him down a path of womanizing and debauchery. Hugo will need to learn fast ; and at the same time, work very hard on his groundbreaking play.
2. The Game World
The setting is an anachronistic Paris, in the 1860s but also with lots of element taken from the modern days. The ensemble is a strange mixture with some steampunk and even at some place some cyberpunk elements.
The characters inhabiting the towns are, for some, complete idiots infatuated with the Norwegian works although they understand no word of it. However, they love the "way it sounds" and how "trendy" it is.
Other characters involve lots of novelists (expect to meet Balzac, Zola, but also Ayn Rand, Marx, Hemingway, Jane Austin), but also their characters as it is strongly hinted in the game that novelists are pretty much lazy people who just put people they know in their books instead of thinking up characters.
The city is buzzing with technological advancement ; of course, there is the "plays", but the VERNE-Vrydenberg-Yoshimito megacorporation, headed by CEO Jules Vernes (whose extreme longevity (300 years old) is the talk of town) provides the people more and more complex machinery. Ibsen, a friend of Verne, is what you could call a "early adopter" and he has solved his inspiration issue by purchasing a japanese robot maid girl. Hugo feeling bad at easy next to her decides quickly he will not resort to such trickery in his quest of finding a woman. Lately, VERNE has also started to work on human augmentation/implants... How far will these guys go ?
3. Gameplay
At first, I envisioned stills taken from old photographs, and menus that helped you move around, but I am now more thinking of the terms of overhead RPGs, a bit like something you would see in RPGMaker.
The game would pretty much play like a mix between a dating game and a RPG. Hugo has 60 days to
-Write a play
-Hire actors
-Becoming the buzz of the town so that a lot of people go to see the play
The play's quality is dependant on how much time he spends working on it, but also on his personal experience. As he moves around town, he meets people that inspires him, situations that give him ideas. But all of this is NOTHING if he doesn't get himself a woman. Following Mr Darcy around, Hugo gets to know a world he doesn't understand : the female mind. If he can find happiness in love, then the play ought to be better. Right ?
The game would then climax on the play itself ; if you allow a bad pun, the play would play very differently depending on how successful Hugo is at his various endeavours. Player would see the results happening storywise in the last chapter of the game, and then be given a final score according to the reviews of the play, and the numbers of tickets sold.
I have been thinking a lot about story and universe over the last few days, sadly, neglecting gameplay... Because that's a tough one. I have hesitation on the presence of fighting in the game, for example. How I envision it so far is :
-Hugo has a number of turns everyay
-You can use these turns to write or do other stuff. This other stuff involves enhancing some stats that will appeal to women, finding actors, and doing shit in general.
-You do these things by moving around town, in the map of Paris etc. The 60 days are planned out so that it doesn't feel boring : Mr Darcy calls you and introduces you to many women, Hugo needs to break in at some point in the VERNE-Vrydenberg-Yoshimito corporation and learns the horrible truth about Jules Vernes. Those things happen after Hugo's turns are done or right in the middle of the day. Even the act of writing might lead to substories.
-You meet a lot of people in the game who volunteer to act in your play. You need to audition them, train them. They are all part of the story at some point and both their personality and training will impact the success of the play. You can pick which role goes to which actors too.
This is obviously all very vague and no actual work besides a (very vague) design document has been produced so far.
Still, Codex thoughts?