Board 8 > A topic in which I force myself to write so I can post progress each day

(+) Yeah! (+)

This is for the game idea I've kicked in my head for years, but now apparently a friend of mine who is a voice actor flew a couple of my ideas by a contact he has at Red Hook, and said contact seemed pumped. Even mentioned it in a follow-up a couple weeks later. Obviously the game wouldn't be picked up by Red Hook but now I have a person (VA dude) who knows people that know people. And he's stoked about this, and in my experience, he's not the kind of guy who fucks around.

So I need to fucking write.

I'm embarrassed to post this because I know I'm going to fail, and I know the board thinks I'm an annoying prick, but I have to have some kind of public record to hold myself accountable, so here we go.
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You can do it! I believe in you!
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You've got this.
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I don't think that you're an annoying prick. =)
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Day 1: Revised character profiles for half the current characters. They needed a lot of updates in lore and gameplay concept. Also decided some characters to axe for the playable roster, though they'll still show up in the story and thus get minor writeups at the end of the profiles.
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What's the game?
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Tag, good luck dude!
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azuarc posted...

What's the game?

It's a fighting game called Dammerung. My concept is, "What if there were a really fun fighting game, but the story didn't suck?" (Injustice 2 and MKX had pretty decent stories but I want it to be something fantastic.)

The setting is a civil war between a realm-ruling theocracy (the Exalted) and a rebel alliance between a populist faction (the Renaissance) and a technocratic faction (the Vault). At first, you see things from the rebels' point of view, and it feels like typical "Row, row, fight the powah" stuff.

Then you see it from the Exalted's point of view, and you realize... hey, these people aren't really evil. And life here in Dammerung isn't actually that bad for most people. And come to think of it, part of the rebels' philosophy is kinda BS...

I have three goals for the audience:

1. Enjoy the characters as well-rounded people with real, solid development.
2. Question who the "hero" of this kind of story is, or if one even exists.
3. Subvert the typical tale of a revolution by showing all the problems it can leave in its wake.
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The idea of a revolution not being all that great is interesting. Can't say much about the rest.
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One important point is that the main thing keeping the Renaissance and the Vault together is a common enemy. This will become very relevant in the future... but for now, I'm just trying to show the start of the rebellion.
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Spec Ops: the Fighting Game

Not a perfect fit for a joke, but it reminds me of that in a way. Time for the genre to get their own guilt simulator...!

What thoughts do you have mechanically to keep a single-player mode more interesting in a fighting game, or are you focusing most specifically on storyline at the moment?
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HaRRicH posted...

Spec Ops: the Fighting Game

Not a perfect fit for a joke, but it reminds me of that in a way. Time for the genre to get their own guilt simulator...!

What thoughts do you have mechanically to keep a single-player mode more interesting in a fighting game, or are you focusing most specifically on storyline at the moment?

Lol, no, we're not going that grimdark. I'm just trying to go for a bit more realism, especially given the mess that civil wars have actually caused throughout history. There is, however, a larger phenomenon happening in a backdrop: I won't spoil too much, but suffice it to say that there's a reason the revolution is happening at this particular point in time, and an awful lot of bards pepper the story with exposition... or more?

There's also the question of magic, the basics of which are a mystery to the world. Very few pieces of magic are "studied" outside of light tactical magic in the military. Magic is just something people do, and all the cast has access to their own manifestations (well, the Vault has its unique tech for each character). Magic is also pretty weak compared to many universes. It's useful in a 1v1 fight, but it's not going to blow up a building or anything.

To answer your question, the plan right now is to treat it a bit like a visual novel where each cast member gets a "chapter." The timelines of some chapters overlap, allowing the audience to see the same events from different points of view. After completing all chapters, the player then gains access to the Climax Scene, which tells a continuous story bouncing between various characters' viewpoints. The Climax Scene also serves as a mini-boss rush: Each fight has certain buffs or nerfs for either the enemy character or the allied character.

Day 2: Touched up two more character designs. Created first draft of a new character, Prisha Angria, a brilliant engineer and pirate wielding an urumi (ribbon sword).
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Day 3: Had to work late today, so didn't get much done. Started a timeline of major events throughout the first arc of the story. Just got the super easy stuff. I'll try to flesh it out tomorrow.
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Day 4: Work held me over. I have to get up early tomorrow. Guess the first fail day came early.
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boo...
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Day 5: Worked some more on the timeline, then realized I have to reformat the whole thing. At least I know what I want to format it into now.
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Days 6 & 7: The latest Un-Set in Magic came out. Sorry, priorities.
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Day 8: Made it a whole week without this purging! It's a start.

Got the formatting down on the new timeline and got major events in motion again. This is much easier to organize. I think I'll let that sit for a bit while I focus on writing a world-building overview.
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Day 9: Great, a late day at the office followed by my Internet sputtering in and out so I'm fighting with AT&T. Ugh.
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Day 10: Had to pick up my friend from his car breaking down in the cold. Got a little world-building done but not much.
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