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My screwed up plot needs help!
Author
Basically, in the begining of the game the player is the security guard on a space ship test project. Company X is trying to create a warp drive, and it is their first full-scale test of the main systems of the drive. The alarms sound as the security team in the core of the ship are attacked by an intruder. Of course, they send you down to check it out. Unfortunately, the test countdown has already started, and you don''t make it to the intruder before he messes it up. The warp drive opens up a whole in space-time, causing space-time to fold over itself and creating a new dimension. After you come to your senses, your new job is to try and get yourself back in time to before space-time got screwed up and stop the intruder. Along the way, you pass through many strange locations with odd mixes of technology as well as people.
*Spoiler ahead*
When you finally get back, you come through the time hole (or whatever) and find yourself in the core of the ship. The security team there mistakes you for an intruder, and the ensuing battle is what ends up messing up the equipment and causing the whole problem in the first place. The difficulty I am having is the story in the middle, and how it all fits together without jolting the player around too much.
My first response was going to be, "are you sure you want to use such a familiar plot device?"
But I like the time-space paradox thing!
I think we need a bit more to work with, though. What locations does the player go to when transported? Why are they worlds? Why isn''t he thrown into the heart of a star, or empty space? (IOW, why is the warp drive a convenient doorway-- UNLESS it __IS__ some type of doorway...)
And what do you want the player to encounter? What''s the opposition, and what does the player do to solve it?
What can they do in the game? What gameplay options do they have? This can inform the story and help flesh it out. (i.e., being able to research objects implies a scientist / archaeologist, with those types of encounters)
Basically, need more info!
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Just waiting for the mothership...
But I like the time-space paradox thing!
I think we need a bit more to work with, though. What locations does the player go to when transported? Why are they worlds? Why isn''t he thrown into the heart of a star, or empty space? (IOW, why is the warp drive a convenient doorway-- UNLESS it __IS__ some type of doorway...)
And what do you want the player to encounter? What''s the opposition, and what does the player do to solve it?
What can they do in the game? What gameplay options do they have? This can inform the story and help flesh it out. (i.e., being able to research objects implies a scientist / archaeologist, with those types of encounters)
Basically, need more info!
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Just waiting for the mothership...
If you want to reinforce the idea of the warp screwing up time then you could have the player arrive at a few historical periods. Yes, I realize this is even more cliche, but we''re not starting with original material here.
The warp drive might open up at another warp drive (conveniently located near an advanced civilisation). That would explain why you are near somewhere as opposed to nowhere. The advanced civilisation might be (a) friendly, (b) hostile, or (c) gone. Perhaps these warp drives only work in pairs. You have to go in one and come out another. But your human scientists didn''t know this. Maybe the civilisation had the first one, and they couldn''t work it because there was no other portal. And now they see someone come through, and they want to know who you are. Or they are afraid of you. Perhaps they will try to attack Earth through the new portal. Or perhaps you destroyed the portal on the way through.
Think outside the dodecahedron
Think outside the dodecahedron
Interesting idea.
Maybe on your way back you have to screw up the warp engine because what''s lying on the other side is pretty dangerous.
(Could be a civilisation, or a supernovae...)
I think that you mustn''t spoil the gamer, give the player a sensation of victory, even if it''s not a happy ending, it should be a kind of victory.
And maybe you would like to have some freedom for a next game...
-* So many things to do, so little time to spend. *-
Maybe on your way back you have to screw up the warp engine because what''s lying on the other side is pretty dangerous.
(Could be a civilisation, or a supernovae...)
I think that you mustn''t spoil the gamer, give the player a sensation of victory, even if it''s not a happy ending, it should be a kind of victory.
And maybe you would like to have some freedom for a next game...
-* So many things to do, so little time to spend. *-
Yeah....
The player comes through the warp-portal to another world (because they too have a portal or what ever, as described above) and discovers that the people inhabiting this other world is rather hostile and they set out to destroy earth (for some reason...) and therefore the player when she returns to earth must destroy the human''s warpdrive before it is built to prevent the hostile creatures from coming through it from the other side...
(basically what people have been saying above, but the player doesn''t *accidentally* destroy the warp-drive ehen she returns, but rather, she *intentionally* destroys it)
The player comes through the warp-portal to another world (because they too have a portal or what ever, as described above) and discovers that the people inhabiting this other world is rather hostile and they set out to destroy earth (for some reason...) and therefore the player when she returns to earth must destroy the human''s warpdrive before it is built to prevent the hostile creatures from coming through it from the other side...
(basically what people have been saying above, but the player doesn''t *accidentally* destroy the warp-drive ehen she returns, but rather, she *intentionally* destroys it)
Author
Thanks for the ideas everyone, but you all kind of confirmed what I expected. This plot has been through too many incarnations and gotten too messed up. I could describe the different locations in the game, but it wouldn''t really be worth it. I''ll just shelve this game for a while, maybe I''ll come up with something later to fix it, but I''ve got enough other things ot work on anyway. I was trying to get away from the idea of the player having to rescue the world type plots, and we actually did try to work with some of the ideas you mentioned before. Basically, as it stands, its not opening up a portal to another world, it simply condensed the timeline mixing different times and locations with each other, creating a new dimension. Of course, this is a little unbelievable, but it wasn''t necesarily going to be a serious game. We had the player trampsing around the world finding the broken pieces of the ship and repairing it to undo the damage, while trying to fight off the head of an evil corporation that wanted the parts for itself. In another version, we had space-time continually shrinking and having the player suddenly jolted into different dimensions. It all stemmed from our original idea of starting the player off in jail as a convicted murderer and having you trapse around in different dimensions trying to remember "what happened(R)" Oh well, there are a plethoria of other stories I can pull off of the shelf in my brain, for now.
Saluk, are you still here? If so, have you thought any more about it? If not, you should think about deleting this thread, because it probably no longer serves a purpose.
I realize this thread is 2 years old, but in the slight chance that you're still around (I just like the potential for the concept) - what type of game is it? That could make the difference in what happens in between.
I'm suggesting you ignore the save-the-world scenario and let the player (assuming an RPG) find himself stuck in a time frame with no way to identify himself or prove who he is or how he arrived there. He's not trying to save the world, he's not trying to "fix" time (since nothing really has happened) - he's just trying to get back to his temporal home.
Of course, no one trusts him and he's forced to go through whatever trials that would face anyone in his situation. He could find himself smack dab in the middle of a political upheaval and is being used by various factions as a pawn in their power struggle. He's not saving the world, just himself.
He could get injured, end up with his hair discolored or cut differently, his face scarred, whatever plot devices you need to make him look physically different - then have him "escape" the madhouse world he landed in and reappear back in his own temporal reality, thinking himself finally safe.
Only...now he's discovered by "himself" who probably shoots first and asks questions later. He's in the exact same position he was when he warped, only now he has to explain a) what happened to the guard (his younger self) who vanished, and prove that he is who he says he is.
Which, in turn, could lead to him being used as a pawn by various political factions in his own government out to stop/push forward the warp project...ahh, irony!
[edited by - EricTrickster on November 20, 2003 2:37:49 PM]
I'm suggesting you ignore the save-the-world scenario and let the player (assuming an RPG) find himself stuck in a time frame with no way to identify himself or prove who he is or how he arrived there. He's not trying to save the world, he's not trying to "fix" time (since nothing really has happened) - he's just trying to get back to his temporal home.
Of course, no one trusts him and he's forced to go through whatever trials that would face anyone in his situation. He could find himself smack dab in the middle of a political upheaval and is being used by various factions as a pawn in their power struggle. He's not saving the world, just himself.
He could get injured, end up with his hair discolored or cut differently, his face scarred, whatever plot devices you need to make him look physically different - then have him "escape" the madhouse world he landed in and reappear back in his own temporal reality, thinking himself finally safe.
Only...now he's discovered by "himself" who probably shoots first and asks questions later. He's in the exact same position he was when he warped, only now he has to explain a) what happened to the guard (his younger self) who vanished, and prove that he is who he says he is.
Which, in turn, could lead to him being used as a pawn by various political factions in his own government out to stop/push forward the warp project...ahh, irony!
[edited by - EricTrickster on November 20, 2003 2:37:49 PM]
OR the player can land in a parallel universe where the exact same has just happened. Somehow everything is the same yet different.
This topic is closed to new replies.
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