Putting these theories into my own work, i created a linear game narrative, we developed further on our idea from the story creation lecture (see post here: ) A story of Man vs. Man, depicted within a platform, pixel style game: which illustrates the romantic tale of one women’s fight to capture the fleeting heart of the love of her life before he reaches a desolate war zone.
Seven Basic Needs:
- Protagonist: Amy
- Character Flaws: Amy is a seemingly normal woman petite, and in this case her feeble frame becomes a flaw as she’s battling her way through gangland war zones, dangerous environments and minefields
- Enabling Circumstances: Amy is has fallen in love with the apartment complex heart throb and spends her mornings ‘accidentally’ knocking into him and sparking awkward conversation.
- Antagonist: She faces an array of antagonists throughout various parts of the game, however preliminary the main antagonist is the leader of the armed forces.
- Heroes Ally/Mentor: Amy’s mentor is her neighbor, Jean
- Life Changing Event: Amy’s lover is whisked off to a desolate war zone as a supporting member within the armed forces.
- Jeopardy : Obsessed with the idea of finding the love of her life, Amy is putting her life on the line to reach him.
Synopsis:
The morning after a heavy night out with her colleagues, Amy: a recreational drug user, stumbles into Brad: the apartment complex heart throb, on the street outside the block reception. Her eyes captured by the glistening highlight of Brads flawless skin, immediately captivated by this mysterious character Amy knows this gentlemen is the one for her. However Amy’s conquest is a soldier in the great war and is drafted into battle. It becomes Amy’s job, with the wisdom from her neighbor Jean to defeat the enemies and overcome obstacles blocking her path, in order reach her lover before he heads back to war. However when she reaches the base, the story takes a frightful turn.
Pitch:
This is a platform style, linear game with a strong narrative illustrated through animated, cinematic sequences at the beginning and end. To start, the game will be set in down town San Diego, with cinematic sequences illustrating the build up to Brad being taken, this will then be followed by a series of playable levels, in which the player takes the role of Amy. Within the first few levels, the input of Jean (Amy’s elderly neighbor) will be used to teach players the various controls and techniques of the game.
Upon learning these skills, the player will leave the apartment complex and embark on the journey to find Brad: encountering a variety of enemies ranging from gang members to members of the armed forces, whilst the level design will progressively become more war torn and apocalyptic, players must survive each level in order to progress. Having reached the base, there will be an influx of enemies and thus the player will engage in the final boss style battle in which they must save Brad.
This level brings a climax to the game which is followed by a cinematic sequence showing the drugs and hallucinogens wearing off, Amy laying next to what was formally Brad but is in fact a trash can and a garbage collector relaying the tale of Amy’s love for the trash can.
Characters:
Players will meet four main characters, these will be Amy, Brad, Jean and Jim, whilst also interacting with minor enemies and bosses throughout the levels these characters will be presented as gang members and various forms of soldiers and the final boss level of General Serguisz.
Amy: Amy is a small, feeble, ginger girl with an addiction to hallucinogenic
Brad: Brad is a stereo typically tall, dark haired handsome young, gentlemen: with his muscles draped in army camouflage.
Jean: A stereotypical grandma, short with grey curly hair and looks extremely feeble. However has great knowledge in regards to weaponry and fighting techniques
General Serguisz: An average sized man, with an intense, aggressive personality and power issues.
Jim: Towering, relatively intimidating, middle aged ginger trash collector, with a thick New York accent
This then offered an opportunity to change a relatively simplistic linear story to a create parallel based narrative options in which the player has more choice in regards to the various companions and actions taken, despite still enabling a strong narrative and the same ending.
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