Ideas for story, Post, discuss, debate on plot lines Options

[kayden997]

Title says it all. If you have an idea on a story or a plot that could be used for the R3 Community game, post it here.
As a community, we'll come up with a plot that most/all people will agree with. If you don't agree with the plot, simply explain why or create a new one. And remember, don't take the type of engine into factor. Let's start from here before we can work out mechanics and game play.

I'll post the the suggestions up here when we come up with some.

[Resource Dragon]

I, teh evil Resource Dragon is taking over the world!!!!

And Albino Parakeet is the troll under the bridge we cross.( i.e. The troll under the bridge is a white parakeet who won't let you across)

[Ratty524]

I don't know, we don't necessarily need to involve ourselves with this project.

I say we should start with a general idea. Before delving into story, what do we want our game to be about? An armored mouse, for instance?

[bulmabriefs144]

They said something about fighting BOREDOM, but I dunno if that was a joke.

This post has been edited by bulmabriefs144: Mar 23 2012, 01:08 PM

[Sparrowsmith]

Coming up with a plot off the bat is pretty tricky business. For instance, I have several ideas for horror based games, but I know they'd only work on a few engines, and they're not exactly full plots, more like ways to use events to create atmosphere.

Don't get me wrong, I think an RRR community game could be awesome, it just depends on how serious everyone is. If it's about RRR (games like this have been thought up before) then plot isn't too big an issue. If it's a serious game, like, monumental in hours and effort going in, then the plot will most certainly take time to develop.

In fact, I would suggest doing exactly what I think most RM games should do: installments.
Not one big game that will lose speed almost immediately, but lots of smaller games which work on their own, but gradually build up to make a fully blown and intricate story. This way we can have lots of different plots, and then one over arching plot.

But if we are just spitballing plot ideas, I personally like things that are meta. If its a game about a person(s) trapped in a game, actively hating on the player, yeah, I'd get a kick out of that. I can think of a way the character could crash the game (put in a buggy script, some variable, and a save) but it works again if you reboot the game (it autosaves so its fine) that would be pretty new as a concept.
Honestly though, should probably spit ball some setting/genre ideas first before getting into the story or plot or anything...

[bulmabriefs144]

That reminds me, have you guys played The Winter Sage? That game goes on forever...

It's epic! Or something.

(Actually it goes on forever for a different reason)

This post has been edited by bulmabriefs144: Mar 23 2012, 07:45 PM

[DespairReigns]

Going off of what Sparrow said... I guess I have a suggestion.

I'm not sure if I'm just completely rephrasing him or not, but I think it would be cool to play through as a bunch of different characters in different chapters, have them meet up mid-game or so, and then go about the rest of it. An actual story for this I can't really think of, but it shouldn't take too much time to figure out.
(If each character was to have a separate story, it leaves room for many writers, perfect for a project like this.)

All you would need to do then is:
1. Get major characterization down for those key characters.
2. Find them all common ground, like a common goal.

And then you could probably work backwards from there to figure out their pre-history (before they meet up in game)

Does that make any sense?

EDIT: There's probably a topic for this, but I'd like to help out with a game like this. Mapping skills and I can probably contribute artistically.

ANOTHER EDIT: I also don't think that the game should be purely serious. I saw in the poll that there was a choice between adventure and humor, why not have a really upbeat and humorous adventure? I'd like to play another one of those...
(Example: Tales of a Drunken Paladin, it was hilarious but it was adventurous and fun)

This post has been edited by DespairReigns: Mar 23 2012, 07:29 PM

[bulmabriefs144]

(I've decided to do support in ideas rather than coding, XP script is a pain in the bum.)

What sorta humor? There's just light silliness. Then there's dark humor (example, the play version of Little Shop of Horrors had Audrey actually ask Seymore to feed he to the plant because then she'd be "somewhere that's green"). Then there's abstract humor, which requires people think in a really weird way to get the thing (some japanese works are like this). And then there's surreal humor, which pretty much means that something really weird might also be funny (or maybe not). There's even a type of humor where you string together quirky cultural references.

I think we could try a multi-layer reality story. Something like this:

Layer 1: Some such fantasy story involving certain characters. It should be pretty engaging until about a quarter of the game through, revealing nothing about its true nature (much like Star Ocean: Till The End of Time)

Layer 2: The story hints in bits and pieces (perhaps really weird dream sequences), before actually revealing that this is in fact an rpg that these same characters are player and have an offline life. Maybe something like Hack Sign.

Layer 3: Yes in fact, this is a game, but the so-called players from layer 2 are actually just sprites, made by programmers, and this too is a game.

Layer 4: It's actually an unwritten game, and the focus shifts to the people behind the screen. The real programmers need your help, because they have writer's block. Won't you please help them?

Layer 5: The game ends with a very strong impression that reality itself might have programmers (and they too have writer's block).

The enemies for layer one would be purely traditional fantasy enemies, layer 2 would have competing players fighting (or other "real life" concerns), layer 3 would have computer coding enemies (viruses, glitches, bugs), layer four would have enemies associated with void or nothingness and generally be associated with being blocked, and the final layer would being the ending have no enemies, to focus more on pure drama/comedy.

(Also it might be interesting if, like Despair said, people from the first chapter make cameos as real people in the later chapters)

This post has been edited by bulmabriefs144: Mar 23 2012, 09:39 PM

[shinyjiggly]

I love that idea. Especially with having all those meta layers.

[bulmabriefs144]

(The best part is, we can actually include in the latter stages, actual team/programmer's names, and that be like "oh no, I just made these people up, the real programmers are..." and include the rest)

[Sparrowsmith]

ANOTHER EDIT: I also don't think that the game should be purely serious. I saw in the poll that there was a choice between adventure and humor, why not have a really upbeat and humorous adventure? I'd like to play another one of those...
(Example: Tales of a Drunken Paladin, it was hilarious but it was adventurous and fun)

Anyone else thinking Cerebus Syndrome?
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CerebusSyndrome

Basically means it starts out pretty light hearted, lots of humor, then over time develops into something more serious.
I'll come back to this in a moment.

(I've decided to do support in ideas rather than coding, XP script is a pain in the bum.)

What sorta humor? There's just light silliness. Then there's dark humor (example, the play version of Little Shop of Horrors had Audrey actually ask Seymore to feed he to the plant because then she'd be "somewhere that's green"). Then there's abstract humor, which requires people think in a really weird way to get the thing (some japanese works are like this). And then there's surreal humor, which pretty much means that something really weird might also be funny (or maybe not). There's even a type of humor where you string together quirky cultural references.

I think we could try a multi-layer reality story. Something like this:

Layer 1: Some such fantasy story involving certain characters. It should be pretty engaging until about a quarter of the game through, revealing nothing about its true nature (much like Star Ocean: Till The End of Time)

Layer 2: The story hints in bits and pieces (perhaps really weird dream sequences), before actually revealing that this is in fact an rpg that these same characters are player and have an offline life. Maybe something like Hack Sign.

Layer 3: Yes in fact, this is a game, but the so-called players from layer 2 are actually just sprites, made by programmers, and this too is a game.

Layer 4: It's actually an unwritten game, and the focus shifts to the people behind the screen. The real programmers need your help, because they have writer's block. Won't you please help them?

Layer 5: The game ends with a very strong impression that reality itself might have programmers (and they too have writer's block).

The enemies for layer one would be purely traditional fantasy enemies, layer 2 would have competing players fighting (or other "real life" concerns), layer 3 would have computer coding enemies (viruses, glitches, bugs), layer four would have enemies associated with void or nothingness and generally be associated with being blocked, and the final layer would being the ending have no enemies, to focus more on pure drama/comedy.

(Also it might be interesting if, like Despair said, people from the first chapter make cameos as real people in the later chapters)

I think there's something here, definitely. Especially that last bit about recursive characters.
If we follow the same people throughout, then encountering someone they beat in the first game in real life (or as real as life gets) could probably lead to some pretty existentialism humor.
Sort of like if one of the programmers of the game is identical to the scumbag boss you fight in the first installment (if we're going with installments) and he explains that the programmers usually put each other into the game as a kind of spiteful joke.
Hell it could even turn out that the main character(s) are based on the lost family member of higher-up. The game was designed to have AI so intelligent that it's like keeping a copy of them alive in some way. Of course, the game is too intelligent, and starts trying to escape into the real world (maybe it even succeeds)?

Just spitballing ideas here.
I just thought it would be funny if one of the main characters had this huge amount of unexplained love for his [mother/father/brother?] even though the other characters never meet that person, then eventually it turns out that love is pretty much programmed into him for the sake of that person in real life (if such a thing exists) and it becomes incredibly dramatic and depressing in a way.

On a humor side of things, when the creators of the game talk to the characters within it, they'll actually have to type out what they're saying.
Which means we get typos like tihs
*this
just a thought.

Also, their could be some meta-jokes along the way.
When two characters are playing the first layer game, they might talk to each other, maybe say something like
"man, where do we even keep all our stuff?"
"Bottomless pockets man, don't question it."
but they're not talking about the game, they mean in the second layer. In the second layer they still have an inventory, they just don't realise it's a game construct, so he's actually asking a genuine question about real life.
So the joke is:
1 - RPG characters are aware they can carry ludicrous amounts of things.
2 - Turns out they were just talking about the game. We roll our eyes and say ohhhh
3 - It actually IS game characters being aware they can carry ludicrous amounts of things.

I'm sure some dialogue could make those three concepts funny on some level.
Maybe even control one of the programmers of the game at one point. You try to pick something up, but you can't.
"This isn't a game! Where would I put that?!"
again, just spitballing some ideas.

Maybe one of the characters talks about a nightmare at some point, how he kept trying to escape from an enemy but he ended up just running on the spot, unable to escape.
The humor could come (in part) from the absurdity that already exists within games.
E.G conversation between a character and programer
C: "Wait, you're hurt?"
P: "Don't worry about it, just keep going."
C: "Why don't you use a potion? It's what I'd do."
P: "Listen, the real world isn't like a freaking game, ok? We don't just pop a potion and feel better!"
C: "Oh, then what do you do?"
P: "We look for a first aid kit and patch ourselves up."
C: "You mean like in shitty first-person shooters?"
P: "... Yes, exactly like that."
C: "Well why not grab a first aid kit?"
P: "I couldn't find one."
C: "Wow. You guys are awful at this whole life thing."
P: "What?"
C: "I didn't even know I was in a game until this morning, and I still always left the house with at least six potions. Why don't you just carry around first aid kits with you?"
P: "We don't have anywhere to put them!"
C: "Pockets!"
P: "Our pockets aren't bottomless, you moron!"
C: "Man, the real world sounds awful. I can see why you'd much rather make games. Things are pretty awesome on this end."
P: "Just shut up and save the world."
C: "Whatever."

I'm sure that dialogue could be made like, three or four times as humorous with actual effort and characters that I wasn't making up on the spot. Like I said, spitballing here.

Also, could one of the programmers get knocked unconscious and see a giant floating "Continue?" sign? They click yes and wake up, and can't decide if they were hallucinating, or whether they really have been in a game the whole time as well.


I think an advantage if we break up the game into small parts, and then apply the layers, then we can make each part set the scene. Like, in the first layer, we'd have typical fantasy controls. Hell, it could just be the RTP to make it look extra shitty. Then the game pulls back behind the computers, and (since it's a new project file) it has an entirely different battle and menu system. Fighting could take place on the map, but you still just select options. IE, you run around, and when an enemy touches you, you stop being able to walk, and get prompted with menus like "attack" but you're still on the same map. Graphics would also get a boost.
Then when you get to the programmers, there's basically no menus or anything at all. Damage could be represented via red tint to the screen (CoD style) and attacking would be done in real time on the map (pressing z attacks) and you wouldn't have an inventory at all. You'd just be able to hold [5] things, and they'd correspond to five letters or numbers on the keyboard.
Any layers above that should have no audience input at all. Basically like watching a cut scene, maybe. Keep these to a minimum I think.


I was also thinking that there could be a rogue program within the game (the 2/3rd layer one) which limits how much the programmers can help the characters. Like, if they give the characters a potion by coding one in, then the rogue program will learn how to create potions. This is why the programmers never 'level up' the characters, because then the rogue program would become unbeatable.
The rogue program would be a substitute 'big bad'. Like an antagonist while in the 2nd/3rd layer.

Anyway, that's like a dollars worth of thoughts in there. I'm going to go do something else now.

[Turkwise]

I post my concerns not to be negative or unnecessarily critical, but because I want the project to succeed and turn out good.

My concern with the meta-game (Gameception!!) is that it seems...maybe not right for a community project. It is cool, I can't deny that. But it's just so out-there most people won't know what to do with it. It seems like a project for a somebody with a strong vision to lead and direct, but as a community project most people may be left out on such a vision. It would also be very trick to pull off convincingly, and this is one project where "too many cooks around the pot" is going to be pretty much standard. I do like the idea, I just worry about how it would change, and, well, basically be butchered, throughout the course of a project like this, where many people want to contribute, and should be able to contribute.

It's easy to be ambitious, but a simpler, more straightforward (not too straightforward) plot with potential for many sub-plots and a wealth of history and characters may be the way to go for this project. A strong, bold vision is likely to become watered down, I'm afraid, and changed and altered until the original purpose is lost and so is anyone trying to play it.


I certainly don't want to come across as a negative obstructionist. I just want to voice my concerns and see what others think. I believe constructive criticism is very important to any successful endeavor and welcome it with open arms whenever it's directed at me. As such, I'm willing to give it whenever I feel compelled to. I understand some people don't take any sort of criticism very well and that's why I'm coming off as almost defensive here. Don't want to upset anybody. /end

[shinyjiggly]

Maybe it could be about some gamer kid that thinks that he's in a video game but actually isn't? Like, he could have to go to school and he hallucinates these gaming abstractions and everyone else thinks that he's crazy or something. The menus in-game could even be misleading about the current situation and you would have to rely on other cues to figure out what is really going on.
And as an added twist, these illusions might become important towards something a little later on? For example, said kid has to study for a math test but decides instead to infiltrate the teacher's lounge to get the answers and happens to hear the teachers plotting something horrible or something. I would envision it to often poke fun at the kid by clearly making him out to be delusional while at the same time making it feel like you're doing something so awesome by completing all those chores-related sidequests.
Just a random thought that I had. It seems a little bit simpler than the gameception thing while still contemplating the links between the gaming world and the physical world.

[Albino Parakeet]

Wasn't that what Paranoid Agent was?
Probably thinking of something else, never mind.

This post has been edited by Albino Parakeet: Mar 24 2012, 02:13 PM

[X-M-O]

It's easy to be ambitious, but a simpler, more straightforward (not too straightforward) plot with potential for many sub-plots and a wealth of history and characters may be the way to go for this project. A strong, bold vision is likely to become watered down, I'm afraid, and changed and altered until the original purpose is lost and so is anyone trying to play it.


I certainly don't want to come across as a negative obstructionist.

I agree with what you're saying here, because I feel that simpler is better when dealing with a community project.
It can still be detailed/fun/interesting, but with a simple (easy-to-follow and easy-to-design) story you can bring individual details into the story as you go along (versus trying to have a very overly-thought-out story that few people can remember to follow properly). =]

Just my take on it, but I really do like a lot of the ideas expressed so far.
Keep it simple and light-hearted; that's just what I'm thinking.

Maybe it could be about some gamer kid that thinks that he's in a video game but actually isn't? Like, he could have to go to school and he hallucinates these gaming abstractions and everyone else thinks that he's crazy or something. The menus in-game could even be misleading about the current situation and you would have to rely on other cues to figure out what is really going on.
And as an added twist, these illusions might become important towards something a little later on? For example, said kid has to study for a math test but decides instead to infiltrate the teacher's lounge to get the answers and happens to hear the teachers plotting something horrible or something. I would envision it to often poke fun at the kid by clearly making him out to be delusional while at the same time making it feel like you're doing something so awesome by completing all those chores-related sidequests.
Just a random thought that I had. It seems a little bit simpler than the gameception thing while still contemplating the links between the gaming world and the physical world.

Yeah, this is a step in the right direction, in my opinion. ^^

[vvalkingman]

I completely agree with X-M-O on shinyjiggly. Sounds alot better then my boredom idea lol and yea it was a serious game idea that I had when I first started wanting to make games. I'll just lock it back away in the "i'll get around to making this eventually" folder lmao I'd totally be on board for a meta-game about a kid who thinks he's in a video game. Gym class dodgeball = RTS or something lmao If you think about it, it could kind of be a game of mini games thrown together...that make sense? Like take a normal situation and try to make a game out it, or "man it would be funny if the character thought a math test was actually stealth game to get the answers from other students without the teacher or the student's noticing!" Have him yell things like "HIGH SCORE HIGH SCORE!!" in a quiet room, idk just spitballing so that's one idea.

In regards to what DespairReigns is talking about, THAT kind of sounds like WIld Arms. Great series. Suikoden 3 kind of did something similar too. Something like that adds to the community's ability to sort of split the massive amount of work it's going to take into smaller more manageable sections...then throw it all together at the end. As for what they are all doing, or what grand goal they are working towards.... hmmmm maybe we can take shinyjiggly's idea and throw in what despair is talkin about. Ex.

[Show/Hide] Example

*WARNING: The following is a random tangent that I am going off on, not a representation of actual gameplay......lol.

You have three kids that LOVE video games. It's spring break and instead of going out n' doing stuff they all stay in and marathon video games for the entire week since they don't get to play while in school. Now it's time to go back to school...but all that marathoning without sleep + massive amounts of red bull & pizza kind of messed with their heads. Now they think they are IN their favorite video games!

One likes RPGs and MMORPGs
-"Where is your homework, Danny?" "If I turn it in to you, do I get rep?"
-"Hey can you help me move this table?" "Sure." *moves it* "Thanks!" "That's it? No reward?" "Huh?" "LAME! This game SUCKS! Totally uninstalling."
-"Ok class, now in order to cook a good cake.....Danny, what are you doing with all that flour and spices?" "I've gotta get my cooking up before I can make a cake. Duh!"

One likes Shooting and Action games
-Dodgeball in gym class, "Alright! Time to pwn some newbs!" *gets hit* "Wtf! HAXXOR!!" *gets hit again* "UGH! I JUST respawned! Frickin' CAMPER!" <---Have an actual "kill" score and when they get a few "running riot!" lmao
-Study hall in the library *spit ball flies by* "its..on!" gets all intense, ending when the player knocks out one of the students with the back of her book. (and yes, i think THIS character should be a female bc it seems like it would be funnier that way imo)
-Sees some kid getting picked on turns into a beatemup complete with german suplex

One likes Puzzle, stealth, and survival games
*honestly....it's late and I can't really think of any atm lol I'll edit it later... <3 vvalkingman

Ends with them all in detention with a supervisor watching over them. He's the final boss. I'm thinking either 1. They each have a job that they have to do in order to defeat him, idk...RPG holds aggro, Stealthy finds something sharp and puts it on his chair stealthily and Shooter shoots him with enough spit balls to push him backwards onto said sharp object which sends him running out of the room in pain. GAME OVER HIGH SCORE HIGH SCORE! Then they leave together to go home and play more video games. or 2. Throw them all together into a party for a traditional menu based rpg battle against the supervisor a la http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_336V0OLdM .

Looking at it it sounds like alot to work on...but I see it as little mini games that throw out ridiculous humor. Something that can be split amongst those working on the game in a manageable kind of way, then at the end of the day we have editors tie them all together.

With all the being said, I'm also still fond of their simply being one kid that sees EVERYTHING as a game. That way you still have a ton of mini games thrown in there but only one customizeable character to work with. What do you guys n gals think?

[Show/Hide] Re: Turkwise

My concern with the meta-game (Gameception!!) is that it seems...maybe not right for a community project. It is cool, I can't deny that. But it's just so out-there most people won't know what to do with it. It seems like a project for a somebody with a strong vision to lead and direct, but as a community project most people may be left out on such a vision. It would also be very trick to pull off convincingly, and this is one project where "too many cooks around the pot" is going to be pretty much standard. I do like the idea, I just worry about how it would change, and, well, basically be butchered, throughout the course of a project like this, where many people want to contribute, and should be able to contribute.

It's easy to be ambitious, but a simpler, more straightforward (not too straightforward) plot with potential for many sub-plots and a wealth of history and characters may be the way to go for this project. A strong, bold vision is likely to become watered down, I'm afraid, and changed and altered until the original purpose is lost and so is anyone trying to play it.

I see what you're saying but basically ANY story we write up is going to be butchered. Too many cooks around the pot is kind of implied when doing a community project lol so it all comes down to, what do we want to do? A traditional game with a solid storyline or something creative/different that might be risky. Imo, taking a risk is what game making is all about. You put your heart, soul, blood, sweat, and tears into an idea and throw it out for the world to critique crossing your fingers hoping that they don't laugh or boo you. I say we go with something different. It's a community project, it will be done well, and once we nail down what it is we are doing then it'll all be good.

P.S. Sorry for being gone for a bit, life tends to get in the way of the fun stuff lol

This post has been edited by vvalkingman: Mar 25 2012, 11:19 PM

[Kaust]

Going for the boredom theme (I saw the other topic, perhaps the two can combine, like this is the story taking place in the game characters world and the developers parts can be more 'detective' or something)

Just something storyrelated I posted elsewhere and wanted to make sure it was saw.
I suggested the developers activity being 'sleuth' because they would be trapped by reality so to speak (they wouldn't be able to accomplish the superhuman feats we're just so accustomed to seeing in games). I also thought their world could do with a good deal of grey to show whatever was causing it ingame had affected the real world (or vice versa). It would also provide a nice noir effect to a detective part.

Edit: Basically you need to remember if you're putting worlds within worlds they each need their own original story for them to become entangled. This entanglement becomes the point of divergence, otherwise its like this whole crossing reality affair is totally normal. I was also recommending a different play style to break any monotony.

[Sparrowsmith]

I never thought the layers were that complicated. If we go with multiple projects that all add up to one game, then certainly not so. Hell, if it wouldn't be pretentious as hell I reckon I could whack out a story synopsis under two paragraphs.

I just got the impression if we're going to make a community game then:
1 - It should try to do something new.
2 - It should have something to do with games.

[bulmabriefs144]

I certainly don't want to come across as a negative obstructionist. I just want to voice my concerns and see what others think. I believe constructive criticism is very important to any successful endeavor and welcome it with open arms whenever it's directed at me. As such, I'm willing to give it whenever I feel compelled to. I understand some people don't take any sort of criticism very well and that's why I'm coming off as almost defensive here. Don't want to upset anybody.

Ummmm, too late. Okay, here's the thing guys. Remember when I asked if we could do 2k3 (or VX Ace) instead of XP? The point here is that at some point you have to go with it, and see if an idea works of not. XP (with whatever custom sprites we want), ultimately works, so long as I'm not doing it.

What doesn't work is not deciding, or drifting back to safe options.

First off, this is a community project, which means a few things, we can stand to be ambitious. This means that anything cliche is more or less out (so no "save the princess" type games). Second, it means that we are actually representing the community. Games about boredom, in general, unless done masterfully, have a strong tendency to make the audience feel boredom. Not so hot. Ditto for whiny emo games. Third, there no rule that says a game can't be weird or meta (Star Ocean 3? Actually very much the concept I just brought up earlier. Kingdom Hearts? Oh no, people swinging around key-shaped weapons and shooting beams of light or darkness at vaguely bunny shaped shadows isn't weird at all). And finally, we can and should brainstorm all day, but the boredom thing was just a first idea. We shouldn't drift back to it, unless we can flush it out all the way. If we can't, then we should definitely move on, until we do in fact have an idea that we can agree on.

The overall theme of any game we should be about teamwork, since this game is about the pride of our community. Other than that, I'll just toss out all the examples possible. But we should not just be like "we already have the one about boredom let's just go with it." Just going with anything won't be enough to get a project off the ground. We need to be deliberate, whatever we decide.

From here, I'll toss out random ideas. I'm not gonna mind regardless, but keep in mind this is about the community. We need to come to some sort of agreement.

1) Amerk's idea:

I'm making my own sort of community game, with a theme of noobs trying to take over RRR. The base of operations happens to be at AMerk's Treehouse. The world sets on one small island called Shitty Island, and they travel along meeting several staff members. While one comm project would be great, if it's easier to do, we could have a few smaller one man projects as well.

(no problems here, though it a bit specific on the naming)

2) vvalkingman's idea:

How about a battle against boredom? That's the point of actually PLAYING a game. We could have a customizable character instead of a developed one, but have some evil organization called BOREDOM that is trying to suck all the fun out of life. It's up to you, who seems to be immune to boredom's powers, to defeat boredom's evil plot. Fun can be a currency that you use to bring other characters to life(this is where cameos/staff/member characters can come in) and to upgrade them. Similar to paladin's quest or disgaea, where you just have a massive amount of characters you can choose from and have join you while only really having the main character and maybe one more "main" to keep the story interesting and allow it to flow. Just an idea. What do ya'll think?

(Keep in mind, no safe options. If we do this, it has to be done because all of us want it, and because all of us have a clear idea of how to implement the ideas. This goes for all stuff, but since we keep drifting back to this, it'd better be good enough for us to keep it)

3) My idea (inspired heavily by Sparrowsmith's talk about things that are "meta"), the whole multi-layer universe thing.

(You'd have to do this well, if you're gonna do it. Just because it's largely my idea, doesn't mean I'll let it in easy)

3b) Jiggly's variant (more to do with a person's conception of reality than the multiple layers)

(This is okay, but again, do it well. Flush out the concept)

4) A tribute game for Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy, or any of the classic SNES games.

(Same as #3. There's plenty of final fantasy ripoffs, but I've only seen a few that really impressed me like the real games did)

5) Based on a book series (Wheel of Time or the Sabriel/Lirael/Abhorsen series would be interesting choices). This would work with the installments thing. The problem being we might have to get the okay on this from the author, and explain that we aren't in fact making money. I don't think Robert Jordan will mind anymore though.

6) Something based on stuff that happens in RRR itself, but woven into the concept of a fantasy story. Likely to be somewhat strange.

7) An idea based on our combined efforts to come up with something. Maybe like a ghost story, where everyone adds a sentence or paragraph, and this makes the whole. (Like someone starts "Once there was a goat..." and Kaust says "that ate humans..." for instance)

If the next two people just pick #2 (or #3), I'm gonna scream. Think carefully about what we wanna do and decide on it. Tell why you chose that, and let's try to settle on something.

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I just got the impression if we're going to make a community game then:
1 - It should try to do something new.
2 - It should have something to do with games.

Let's do 7. We're pretty much guaranteed both to have fun doing it, and more inclined to agree with the result since we all had a part in it. Also, it very much is a new way of doing this. Though we should make it relatively obvious that this is a composite story, if it flows smoothly making perfect sense, the effect is lost.

This post has been edited by bulmabriefs144: Mar 26 2012, 03:31 PM

[Kaust]

An incredibly contradictory post. Essentially "Let's not rush into anything, but lets hurry the fck up with an idea".
I explained why I returned to the boredom idea, it was more explaining about the need for two stories in a 'meta' game instead of one.
Combining the two most popular ideas is another method of compromise. Not everything needs a vote where one half become disillusioned because it seems like their ideas are never popular enough. A community is not a democracy.