Game Storyline Concept
Purpose of the Story
The purpose of my story is to create a gripping, interesting piece of writing that will interest the players of the game to not only enjoy the gameplay, but also follow the storyline and be determined to find out what happens in the end.
My story will be created around an adventure game as my client ‘Xtreme Gaming’ has briefed me that this is the genre of the current game they are developing. I have also been informed that the demographic for my game will be males and females of ages 14 to 17.
As these are the two criteria that have to be met, I will ensure that my story is exciting and thrilling to suit the game genre, having many different characters and twists to keep things interesting for the player. Adventure games often have many side-quests or exploration elements in the gameplay, this means that I should try and create as much extra content and interesting environments that reward exploration.
I also need to ensure that as the game is targeted for teenagers, I should make sure that my story does not break any of the PEGI/ESRB rules about the content of the story, such as having sexual themes or excessive amounts of graphic violence, otherwise the game will not be suitable for the specified audience.
Emotional Theme
My story will have a range of emotional themes, primarily violence however, as the story is quite dark, there will be a lot of battles between humans and the undead and various monsters in the game world, this is because the overall story is that the antagonist is trying to make the world bow down to him, and he is raising an army of evil to do this for him.
Between the violence however I aim to have some comedy between the protagonists to break up the violence, as having just one theme through the story will get very repetitive and boring for the player, and having humour in the game makes the characters more relatable to the gamer.
There will be a lot of heroism and hope, as the two main characters are on a quest against the odds to slay the villain and avenge the death of someone close to them. But the characters struggle to keep their hopes up often, as they lose many more friends close to themselves, which taxes them heavily, but they keep pressing on, motivating each other and being brave in the face of danger.
Environment and Setting
My story is set in a medieval type world with fantasy elements, such as magic, monsters and the undead. The environments will vary heavily, ranging from luscious forests to steep mountain ranges with snowy peaks, even desolate, barren wastelands full of the bones of giant dragons.
The initial setting will be in the forest area, where the characters are originally living along with a few hundred others in a small village. However after events transpire where they are attacked, the two main characters will leave this village and travel across the forest until they reach the border of a swamp location, at this swamp they will find lots of murky pools, insects and be discomforted at the heat and moisture in the air.
After a few events happen in the swamp they will travel north towards the mountain ranges, steadily getting colder and colder, their will starts to falter late into their journey, leading the characters to start questioning themselves. In the mountains they learn a lot about the reasons behind what is going on, and learn their next location, a wasteland, full of skeletons, believed to be void of all life for many years.
The variation of environments I believe will help to keep the game and story interesting, as having a game set in just one location will quickly get dull, and variety will make the game far more exciting, as a range of locations brings up different potential locations within the area, such as crypts, temples and caves.
Plot Devices
The overall theme for my story will be revenge. The story begins with the friend of the two protagonists being killed in an attack on their village, and the rest of the story tells the tale of these two characters and how they seek revenge for not only their friend, but also for the safety of their village and their world.
Conflict is also definitely a big theme, as the two protagonists are quite different, they often argue about the steps that they have to take, leading to multiple choices for how the story can develop or take a different direction, which makes the user feel like they are directly influencing the actions that occur within the game, giving a reason for the player to keep playing.
There will also be suspense at times in the story, as I have plans to make the protagonists come under threat quite regularly, sometime against overwhelming odds, meaning they have to hide and sneak around, avoiding detection otherwise they would face certain death, giving a sense of suspense as we are worried that the characters are not going to make it out alive.
Characters
Jasod
Protagonist
Male, 24, 13 Stone, Acts with purpose and strength, letting those around him know that he is in charge of the situation and inspiring them to keep going.
He is friends with Drae and Kole who have been his companions since childhood, his family however are no longer around as they fell ill many years ago and passed into the afterlife. Economically he is neither poor nor rich, as he works at the lumber yard, making enough money to survive but is unable to afford the luxuries of the world. His race is believed to be human by the player and other characters initially, but he has superhuman strength, which the player does not immediately know, after a while it is revealed he is half Human, half Wolf.
Psychologically he believes in leading a full and peaceful life surrounded by his friends and those he cares about, he does not care for wealth, just happiness. He is extroversive and enjoys the company of his friends. Optimism is a large part of Jasod’s personality as he is a natural leader and is relied upon to raise people’s morale throughout the story.
Jasod is a very capable fighter, wielding mighty two-handed weapons, or a longsword and shield depending on the situation that arises. As he is part wolf, his superhuman strength allows him to lift objects that otherwise would be impossible to move, or leap up gaps or walls several metres above the ground.
Kole
Protagonist
Male, 23 years old, weighs 12 Stone, his actions are much less apparent than Jasod’s, he is a far quieter character and often steps back to let others take charge, but if Kole believes in something then he will speak out about it passionately and argue his point.
He is also friends with Drae and Jasod, as they are the primary trio of protagonists in the game, his family however is still alive but is extremely restrictive of him, and do not approve of his choices in life. His occupation is to work at the magic shop in town, as Kole has an expansive knowledge of the arcane arts and is able to assist many of the townsfolk with their ailments or sell them magical items with mysterious properties. Kole is believed also to be human, however it is uncommon for a human to have as much power over the arcane as he does, which leads him to begin questioning who he actually is.
As the writer I know that Kole is half elf, as his mother was an elf and his father a human, and his current parents are his foster family who adopted him after his real family was forced into the wilderness by their races for being in love with each other, something seen as a crime by both societies.
His beliefs are to seek more power to help defend those around him and destroy the evil that plagues the land, he is often pessimistic though as the odds against him weigh heavily on his mind, which is why Jarod is a good friend to him, as they both inspire each other to keep going throughout the story. He is very introverted with the exception of a few close friends who he cares about above all else. Kole is incredibly smart, as the elf side of him allows for him to be much more perceptive of what is going on around him, as well as granting him the wisdom to often see situations in a different light.
As Kole advances through the story and learns more about himself, he also gains in power, going from a mage who can cast fireballs and use frost magic, to an incredibly powerful sorcerer who is capable of shifting the land around him and conjuring arcane servants to fight for him.
Lorenth
Lorenth is the main antagonist of the game, he is a male, presumed to be around 30-40 years of age, weighs around 14 stone. There is little known about Lorenth as he is a mysterious character that the player only hears about up until they meet him for the final boss battle.
Lorenth has no real friends, but many servants and minions as he is an incredibly powerful necromancer who is responsible for the deaths of the protagonist’s friends and also the reason why they have set out on a quest to find the source of the attacks. Lorenth is human, although he is working on a ritual to transform him into a Lich, a powerful undead creature with command over the dead.
His backstory is that he was outcast from the Wizarding Schools because of his experiments with dangerous sorceries such as necromancy and demonology, types of magic deemed unsafe and unholy by the world. Lorenth had plans to use these magics for the power of good, but the way he was treated by those closest to him led him to seek revenge by wreaking death and disease on the world.
His beliefs are to create a new world of his design where people are reborn as his servants so that he can be in charge and assure that all decisions are made by him, as he thinks that the world is corrupted and unfair in it’s current state.
Lorenth is an introverted, depressed character after his experiences and mistreatment, but originally he would have been a kind and generous person who attempted to create a better world for everyone.
As a Necromancer, Lorenth controls the undead that he has raised, giving him a numbers advantage most of the time. He also has many different diseases and plagues to spread on his enemies, rendering them useless or weakening them for his minions to then take care of.
Pira
Protagonist (NPC)
Female, 21 years old, 10 stone. Pira is one of the NPC characters that the player encounters through the story, she is a Paladin who has also taken up the quest to find the source of the invasions and attempt to put an end to them. As the three characters share a common goal she teams up with them to help on the quest.
Not much is known about Pira’s backstory, but the player gets hints that she is in a similar position where those around her were killed by Lorenth and his minions, and she is now seeking revenge on those that harmed her and her loved ones.
Pira is a Human, her parents abandoned her at an early age but she was taken in by The Holy Order, where she grew up learning the ways of the Light to become a priestess, but rapidly she learnt that she was not meant for the passive ways of the priestesses and began her training as a warrior also, merging the ways of the Light with her sword and shield to join the ranks of Paladins.
Pira believes in having a world of peace, and she is willing to take on all unholy enemies that oppose the Light, such as the undead, demons and spirits that are being commanded by Lorenth. She also is a very emotional character, often reacting brashly to what is occurring around her without truly thinking things through; Jasod helps to calm her down often as his leadership holds the team together.
Pira’s abilities come with her Sword and Shield combat, she has many basic abilities like cleave which allows her to hit multiple enemies, as well as being able to imbue her weapons with Holy Energies to blast back the undead without exhausting herself. She also has a lot of healing capabilities from her training as a priestess.
The Story
A cold mist rolled in to Holera Village, leaving it’s inhabitants unable to see more than three feet infront of themselves, lanterns began to flicker on throughout the village as evening grew closer and the darkness crept in, making it even harder to see, the distance from one building to another felt like a mile although in reality it was only several metres.
Jasod struggled with the lock on one of the sheds at the Lumber Yard on the outskirts of the village, eagerly wanting to head home out of the cold and the darkness to a warm hearth at the local tavern. The key turned in the lock and he faced away from the yard and started walking in the direction that he presumed to be the village, a short two minutes walk awaited him before he would arrive.
The minutes passed yet he saw no signs of the village beginning to appear, his heartrate quickened slightly as the darkness was now rendering his vision almost completely useless, another half-minute passed and some panic set in, wondering where he went wrong he retraced his steps mentally, going through the patch of flowers and the pond that formed a line between the yard and the tavern.
His thinking was interrupted however when a high pitched scream pierced the air, seeming to come from all around him, leaving him no closer to finding his way back, another scream was then heard, as well as multiple yells and shouts that seemed to originate from his left, instantly Jasod started sprinting towards the noises, his heart pounding faster and faster with every footfall.
The corner of a building began to appear in his limited vision, the grey stone becoming more visible as he slowed to a jog, he stopped at the building and peeked around the corner, placing his hand on the wall as support, but feeling a sticky, liquid substance on the stone, jerking his hand away sharply he looked at the palm of his hand and was shocked to see that it was covered in blood.
Steadily the mist began to slowly fade away, allowing Jasod to navigate the town more easily, finding the tavern deserted and more blood sprayed along the walls all around him, he headed to the town centre where a bright light was radiating, turning the corner he saw the townsfolk holding flaming torches, but this was not the source of the light for the most part, the giant bonfire behind them was, but wood was not the fuel, they were burning bodies.
The stench in the air was unbearable as Jasod approached, a man turned to face him and began running over, the two knew each other well, Jasod recognised his closest friend Kole by the long scar down the left side of his face that stretched from above his eye to his jawline. Kole spoke first in a dull, horrified tone that Jasod had not heard before. “There… there was an attack, they came out of the mist and took out most of the guards unopposed, then they started slaughtering villagers… Jasod, Clara… Clara didn’t make it. She’s dead.”
The blood drained out of Jasod’s face, leaving him a sickly white colour, pale as the moon. He turned away and vomited against the side of the building, the smell of the bodies and the thought of his friend dead overwhelmed his senses. Kole sank to his knees beside Jasod and said nothing, both men feeling the same distress at the events that had occurred.
Several minutes of silence passed with the crackling of the fire in the background and the screams of pain from the families that had lost their loved ones being the only noises in the village. Jasod softly muttered to Kole “What happened, who was it that attacked us, why? Why would they attack us, we have nothing.”
Kole shook his head a few times before responding “Not who, but what, these were not men, they were some of the deceased townsfolk that we laid to rest in the crypts, possessed by some unnatural force, their eyes glowing a crystal white and moving silent as the night, they attacked and then fell to the floor, dead once again.”
The two men stood facing one another overwhelmed by the emotions that they were feeling, the night lasted for another few hours and the remaining townsfolk stayed by the fire, mourning their losses until dawn finally broke on the horizon.
The light of dawn seemed to jolt people to their senses, although still clearly shaken and devasted by the events that transpired the night before, some of the villagers began to trudge towards their homes, each footfall landing heavily and sending up a mix of blood and mud that splashed back down onto the ground.
Jasod and Kole also moved away from the fire and headed towards Jasod’s home, the two walked with purpose however, seeming to be renewed with the fresh light that fell upon the village, as they arrived inside, Jasod spoke “We need to find the source of what caused this attack, if we just let it go then something will happen again, all of the guards are dead and no one else in the village knows how to fight.”
Kole agreed “Aye, we’ve got to do something about it, I wouldn’t really know where to begin though, we could ask Old Frean in town, maybe he knows something, even if that wizard spends his whole day cooped up inside his magic shop all day long.”
“We could take a more direct approach, some of these undead were old townsfolk that we buried years back, they must be coming from the crypts beneath the church, I say we investigate there and see what we can find rather than wasting time asking a crazy old wizard who might have no idea” replied Jasod.
Player Decision: A – Talk to the Wizard in town
“Who knows what we could be taking on if we go down there without any knowledge, we should see what Frean knows, if he doesn’t know anything it wont take long, but if he does we might have the upper hand for whatever we find in the crypts.” Argued Kole.
“Okay good point, lets go see Frean.” Accepted Jasod.
The pair of them jogged over to the run down building near the centre of town where Old Frean’s Magic Emporium stood in its modesty. The pair entered through the main door to see Frean facing away from them, some of his wares lay smashed on the ground, some liquids mixing together as a result of several potions being broken, creating a pungent smell that vaguely resembled rotten eggs.
“Frean?” Inquired Kole. The man behind the counter jumped slightly and turned to face them, his expression blank and his skin pale, he stared at them for several seconds before his face softened and he spoke “Oh, hello, how… how can I help you?”
Frean was clearly still distraught over the events of the previous night, the shop was undamaged which led the pair to believe that he had been clumsy and angry and broken many of his wares himself.
“Yes, we were wondering if you might know anything about the events that happened last night? Any clues as to what caused this to happen, we’re going to see what we can do to help and prevent this happening again.”
The wizard slowly nodded at them, not speaking but acknowledging that he did infact know something, Kole and Jasod were relieved to find out that their trip had not been for nothing, and proceeded to question him further “So what can you tell us?” Kole inquired.
“Only that these abominations were brought to life by something far more powerful that we can comprehend, I have felt a source of power coming from the abandoned prison in the past few hours, something I have not felt in a very long time, this is the work of a necromancer.”
The two of them stood in silence for a moment, slightly intimidated at the thought of taking on a force that far outmatched their skills, Jasod spoke up, “Thankyou, we’ll see about investigating this and try to find some answers.”
The two began to return to their homes to gather a suitable amount of supplies for the journey that lay before them, they grabbed food, water, camping materials and tools for surviving the next few weeks as the prison lay a good 50 miles away, over several minor mountain ranges and marshes, that would slow them down considerably.
Player Decision: B – Investigate the Crypts
The two of them marched towards the Crypts with purpose in their step, intent on finding what was going on in the town to have caused the attacks and attempt to stop it at the source before anything else happens. It was night-time when the pair arrived at the gates of the church, several candles could be seen through the stained glass windows, sending a slight amount of light out into the darkness of the night, the two of them creaked open the gate and walked over to the side door of the building, knocking twice to see if anyone would open it for them.
Footsteps were heard on the inside of the door, the cold stone floor of the chapel clearly audible to Jasod and Kole, the old door opened inwards and more light poured out onto the patch of ground where the two were standing, they saw Brandon, the town’s Cleric looking shaken up stood in their way, his eyes were dark from lack of sleep and his stature was hunched over, as if he was lacking the energy to keep going.
Brandon welcomed them both inside, out of the cold and the darkness to the warmth of the church. “What… ehm, What brings you here this night gentlemen?” inquired the Cleric.
“We decided to come and investigate the events of last night, clearly the corpses that rose were our old friends and family, and they were buried down here until then, have you seen or heard anything unusual from the Crypts recently?”
The Cleric’s face paled when the two of them asked, he was clearly uneased by the question and the two of them immediately noticed that something was amiss by Brandon’s reaction.
“Well, last week a few strange men from out of town said that they were visiting some relatives who passed away several years ago, I did not refuse them as anyone is welcome to mourn their losses… but they never left the crypts that day, and when I entered to search for them, all of the torches had been removed and there was a dim red light originating from the furthest depths.”
“And you didn’t think that this would be worth reporting to anyone, you just left it?” Scorned Kole.
“Well, I locked the door in fear and didn’t think anything would come of it, maybe things would have just fixed themselves, I didn’t know they’d get out!” Brandon yelled angrily at the pair of them, clearly frustrated and upset with himself.
“They? Who are they? The men?” Jasod asked
“Yes, the men, but only two of the three that came, and behind them a line of shambling corpses with glowing eyes, blood dripping from their bodies and a mismatch of body parts attached to some of them, horrifying creatures, I hid behind the altar and prayed to the gods that they did not find me, thankfully they did not and nothing has happened since that night.”
They all stood in silence for a short time before Jasod spoke up “Right, we’re going down there to find this last man, maybe he knows something about what happened so we can find out what the hell is going on.”
Kole nodded in agreement and the pair of them marched down the steps into the crypt. The air seemed to grow cold around them as if all warmth was being drained from them, the handle of the crypt doors was ice cold, and each other could see that they wanted to back out, but together they turned the handles and stepped forward bravely.
Just like the Cleric said, it was pitch black inside, all of the lights had been extinguished, however about twenty to thirty feet ahead of them, the red light that Brandon had described was barely illuminating the corridor that led down into the depths of the crypt where they stored the majority of the bodies.
Jasod stepped forwards again, heading towards the source of the light, the only sound that could be heard was his boots against the hard stone floor of the dungeon, Kole followed a few feet behind, both of them with weapons drawn, Jasod wielding a sword and Kole with a staff, a gem placed in the top that was faintly emitting a fiery red glow.
Tension filled the air as they edged ever closer, doubts filling their mind as to whether or not they wanted to go further, but they crept forwards until they were at the corridor where the red light now made it much easier to see, they proceeded further down and began to smell a foul stench that they recognised from the night before, the smell of death.
They reached the bottom of the stairs and their stomachs churned in disgust, their was an amalgamation of limbs and blood piled up in the centre of the large room, fifty coffins stacked three high lay on each wall, totalling two-hundred bodies that were down here, some of their limbs were missing, legs, arms, a few heads too.
A whole body, not decomposed over the years lay at the far end of the room next to a large red crystal set in a black stand, wisps of energy seemed to be discharging from the crystal, clearly causing the red glow that illuminated the room. The pair of them scanned the room until they saw that there were no threats and sheathed their weapons and approached the crystal.
Doubts filled their mind even further as they drew closer and closer to the crystal, whispers started to fill the room, inhuman voices that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, beads of sweat began to form on their faces. They stopped not two feet from the crystal, the two of them looked at each other before reaching out to touch the crystal; neither of them doing so willingly, the energy of the crystal possessing their bodies.
Their palms touched the crystal and a flash of light enveloped them, blinding them for a few seconds before they both dropped to the floor, unconscious.
Summary
The rest of my story is too long to write out entirely, but this is the first major branch of the game, the main idea behind a lot of the gameplay elements is that the characters get a choice as to whether they want to help the bad guys as this crystal has possessed their mind, or fight alongside the forces of good, there will be benefits to both from a levelling up and RPG perspective, but the storyline will be heavily affected by the choices made, there will be different opportunities to either be bad or good that revolve around finding these crystals in different locations in the world.
The major branches often happen where the characters are forced to do something that they otherwise would not, although from a gameplay perspective this may feel that the player is being forced into doing something, there are multiple opportunities for the player to go back and attempt to right the wrongs that they have caused while being possessed by the forces of evil.
I feel like this causes a large enough impact on the world to affect the final ending, as the ending of the game will revolve around how the world is left after the invasion is over, for example it might be a barren wasteland if the player does not care to fix what they have done wrong, but it could be almost exactly the same if they do as much as they can to restore things to how it was, which adds in a lot of side-quests to complete.
The choices made will impact the ending of the game as different towns might be destroyed or major characters die/survive, so there will be many different endings.
Although I would have liked to write the whole story I would have ended up going on for another twenty or more pages, so this summary as well as the description of the environments will hopefully give an idea of what my story aims to be like.
Evaluation
Strengths
The strengths of my story are that it has many engaging characters that the player can relate to, and these characters are not stereotypical heroes, they’re typical people who want to make a difference in whatever way they can. My environments are incredibly varied which makes the game and the story much more interesting as the variation gives the opportunity to make a lot of different areas for the player to experience.
The emotional themes used are very powerful as the characters have gone through a terrible experience at the start of the game so the rest is driven by these emotions that are being felt, making the story powerful as it is driven by more than just the need to do something good, there is revenge and anger felt by the characters.
I managed my time quite efficiently for this project as I finished on time and created drafts of my story so that I had a good idea for the final product rather than rushing into it, I ensured that I proofread all of my work before the final submission to have a high quality piece of writing.
I think that my descriptive writing is a strength of my story as I made sure to give enough detail of the environments to set the scene for the reader, as having an in-depth, well described story can make the difference for being interesting or boring for many readers.
Weaknesses
I feel that my story may be too complicated as there will be many different choices for the user which could be overwhelming and frustrating, this is the main downside as I feel having something that is too detailed can ruin the gameplay elements of the game even if the story is good, the rest of my work was done well I feel.
A major weakness is that I feel my work is potentially rushed as there could be way more description or detail on top of the amount I have already created, however within the time constraints this simply wasn’t an option as I needed to include enough storyline to get to my first branch idea.
My character variety is not so strong in the opening sections of my work as there are not all that many to cover, however this fixes itself later into the story I just did not do a good job of showing everything in the section that I wrote out.
Fitness for purpose
My story is fit for purpose as the demographics are met well by keeping the themes mature enough for the older players but not too bad for the teenage audiences, as there will be gore in my game but only enough to push it to around the 16+ PEGI rating.
I will also avoid including any racist themes or religious preferences to ensure that my game can appeal to all audiences potentially and not offend one particular section of society.
The story itself is also very detailed which will fit the need for having a complex story with a branching narrative, as the client brief has specified that the story must have at least one branching narrative included, my first major branch is very early on as it makes the characters choose between a good or bad path, with the bad path resulting in them being possessed for a short amount of time which forces the characters to perform acts that they otherwise would not approve of.
Literary Qualities
The literary style of my work can be compared to many fantasy games/stories out there, I have themed a lot of my gameplay and storyline around magical spells, quests and fighting monsters that do not exist within the real world. I have used words such as Crystals, Necromancy, Wizards and Undead to set the theme for my storyline.
I also plan to mix in slightly more mature themes that could be expected in a game like Dark Souls, as there will be some gore involved as the world that my story is set within is not a happy place and there is a lot of evil that goes on, such as villages being attacked and lots of people getting killed as a result.
Possible Improvements
I should cut down on the complicated features in my story by removing a lot of the choices, as many of them revolve around making key gameplay decisions that can effect the ending in a very serious way, which could be an issue for some users as they may want to just enjoy the game, so having the best of both worlds for everyone would be the best way to approach things.
The story itself would be incredibly long if I were to write out the entire thing, which meant that I had to summarise, potentially creating a much shorter story to give an idea of what I aim to achieve would be better, but give less room for branches.
The purpose of my story is to create a gripping, interesting piece of writing that will interest the players of the game to not only enjoy the gameplay, but also follow the storyline and be determined to find out what happens in the end.
My story will be created around an adventure game as my client ‘Xtreme Gaming’ has briefed me that this is the genre of the current game they are developing. I have also been informed that the demographic for my game will be males and females of ages 14 to 17.
As these are the two criteria that have to be met, I will ensure that my story is exciting and thrilling to suit the game genre, having many different characters and twists to keep things interesting for the player. Adventure games often have many side-quests or exploration elements in the gameplay, this means that I should try and create as much extra content and interesting environments that reward exploration.
I also need to ensure that as the game is targeted for teenagers, I should make sure that my story does not break any of the PEGI/ESRB rules about the content of the story, such as having sexual themes or excessive amounts of graphic violence, otherwise the game will not be suitable for the specified audience.
Emotional Theme
My story will have a range of emotional themes, primarily violence however, as the story is quite dark, there will be a lot of battles between humans and the undead and various monsters in the game world, this is because the overall story is that the antagonist is trying to make the world bow down to him, and he is raising an army of evil to do this for him.
Between the violence however I aim to have some comedy between the protagonists to break up the violence, as having just one theme through the story will get very repetitive and boring for the player, and having humour in the game makes the characters more relatable to the gamer.
There will be a lot of heroism and hope, as the two main characters are on a quest against the odds to slay the villain and avenge the death of someone close to them. But the characters struggle to keep their hopes up often, as they lose many more friends close to themselves, which taxes them heavily, but they keep pressing on, motivating each other and being brave in the face of danger.
Environment and Setting
My story is set in a medieval type world with fantasy elements, such as magic, monsters and the undead. The environments will vary heavily, ranging from luscious forests to steep mountain ranges with snowy peaks, even desolate, barren wastelands full of the bones of giant dragons.
The initial setting will be in the forest area, where the characters are originally living along with a few hundred others in a small village. However after events transpire where they are attacked, the two main characters will leave this village and travel across the forest until they reach the border of a swamp location, at this swamp they will find lots of murky pools, insects and be discomforted at the heat and moisture in the air.
After a few events happen in the swamp they will travel north towards the mountain ranges, steadily getting colder and colder, their will starts to falter late into their journey, leading the characters to start questioning themselves. In the mountains they learn a lot about the reasons behind what is going on, and learn their next location, a wasteland, full of skeletons, believed to be void of all life for many years.
The variation of environments I believe will help to keep the game and story interesting, as having a game set in just one location will quickly get dull, and variety will make the game far more exciting, as a range of locations brings up different potential locations within the area, such as crypts, temples and caves.
Plot Devices
The overall theme for my story will be revenge. The story begins with the friend of the two protagonists being killed in an attack on their village, and the rest of the story tells the tale of these two characters and how they seek revenge for not only their friend, but also for the safety of their village and their world.
Conflict is also definitely a big theme, as the two protagonists are quite different, they often argue about the steps that they have to take, leading to multiple choices for how the story can develop or take a different direction, which makes the user feel like they are directly influencing the actions that occur within the game, giving a reason for the player to keep playing.
There will also be suspense at times in the story, as I have plans to make the protagonists come under threat quite regularly, sometime against overwhelming odds, meaning they have to hide and sneak around, avoiding detection otherwise they would face certain death, giving a sense of suspense as we are worried that the characters are not going to make it out alive.
Characters
Jasod
Protagonist
Male, 24, 13 Stone, Acts with purpose and strength, letting those around him know that he is in charge of the situation and inspiring them to keep going.
He is friends with Drae and Kole who have been his companions since childhood, his family however are no longer around as they fell ill many years ago and passed into the afterlife. Economically he is neither poor nor rich, as he works at the lumber yard, making enough money to survive but is unable to afford the luxuries of the world. His race is believed to be human by the player and other characters initially, but he has superhuman strength, which the player does not immediately know, after a while it is revealed he is half Human, half Wolf.
Psychologically he believes in leading a full and peaceful life surrounded by his friends and those he cares about, he does not care for wealth, just happiness. He is extroversive and enjoys the company of his friends. Optimism is a large part of Jasod’s personality as he is a natural leader and is relied upon to raise people’s morale throughout the story.
Jasod is a very capable fighter, wielding mighty two-handed weapons, or a longsword and shield depending on the situation that arises. As he is part wolf, his superhuman strength allows him to lift objects that otherwise would be impossible to move, or leap up gaps or walls several metres above the ground.
Kole
Protagonist
Male, 23 years old, weighs 12 Stone, his actions are much less apparent than Jasod’s, he is a far quieter character and often steps back to let others take charge, but if Kole believes in something then he will speak out about it passionately and argue his point.
He is also friends with Drae and Jasod, as they are the primary trio of protagonists in the game, his family however is still alive but is extremely restrictive of him, and do not approve of his choices in life. His occupation is to work at the magic shop in town, as Kole has an expansive knowledge of the arcane arts and is able to assist many of the townsfolk with their ailments or sell them magical items with mysterious properties. Kole is believed also to be human, however it is uncommon for a human to have as much power over the arcane as he does, which leads him to begin questioning who he actually is.
As the writer I know that Kole is half elf, as his mother was an elf and his father a human, and his current parents are his foster family who adopted him after his real family was forced into the wilderness by their races for being in love with each other, something seen as a crime by both societies.
His beliefs are to seek more power to help defend those around him and destroy the evil that plagues the land, he is often pessimistic though as the odds against him weigh heavily on his mind, which is why Jarod is a good friend to him, as they both inspire each other to keep going throughout the story. He is very introverted with the exception of a few close friends who he cares about above all else. Kole is incredibly smart, as the elf side of him allows for him to be much more perceptive of what is going on around him, as well as granting him the wisdom to often see situations in a different light.
As Kole advances through the story and learns more about himself, he also gains in power, going from a mage who can cast fireballs and use frost magic, to an incredibly powerful sorcerer who is capable of shifting the land around him and conjuring arcane servants to fight for him.
Lorenth
Lorenth is the main antagonist of the game, he is a male, presumed to be around 30-40 years of age, weighs around 14 stone. There is little known about Lorenth as he is a mysterious character that the player only hears about up until they meet him for the final boss battle.
Lorenth has no real friends, but many servants and minions as he is an incredibly powerful necromancer who is responsible for the deaths of the protagonist’s friends and also the reason why they have set out on a quest to find the source of the attacks. Lorenth is human, although he is working on a ritual to transform him into a Lich, a powerful undead creature with command over the dead.
His backstory is that he was outcast from the Wizarding Schools because of his experiments with dangerous sorceries such as necromancy and demonology, types of magic deemed unsafe and unholy by the world. Lorenth had plans to use these magics for the power of good, but the way he was treated by those closest to him led him to seek revenge by wreaking death and disease on the world.
His beliefs are to create a new world of his design where people are reborn as his servants so that he can be in charge and assure that all decisions are made by him, as he thinks that the world is corrupted and unfair in it’s current state.
Lorenth is an introverted, depressed character after his experiences and mistreatment, but originally he would have been a kind and generous person who attempted to create a better world for everyone.
As a Necromancer, Lorenth controls the undead that he has raised, giving him a numbers advantage most of the time. He also has many different diseases and plagues to spread on his enemies, rendering them useless or weakening them for his minions to then take care of.
Pira
Protagonist (NPC)
Female, 21 years old, 10 stone. Pira is one of the NPC characters that the player encounters through the story, she is a Paladin who has also taken up the quest to find the source of the invasions and attempt to put an end to them. As the three characters share a common goal she teams up with them to help on the quest.
Not much is known about Pira’s backstory, but the player gets hints that she is in a similar position where those around her were killed by Lorenth and his minions, and she is now seeking revenge on those that harmed her and her loved ones.
Pira is a Human, her parents abandoned her at an early age but she was taken in by The Holy Order, where she grew up learning the ways of the Light to become a priestess, but rapidly she learnt that she was not meant for the passive ways of the priestesses and began her training as a warrior also, merging the ways of the Light with her sword and shield to join the ranks of Paladins.
Pira believes in having a world of peace, and she is willing to take on all unholy enemies that oppose the Light, such as the undead, demons and spirits that are being commanded by Lorenth. She also is a very emotional character, often reacting brashly to what is occurring around her without truly thinking things through; Jasod helps to calm her down often as his leadership holds the team together.
Pira’s abilities come with her Sword and Shield combat, she has many basic abilities like cleave which allows her to hit multiple enemies, as well as being able to imbue her weapons with Holy Energies to blast back the undead without exhausting herself. She also has a lot of healing capabilities from her training as a priestess.
The Story
A cold mist rolled in to Holera Village, leaving it’s inhabitants unable to see more than three feet infront of themselves, lanterns began to flicker on throughout the village as evening grew closer and the darkness crept in, making it even harder to see, the distance from one building to another felt like a mile although in reality it was only several metres.
Jasod struggled with the lock on one of the sheds at the Lumber Yard on the outskirts of the village, eagerly wanting to head home out of the cold and the darkness to a warm hearth at the local tavern. The key turned in the lock and he faced away from the yard and started walking in the direction that he presumed to be the village, a short two minutes walk awaited him before he would arrive.
The minutes passed yet he saw no signs of the village beginning to appear, his heartrate quickened slightly as the darkness was now rendering his vision almost completely useless, another half-minute passed and some panic set in, wondering where he went wrong he retraced his steps mentally, going through the patch of flowers and the pond that formed a line between the yard and the tavern.
His thinking was interrupted however when a high pitched scream pierced the air, seeming to come from all around him, leaving him no closer to finding his way back, another scream was then heard, as well as multiple yells and shouts that seemed to originate from his left, instantly Jasod started sprinting towards the noises, his heart pounding faster and faster with every footfall.
The corner of a building began to appear in his limited vision, the grey stone becoming more visible as he slowed to a jog, he stopped at the building and peeked around the corner, placing his hand on the wall as support, but feeling a sticky, liquid substance on the stone, jerking his hand away sharply he looked at the palm of his hand and was shocked to see that it was covered in blood.
Steadily the mist began to slowly fade away, allowing Jasod to navigate the town more easily, finding the tavern deserted and more blood sprayed along the walls all around him, he headed to the town centre where a bright light was radiating, turning the corner he saw the townsfolk holding flaming torches, but this was not the source of the light for the most part, the giant bonfire behind them was, but wood was not the fuel, they were burning bodies.
The stench in the air was unbearable as Jasod approached, a man turned to face him and began running over, the two knew each other well, Jasod recognised his closest friend Kole by the long scar down the left side of his face that stretched from above his eye to his jawline. Kole spoke first in a dull, horrified tone that Jasod had not heard before. “There… there was an attack, they came out of the mist and took out most of the guards unopposed, then they started slaughtering villagers… Jasod, Clara… Clara didn’t make it. She’s dead.”
The blood drained out of Jasod’s face, leaving him a sickly white colour, pale as the moon. He turned away and vomited against the side of the building, the smell of the bodies and the thought of his friend dead overwhelmed his senses. Kole sank to his knees beside Jasod and said nothing, both men feeling the same distress at the events that had occurred.
Several minutes of silence passed with the crackling of the fire in the background and the screams of pain from the families that had lost their loved ones being the only noises in the village. Jasod softly muttered to Kole “What happened, who was it that attacked us, why? Why would they attack us, we have nothing.”
Kole shook his head a few times before responding “Not who, but what, these were not men, they were some of the deceased townsfolk that we laid to rest in the crypts, possessed by some unnatural force, their eyes glowing a crystal white and moving silent as the night, they attacked and then fell to the floor, dead once again.”
The two men stood facing one another overwhelmed by the emotions that they were feeling, the night lasted for another few hours and the remaining townsfolk stayed by the fire, mourning their losses until dawn finally broke on the horizon.
The light of dawn seemed to jolt people to their senses, although still clearly shaken and devasted by the events that transpired the night before, some of the villagers began to trudge towards their homes, each footfall landing heavily and sending up a mix of blood and mud that splashed back down onto the ground.
Jasod and Kole also moved away from the fire and headed towards Jasod’s home, the two walked with purpose however, seeming to be renewed with the fresh light that fell upon the village, as they arrived inside, Jasod spoke “We need to find the source of what caused this attack, if we just let it go then something will happen again, all of the guards are dead and no one else in the village knows how to fight.”
Kole agreed “Aye, we’ve got to do something about it, I wouldn’t really know where to begin though, we could ask Old Frean in town, maybe he knows something, even if that wizard spends his whole day cooped up inside his magic shop all day long.”
“We could take a more direct approach, some of these undead were old townsfolk that we buried years back, they must be coming from the crypts beneath the church, I say we investigate there and see what we can find rather than wasting time asking a crazy old wizard who might have no idea” replied Jasod.
Player Decision: A – Talk to the Wizard in town
“Who knows what we could be taking on if we go down there without any knowledge, we should see what Frean knows, if he doesn’t know anything it wont take long, but if he does we might have the upper hand for whatever we find in the crypts.” Argued Kole.
“Okay good point, lets go see Frean.” Accepted Jasod.
The pair of them jogged over to the run down building near the centre of town where Old Frean’s Magic Emporium stood in its modesty. The pair entered through the main door to see Frean facing away from them, some of his wares lay smashed on the ground, some liquids mixing together as a result of several potions being broken, creating a pungent smell that vaguely resembled rotten eggs.
“Frean?” Inquired Kole. The man behind the counter jumped slightly and turned to face them, his expression blank and his skin pale, he stared at them for several seconds before his face softened and he spoke “Oh, hello, how… how can I help you?”
Frean was clearly still distraught over the events of the previous night, the shop was undamaged which led the pair to believe that he had been clumsy and angry and broken many of his wares himself.
“Yes, we were wondering if you might know anything about the events that happened last night? Any clues as to what caused this to happen, we’re going to see what we can do to help and prevent this happening again.”
The wizard slowly nodded at them, not speaking but acknowledging that he did infact know something, Kole and Jasod were relieved to find out that their trip had not been for nothing, and proceeded to question him further “So what can you tell us?” Kole inquired.
“Only that these abominations were brought to life by something far more powerful that we can comprehend, I have felt a source of power coming from the abandoned prison in the past few hours, something I have not felt in a very long time, this is the work of a necromancer.”
The two of them stood in silence for a moment, slightly intimidated at the thought of taking on a force that far outmatched their skills, Jasod spoke up, “Thankyou, we’ll see about investigating this and try to find some answers.”
The two began to return to their homes to gather a suitable amount of supplies for the journey that lay before them, they grabbed food, water, camping materials and tools for surviving the next few weeks as the prison lay a good 50 miles away, over several minor mountain ranges and marshes, that would slow them down considerably.
Player Decision: B – Investigate the Crypts
The two of them marched towards the Crypts with purpose in their step, intent on finding what was going on in the town to have caused the attacks and attempt to stop it at the source before anything else happens. It was night-time when the pair arrived at the gates of the church, several candles could be seen through the stained glass windows, sending a slight amount of light out into the darkness of the night, the two of them creaked open the gate and walked over to the side door of the building, knocking twice to see if anyone would open it for them.
Footsteps were heard on the inside of the door, the cold stone floor of the chapel clearly audible to Jasod and Kole, the old door opened inwards and more light poured out onto the patch of ground where the two were standing, they saw Brandon, the town’s Cleric looking shaken up stood in their way, his eyes were dark from lack of sleep and his stature was hunched over, as if he was lacking the energy to keep going.
Brandon welcomed them both inside, out of the cold and the darkness to the warmth of the church. “What… ehm, What brings you here this night gentlemen?” inquired the Cleric.
“We decided to come and investigate the events of last night, clearly the corpses that rose were our old friends and family, and they were buried down here until then, have you seen or heard anything unusual from the Crypts recently?”
The Cleric’s face paled when the two of them asked, he was clearly uneased by the question and the two of them immediately noticed that something was amiss by Brandon’s reaction.
“Well, last week a few strange men from out of town said that they were visiting some relatives who passed away several years ago, I did not refuse them as anyone is welcome to mourn their losses… but they never left the crypts that day, and when I entered to search for them, all of the torches had been removed and there was a dim red light originating from the furthest depths.”
“And you didn’t think that this would be worth reporting to anyone, you just left it?” Scorned Kole.
“Well, I locked the door in fear and didn’t think anything would come of it, maybe things would have just fixed themselves, I didn’t know they’d get out!” Brandon yelled angrily at the pair of them, clearly frustrated and upset with himself.
“They? Who are they? The men?” Jasod asked
“Yes, the men, but only two of the three that came, and behind them a line of shambling corpses with glowing eyes, blood dripping from their bodies and a mismatch of body parts attached to some of them, horrifying creatures, I hid behind the altar and prayed to the gods that they did not find me, thankfully they did not and nothing has happened since that night.”
They all stood in silence for a short time before Jasod spoke up “Right, we’re going down there to find this last man, maybe he knows something about what happened so we can find out what the hell is going on.”
Kole nodded in agreement and the pair of them marched down the steps into the crypt. The air seemed to grow cold around them as if all warmth was being drained from them, the handle of the crypt doors was ice cold, and each other could see that they wanted to back out, but together they turned the handles and stepped forward bravely.
Just like the Cleric said, it was pitch black inside, all of the lights had been extinguished, however about twenty to thirty feet ahead of them, the red light that Brandon had described was barely illuminating the corridor that led down into the depths of the crypt where they stored the majority of the bodies.
Jasod stepped forwards again, heading towards the source of the light, the only sound that could be heard was his boots against the hard stone floor of the dungeon, Kole followed a few feet behind, both of them with weapons drawn, Jasod wielding a sword and Kole with a staff, a gem placed in the top that was faintly emitting a fiery red glow.
Tension filled the air as they edged ever closer, doubts filling their mind as to whether or not they wanted to go further, but they crept forwards until they were at the corridor where the red light now made it much easier to see, they proceeded further down and began to smell a foul stench that they recognised from the night before, the smell of death.
They reached the bottom of the stairs and their stomachs churned in disgust, their was an amalgamation of limbs and blood piled up in the centre of the large room, fifty coffins stacked three high lay on each wall, totalling two-hundred bodies that were down here, some of their limbs were missing, legs, arms, a few heads too.
A whole body, not decomposed over the years lay at the far end of the room next to a large red crystal set in a black stand, wisps of energy seemed to be discharging from the crystal, clearly causing the red glow that illuminated the room. The pair of them scanned the room until they saw that there were no threats and sheathed their weapons and approached the crystal.
Doubts filled their mind even further as they drew closer and closer to the crystal, whispers started to fill the room, inhuman voices that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, beads of sweat began to form on their faces. They stopped not two feet from the crystal, the two of them looked at each other before reaching out to touch the crystal; neither of them doing so willingly, the energy of the crystal possessing their bodies.
Their palms touched the crystal and a flash of light enveloped them, blinding them for a few seconds before they both dropped to the floor, unconscious.
Summary
The rest of my story is too long to write out entirely, but this is the first major branch of the game, the main idea behind a lot of the gameplay elements is that the characters get a choice as to whether they want to help the bad guys as this crystal has possessed their mind, or fight alongside the forces of good, there will be benefits to both from a levelling up and RPG perspective, but the storyline will be heavily affected by the choices made, there will be different opportunities to either be bad or good that revolve around finding these crystals in different locations in the world.
The major branches often happen where the characters are forced to do something that they otherwise would not, although from a gameplay perspective this may feel that the player is being forced into doing something, there are multiple opportunities for the player to go back and attempt to right the wrongs that they have caused while being possessed by the forces of evil.
I feel like this causes a large enough impact on the world to affect the final ending, as the ending of the game will revolve around how the world is left after the invasion is over, for example it might be a barren wasteland if the player does not care to fix what they have done wrong, but it could be almost exactly the same if they do as much as they can to restore things to how it was, which adds in a lot of side-quests to complete.
The choices made will impact the ending of the game as different towns might be destroyed or major characters die/survive, so there will be many different endings.
Although I would have liked to write the whole story I would have ended up going on for another twenty or more pages, so this summary as well as the description of the environments will hopefully give an idea of what my story aims to be like.
Evaluation
Strengths
The strengths of my story are that it has many engaging characters that the player can relate to, and these characters are not stereotypical heroes, they’re typical people who want to make a difference in whatever way they can. My environments are incredibly varied which makes the game and the story much more interesting as the variation gives the opportunity to make a lot of different areas for the player to experience.
The emotional themes used are very powerful as the characters have gone through a terrible experience at the start of the game so the rest is driven by these emotions that are being felt, making the story powerful as it is driven by more than just the need to do something good, there is revenge and anger felt by the characters.
I managed my time quite efficiently for this project as I finished on time and created drafts of my story so that I had a good idea for the final product rather than rushing into it, I ensured that I proofread all of my work before the final submission to have a high quality piece of writing.
I think that my descriptive writing is a strength of my story as I made sure to give enough detail of the environments to set the scene for the reader, as having an in-depth, well described story can make the difference for being interesting or boring for many readers.
Weaknesses
I feel that my story may be too complicated as there will be many different choices for the user which could be overwhelming and frustrating, this is the main downside as I feel having something that is too detailed can ruin the gameplay elements of the game even if the story is good, the rest of my work was done well I feel.
A major weakness is that I feel my work is potentially rushed as there could be way more description or detail on top of the amount I have already created, however within the time constraints this simply wasn’t an option as I needed to include enough storyline to get to my first branch idea.
My character variety is not so strong in the opening sections of my work as there are not all that many to cover, however this fixes itself later into the story I just did not do a good job of showing everything in the section that I wrote out.
Fitness for purpose
My story is fit for purpose as the demographics are met well by keeping the themes mature enough for the older players but not too bad for the teenage audiences, as there will be gore in my game but only enough to push it to around the 16+ PEGI rating.
I will also avoid including any racist themes or religious preferences to ensure that my game can appeal to all audiences potentially and not offend one particular section of society.
The story itself is also very detailed which will fit the need for having a complex story with a branching narrative, as the client brief has specified that the story must have at least one branching narrative included, my first major branch is very early on as it makes the characters choose between a good or bad path, with the bad path resulting in them being possessed for a short amount of time which forces the characters to perform acts that they otherwise would not approve of.
Literary Qualities
The literary style of my work can be compared to many fantasy games/stories out there, I have themed a lot of my gameplay and storyline around magical spells, quests and fighting monsters that do not exist within the real world. I have used words such as Crystals, Necromancy, Wizards and Undead to set the theme for my storyline.
I also plan to mix in slightly more mature themes that could be expected in a game like Dark Souls, as there will be some gore involved as the world that my story is set within is not a happy place and there is a lot of evil that goes on, such as villages being attacked and lots of people getting killed as a result.
Possible Improvements
I should cut down on the complicated features in my story by removing a lot of the choices, as many of them revolve around making key gameplay decisions that can effect the ending in a very serious way, which could be an issue for some users as they may want to just enjoy the game, so having the best of both worlds for everyone would be the best way to approach things.
The story itself would be incredibly long if I were to write out the entire thing, which meant that I had to summarise, potentially creating a much shorter story to give an idea of what I aim to achieve would be better, but give less room for branches.