Hi Im doing a 2player co-op game in 2d. Gameplay is mix of fallout tactics, a link to the past and stalker. Exploring, collecting and going deeper into the wasteland. Do you have any ideas for the story? I have some outlines but im not hooked yet. What is your goal? What must you do? What was the apocalypse? Classical ideas include nuclear war, alien invasion (i dont like that one), natural disaster etc. There will be bandits, newly founded settlements, towns and former military out of control. Enemies will be mostly human but also mutated animals/monsters like in stalker. Any thoughts? Erik

This would be a good question for the Writing for Games board.

But, as for my opinion, you could definitely just look to the stories already written for inspiration, like Zardoz or A Boy and his Dog. Infact, A Boy and his Dog would be a great basis for a 2-player co-op game.

A couple of years ago I started writing on a story that revolved around a central character set some time after the end of the world. I think I could translate it fairly well into a 2D single-player action game. Making it multiplayer co-op feels to me rather restrictive as you first and foremost have to be two players (and if there's going to be a learning curve, then you'll want to be playing with the same person(s), which can be difficult to pull off when you're making an indie game). My story idea has very little similarities with Fallout, as Fallout's apocalypse was due to nuclear war. In my story, it was an entirely different matter (a lot of sci-fi fantasy, so there was "magic" involved).

You mentioned the inclusion of a rogue militia, bandits, and mutants. I would recommend that you do a couple of things first before determining what's going to be there and what's not:

Write clearly the basic game mechanics, from exploring to human interaction to combat gameplay. Then,determine the basic outline of the story you want: Why did the apocalypse happen, and how did it happen? Ask yourself what kind of setting, theme and environments you would like in the game - even enemies, if you'd like. It'll give you a much clearer vision of what game you are trying to create. There's a lot you could do with a post-apocalypse game. sunandshadow mentioned scavenging and rebuilding, which sounds appealing even to myself, who usually aren't quite into games with gameplay moments like that.

My story idea revolved around the main character (never gave him a name) had been involved in some quest to seal a seed of evil that had escaped into our realm. The seed managed to plant itself inside his then-girlfriend, who increasingly lost control to the evil surges and the powers that came with being taken over by this seed. At some point, our "hero" is given the chance to put a stop to the whole thing by killing her (and thus, the seed at the same time), but because of his feelings towards the girl, he couldn't. As a result, the prophecized "doomsday" occured, and during doomsday the skies of the world were covered by darkness, and ghosts, spectres, phantoms and other intangible horrors basically ravished the entire world and its inhabitants. Following doomsday, the girl retracted to somewhere in Europe where the ruins around that area is considered basically a death sentence should it be approached. The result of doomsday was the end of civilization and few were spared around the world, and each night the horrors of doomsday appear and seek out remaining humans.

That's basically the background story, and about 90% of that is nothing that is revealed in the beginning. The premise is basically that the main character also possesses some of this dark magic (explained later how), and thus is the only one who can combat these horrors. So interpreted in a game, you basically look for survivors, try to rebuild homes and make areas as safe as possible from the horrors. During the night, you defend survivors or go and hunt down some of the more powerful horrors. The main character, clearly not entirely human anymore, does not need to eat, drink or sleep - though any of these help him recover much faster from fatigue, lack of energy or most minor injuries.


This turned out to be longer than I had expected. Sorry. Anyway, that's one way of taking a story diea, expand on it a bit and then interpret things in simple gameplay for any given action game.

In this post I'm going to touch a bit on some story design aspects, and some gameplay aspects (regarding to my idea). Hopefully you can draw some inspiration from this (not necesarily the ideas; moreso the way of thinking).

With a story like the one I presented above, you have first a post-apocalyptic setting, and you have a character you don't know very much about, but there is clearly something that weighs heavily on him. He spends most of his time finding/rescuing/defending/helping survivors and killing off horrors. Throughout dialogue with other NPC's (or even some monologue), the fact that he is partly responsible for the apocalypse and that he could have prevented it, will shine through in the way the character is presented, and depending on how one decides to pursue the story, the player may received mixed feelings for the character. Will they be sympathetic, or condemn his actions? Will they consider his actions in present time as redeeming or just a selfish way of trying to clean a conscience impossible to clean? Will he ultimately decide to risk mankind's last hope and venture into the very lair of the beast (the area where his ex-girlfriend-now-evil-supreme-overlord resides)? Storywise, things could get very interesting, moreso if you focus on characters and not a dozen intricate plot twists.

When it comes to gameplay, you basically quest around and rescue survivors. With the help of these survivors, you may use sunandshadow's idea of scavenging and rebuilding, and you may also put up certain constructions that will help survivors stay hidden during nighttime to avoid the horrors. Talking to them may give you new objectives to do, and there's always horrors to kill and things to find. There is also combat gameplay, which can be simple or deep (or something inbetween). Finding exceptionally powerful horrors may serve as boss battles, and killing them may reward the player somehow: perhaps in that area, the number of horros may increase, or they may entirely disappear, or certain horrors will stop appearing.

I'm pretty sure I had a few more things to add to gameplay, but I'll leave it there for now. I hope you (or someone else) has something to pick up from this. Good luck!

No magic. More like the fallout settings with old equipment laying around from previous wars etc. "Fantasy" elements will be mutants and maybe hitech equipment. Again pretty much like fallout setting.

Im thinking about that the two players (who might be brothers:) will need to locate and equire different part of equipment (and knowledge) for a machine, maybe a machine to stop some "plague" that started spreading after the apocalypse. To do this they must get on good terms with various factions, check out tips and loot various locations.

The game will be without networking, two players on one keyboard, old style. It can also be played with a single player (hp, monsters etc scale down) so that the players are a unity (like brothers) are useful if the presence of one of these guys is not entirely needed for the story (like luigi in mario bros).

Rebuilding is cool. Might be some missions to help settlers get material to villages etc.

If you can choose whether to play alone or with someone else, that would be great. Have split-screen or something similar for two-player mode, allowing each character to be at different places away from each other. That could bring forth some very interesting gameplay. If you play alone, you could always, like you said, keep them as one unit. In some places you could split them up and instantly shift between them (if CharA is in TownX and CharB is in TownY, and press TAB or something to go immediately from CharA in TownX to CharB in TownY).

So you're opting for a Fallout setting? You need to consider some things: Is the apocalypse something that strictly affected humans (i.e. a disease that wipes out most of the world's population) or is it direct physical damage to the planet itself (i.e. nuclear war or a meteor crashing on earth, causing earthquakes, floodings, volcanic catastrophes, ashes and toxins destroying parts of the world etc.)?

It seems that you're drawing heavily from Fallout. It also seems that you're creating this game much more for yourself rather than aimed at a certain audience or anything like that. Which means you have more freedoms in that aspect that you mostly only need to worry about what you and your friend(s) will find fun in the game. Be creative with the "scavenging and rebuilding". Or go for a more storydriven game, where politics and people are more important than actually going and doing the dirty work yourself (gain enough status to get someone else to do it?). You did mention Zelda: A Link to the Past so I'm led to believe that you want a handful of action involved in the game, too? Why not make for a few areas like "dungeons" where finding certain important high-tech parts will prove vital in creating this machine that will give you an upperhand against an upcoming battle against... who? Aliens? An invading army/rebel group/mad militia? A horde of dangerous mutants?

You say the game is like a mix of Fallout Tactics, Zelda aLTTP, and STALKER, but I'm having a hard time mixing those. An overhead view with quasi-realistic combat? Well, it's a good thing that's not what you're asking about. :)

In my opinion, it's best to determine what you want from the game mechanically, then work towards the story that way (how much resource gathering/settlment building/combat against humans or mutants/etc.). Or considering that you already know some of your setting you could work from that, creating a scenario in which they could reasonably exist; for example, newly founded settlements implies that the old ones are no longer suitable for life, but that the reason won't follow them. You don't even have to explain the reason for the apocalypse if you're careful, and it might be more effective that way (at least better than STALKER's explanation).

The setting lends itself to the concept of survival, I've never felt an "epic" plot (i.e. save the world) was suitable for it. And considering you will probably have a limited amount of area to be explored, I would suggest either [a] they're looking for something (loot/treasure), they're defending something (a settlement), or [c] both. These are both non-artificial reasons to stay in the general area.

One thing you might want to do is to back up and think about the higher level themes that players might find interesting.

Desolation/loss - What was destroyed that the player could or should care about? In, "Planet of the Apes," it was the Statue of Liberty in a surprise twist, but in, "Fallout 3," it was all the historic landmarks symbolizing a once great nation. In your game's world, what do you think would pull at the player's emotions if it were suddenly taken away? How do you plan to visualize or experience that?

Rebirth/Life finds a way - How has life evolved, changed, or been reborn after the apocalypse? Is there something here that the player character, and by extension the player should want to protect that is fragile or precious? In this you might find a good source of redemption for your main character.

Triumph through struggle - A simple clean water well may be a triumph of engineering where before the apocalypse it would seem rather mundane. Not all stories need to result in some epic boss battle or even be critical to the main plot, unless you are going for a very linear experience where the game is only about killing stuff. Just getting the first farm running in a world now devoid of agriculture may be very endearing to the player.

Deprivation/loss of humanity - Without the social norms and rules of organized society, have some people lost what makes them human? Have they regressed to the point of becoming savage beasts or perhaps evolved in a completely new and unexpected direction? What does it actually mean to BE human now?

Isolation/Loneliness - Has humanity disappeared almost entirely? How can you instill not just the fact, but the emotion, of being completely alone. This one is tricky...loneliness should not equate to boredom.

Survival - In the post apocalyptic world the main consideration is how to survive, which often drives all other considerations. What does the player character need to learn or understand about the world to accomplish this? How has society adapted to survive?

Man vs Nature - In this new world has nature become the greatest struggle for man? Are there now 50 ton Cerberus rats roaming the countryside devouring any humans caught in the open? Have the plants evolved predatory characteristics? Are humans now trying to co-exist with nature so as not to be victimized by it?

Those are the general themes that came to mind, and are food for thought while coming up with a compelling story for the game. Some themes tend to compliment gameplay better than others (e.g. "Survival, Triumph through Struggle") so as others have pointed out, it really helps to know what your intended gameplay is before diving too deep into the story.