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Write a story for this game concept
I sometimes like to write concepts for fun so I thought I'd give this a try. The stuff in brackets are work in progress concepts. If you like it send me a message 
We are at the end of the era of the human exploration of Earth. Humans have learned everything they possibly could about the world. Humans have solved every mystery that they could. However there is one secret that still eludes human understanding; [an island located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean].
This island was surrounded by mystery. No one has ever set foot there and returned. Fly-bys of the island reveal nothing except dense forests and a tower erected in the very middle.
Ever since the main character was a kid they wanted to make a name for themselves, and nothing sounded cooler than exploring “Tower Island.” Throughout their childhood they have done everything to achieve this goal. They learned [karate/swordplay/gunmanship], and survival skills. They trained their body and their mind for the moment they would step foot on the island. The main character is one of many people on an expedition to chart “Tower Island”, to learn its secrets.
The story begins with a crew of 10+ on a small boat they rented headed for “Tower Island”. They reach the island dusk is falling. The captain of the boat refuses to stay near the island after dark so he drops main character and crew off and sails away, promising to return in a week’s time. It’s almost night, so everyone sets up their tents. Night falls and the main character hears an eerie noise. Intrigued the main character walks towards the noise, and into the forest that fills the island. It hasn’t even been a minute when the main character hears screams coming from the campsite. The main character frantically runs back, and finds the rest of the crew massacred. [The tents are torn, blood and entrails are everywhere, pieces of people are scattered about.] The main character stares at utter disbelief at the carnage, then, out of the corner of their eye the see movement. The main character turns and sees a pair of glowing eyes staring intently at him. The main character makes eye contact and doesn’t break it. The creature lets out an ear-splitting howl and lunges at the main character [only a blur can be seen]. Just as the creature is about to reach the player the eerie sound rings again, and the creature disappears.
· Main character gets lost on island while trying to find a way to contact the outside world
· They traverse the forest and eventually make it to the tower
-Background of the Island-
We are at the end of the era of the human exploration of Earth. Humans have learned everything they possibly could about the world. Humans have solved every mystery that they could. However there is one secret that still eludes human understanding; [an island located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean].
This island was surrounded by mystery. No one has ever set foot there and returned. Fly-bys of the island reveal nothing except dense forests and a tower erected in the very middle.
-Main Character-
Ever since the main character was a kid they wanted to make a name for themselves, and nothing sounded cooler than exploring “Tower Island.” Throughout their childhood they have done everything to achieve this goal. They learned [karate/swordplay/gunmanship], and survival skills. They trained their body and their mind for the moment they would step foot on the island. The main character is one of many people on an expedition to chart “Tower Island”, to learn its secrets.
-The Beginning-
The story begins with a crew of 10+ on a small boat they rented headed for “Tower Island”. They reach the island dusk is falling. The captain of the boat refuses to stay near the island after dark so he drops main character and crew off and sails away, promising to return in a week’s time. It’s almost night, so everyone sets up their tents. Night falls and the main character hears an eerie noise. Intrigued the main character walks towards the noise, and into the forest that fills the island. It hasn’t even been a minute when the main character hears screams coming from the campsite. The main character frantically runs back, and finds the rest of the crew massacred. [The tents are torn, blood and entrails are everywhere, pieces of people are scattered about.] The main character stares at utter disbelief at the carnage, then, out of the corner of their eye the see movement. The main character turns and sees a pair of glowing eyes staring intently at him. The main character makes eye contact and doesn’t break it. The creature lets out an ear-splitting howl and lunges at the main character [only a blur can be seen]. Just as the creature is about to reach the player the eerie sound rings again, and the creature disappears.
-Some ideas-
· Main character gets lost on island while trying to find a way to contact the outside world
· They traverse the forest and eventually make it to the tower
Homecoming
Joshua was adopted by his aunt and uncle at a very young age when both of his parents went missing. They were never found after an extensive search, and they told no one of any plans to leave or anything of the sort. Joshua is now 14 (? age changeable). He has had an uneventful life so far with his aunt and uncle but wishes to return to his hometown to talk to friends of his parents and find out if anyone has any information about what happened. He saved up money for a few weeks and then snuck out of his aunt and uncle's home one night, taking a hired taxi to his hometown of Pleasantwood.
At this late hour, Joshua is the only person on the streets and the driver gives him a queer look, no doubt wondering what a kid is doing out alone at night. He seems friendly enough, so Joshua explains that he is going to visit his hometown, leaving out the details about his parents. After a few minutes of small chat, Joshua eases back into his seat and turns his attention to the window as a gentle drizzle patters against the glass. The trip should take several hours, and it's late, so Joshua begins to let sleep take him.
He is ripped from his dreams by the screeching of rubber on asphalt and a jarring pain as his head bangs against the window.The next thing Joshua is aware of is the roaring, crashing pandemonium as the bus crashes nose first into a tree and his world goes black.
It must have been only a moment, for when he opened his eyes he still had fresh blood oozing from a cut on his forehead. He then noticed the driver and screamed for the first of many times this night.
The man was covered in blood and sat unmoving with his neck hanging limply at an awkward, grotesque angle. Joshua quickly scrambles out of the car and checks the pockets of the unresponsive driver for a phone, but finds nothing. The man is most certainly dead, but Joshua knows he must get help and report the incident. Shakily making his way to the road, he notices a street sign that reads: Pleasantwood 1 Mile. He sets off, breathing heavily . . .
**At this point the game starts and the horror elements begin. Maybe he makes it to town and it is silent hill-esque, strange and everything seems aged and there is a strange, out-out-place and ominous tower sitting in the center of town that certainly shouldn't be there.**
So you have a whole town to explore and can find clues about your missing parents and how they are tied into the strange happenings, and how you (Joshua or whatever his name ends up being) are involved
Joshua was adopted by his aunt and uncle at a very young age when both of his parents went missing. They were never found after an extensive search, and they told no one of any plans to leave or anything of the sort. Joshua is now 14 (? age changeable). He has had an uneventful life so far with his aunt and uncle but wishes to return to his hometown to talk to friends of his parents and find out if anyone has any information about what happened. He saved up money for a few weeks and then snuck out of his aunt and uncle's home one night, taking a hired taxi to his hometown of Pleasantwood.
At this late hour, Joshua is the only person on the streets and the driver gives him a queer look, no doubt wondering what a kid is doing out alone at night. He seems friendly enough, so Joshua explains that he is going to visit his hometown, leaving out the details about his parents. After a few minutes of small chat, Joshua eases back into his seat and turns his attention to the window as a gentle drizzle patters against the glass. The trip should take several hours, and it's late, so Joshua begins to let sleep take him.
He is ripped from his dreams by the screeching of rubber on asphalt and a jarring pain as his head bangs against the window.The next thing Joshua is aware of is the roaring, crashing pandemonium as the bus crashes nose first into a tree and his world goes black.
It must have been only a moment, for when he opened his eyes he still had fresh blood oozing from a cut on his forehead. He then noticed the driver and screamed for the first of many times this night.
The man was covered in blood and sat unmoving with his neck hanging limply at an awkward, grotesque angle. Joshua quickly scrambles out of the car and checks the pockets of the unresponsive driver for a phone, but finds nothing. The man is most certainly dead, but Joshua knows he must get help and report the incident. Shakily making his way to the road, he notices a street sign that reads: Pleasantwood 1 Mile. He sets off, breathing heavily . . .
**At this point the game starts and the horror elements begin. Maybe he makes it to town and it is silent hill-esque, strange and everything seems aged and there is a strange, out-out-place and ominous tower sitting in the center of town that certainly shouldn't be there.**
So you have a whole town to explore and can find clues about your missing parents and how they are tied into the strange happenings, and how you (Joshua or whatever his name ends up being) are involved
Hey newbie here, I thought I'd give writing a go. Let me know what you think.
Hark the angels sing, hark the angels sing.
Evil tidings they will carry,
Boy, you better run when you hear them ring.
Mystic River town is a blot upon a map, just a destination that no one fancies, but needs out of necessity for gas, and what-not when travelling through the west. The inhabitants there respond in a vacant wooden-like way, and it seems as if everything is out of stock and will be replaced tomorrow. They urge you to stay at the motel, and wait till they restock, and you warily oblige. You note that the townspeople look as if they’re trapped, like they’re programmed to follow a set path over and over again, but it’s a passing thought, and you dismiss it for small town quirkiness. As you call it a night you hear a bell toll off in the distance. Ready to dismiss that too you notice the motel receptionist collapsed on the ground. Then you walk out into the street and see that Mystic River town has completely shut down, quite literally.
I'd love to see that game in action! Great concepts so far.
Give it a dark, insane, bloody (combine as required) ending and it could have a sort of Lovecraftian touch to it
Give it a dark, insane, bloody (combine as required) ending and it could have a sort of Lovecraftian touch to it
I'm guessing competition wise, this is already over, but still fun to have a go. Incidentally, there is nothing scary in any of those reference photos for someone who lives in rural England. Atmospheric? Yes. Scary? About as intimidating as a Sunday morning walk in the countryside:
The cows, the same ones, every day. They mock me, ignoring my presence amongst them, until I shout myself hoarse. Only then do they deign to casually glance in my direction. The docile beasts somehow avoid my approaches, ducking and weaving into the mist that descends each time I get close.
At the far edge of the field, the old brick factory. It reeks of ghosts, dusty and cavernous, stripped bare of man and machinery that once brought it to life. I long for the day when developers come from the city to turn the place into luxury flats and boutique shops. How they would stare at the sudden appearance of this ragged man, this waif, wandering their prime real estate.
Oh how I wish! Wish to be awakened from my perpetual nightmare. It has been months since the days blended together and nights turned to fiction. Since that Sunday morning I set off from the car park off the A514, walking through the cloud drenched woods, never to find my way back. Not a single soul did I see on the roads that morning. Alone then, as I am now, I crave the company of another.
Yet it is a force unnatural and monstrous that accompanies me. The factory's towering chimney looming above me, inescapable, forever visible in the background everywhere I go. It screams, howling despair, emitting a sound that rips my soul with dread, and fills my spine with a tingled chill of a threat. Nameless and invisible, it creeps ever closer with each chime of the tower. Soon it will be upon me, and then I shall know my torture here merely as a walk in the park for all the terrors that await
Of course, whatever haunts the character in the above passage had better be a damn sight scarier than a regular old mutant or alien or somesuch. Equally, the player isn't going to have any guns or knives to destroy what preys in the plane of existence between the conscious and subconscious mind, so that somewhat throws out the usual bullet physics and weapons mechanics
The cows, the same ones, every day. They mock me, ignoring my presence amongst them, until I shout myself hoarse. Only then do they deign to casually glance in my direction. The docile beasts somehow avoid my approaches, ducking and weaving into the mist that descends each time I get close.
At the far edge of the field, the old brick factory. It reeks of ghosts, dusty and cavernous, stripped bare of man and machinery that once brought it to life. I long for the day when developers come from the city to turn the place into luxury flats and boutique shops. How they would stare at the sudden appearance of this ragged man, this waif, wandering their prime real estate.
Oh how I wish! Wish to be awakened from my perpetual nightmare. It has been months since the days blended together and nights turned to fiction. Since that Sunday morning I set off from the car park off the A514, walking through the cloud drenched woods, never to find my way back. Not a single soul did I see on the roads that morning. Alone then, as I am now, I crave the company of another.
Yet it is a force unnatural and monstrous that accompanies me. The factory's towering chimney looming above me, inescapable, forever visible in the background everywhere I go. It screams, howling despair, emitting a sound that rips my soul with dread, and fills my spine with a tingled chill of a threat. Nameless and invisible, it creeps ever closer with each chime of the tower. Soon it will be upon me, and then I shall know my torture here merely as a walk in the park for all the terrors that await
Of course, whatever haunts the character in the above passage had better be a damn sight scarier than a regular old mutant or alien or somesuch. Equally, the player isn't going to have any guns or knives to destroy what preys in the plane of existence between the conscious and subconscious mind, so that somewhat throws out the usual bullet physics and weapons mechanics
Hmm, interesting. Alan Wake was the first thing that came to mind seeing these pictures though lol. This might not be the best story, but here's a brief pitch:
You're Neal Mathers, a local farmer's teenage son and many of his animals has gone mission or were found mutilated corpses. Day after day, on the radio you hear news of children gone missing and your father warns you not to be out past dark. While sleeping one night around 4:00am, a bright light shines from the sky through your window, you look outside and in awe, you see a huge silver disc in the sky glowing with many bright colors and it slowly hovers out of the farm and into the dark forest and you follow it until it’s totally out of sight. While following the UFO, you find yourself lost and have to get back to the farm but on your way, you see creepy creatures in the night whose faces are hidden behind the dark with only their white glowing eyes exposed. They try to catch you and you're running and hiding from them with a shovel as your only defense. You hide behind one tree, and peek behind you to see two creatures approach as they come close, you hit one with a shovel and run on to the next cover. Many of them begin to approach slowly and you continue a cat and mouse chase through the night.
Finally, you lose them and time passes as dawn breaks along the way back to the farm, you find many children and people your age reported missing on the radio all around the forest as you go along, they seem to be escapees from a creature they describe as the Harvester who lives in what they call the sky house and they're all out looking for the remaining children who were there with them to bring them back to their main hideout, which I guess could be the first picture. Missions consist of finding your way through mazes of crop circles in the forest, using the environment to hide from the Grays (aliens dispatched in the forest to find escapees) and finding out what’s going on in the tower where mysterious echoing sounds of the unknown are heard in the forest every night and colored strobe lights beam through the windows. I’m thinking clues may come through some of the children in riddles and you play through occasional dream sequences (which really feel like a dream by using a dolly zoom effect and surreal and hallucinatory aesthetics and visuals in a real world to add to the mystique of the game)
You're Neal Mathers, a local farmer's teenage son and many of his animals has gone mission or were found mutilated corpses. Day after day, on the radio you hear news of children gone missing and your father warns you not to be out past dark. While sleeping one night around 4:00am, a bright light shines from the sky through your window, you look outside and in awe, you see a huge silver disc in the sky glowing with many bright colors and it slowly hovers out of the farm and into the dark forest and you follow it until it’s totally out of sight. While following the UFO, you find yourself lost and have to get back to the farm but on your way, you see creepy creatures in the night whose faces are hidden behind the dark with only their white glowing eyes exposed. They try to catch you and you're running and hiding from them with a shovel as your only defense. You hide behind one tree, and peek behind you to see two creatures approach as they come close, you hit one with a shovel and run on to the next cover. Many of them begin to approach slowly and you continue a cat and mouse chase through the night.
Finally, you lose them and time passes as dawn breaks along the way back to the farm, you find many children and people your age reported missing on the radio all around the forest as you go along, they seem to be escapees from a creature they describe as the Harvester who lives in what they call the sky house and they're all out looking for the remaining children who were there with them to bring them back to their main hideout, which I guess could be the first picture. Missions consist of finding your way through mazes of crop circles in the forest, using the environment to hide from the Grays (aliens dispatched in the forest to find escapees) and finding out what’s going on in the tower where mysterious echoing sounds of the unknown are heard in the forest every night and colored strobe lights beam through the windows. I’m thinking clues may come through some of the children in riddles and you play through occasional dream sequences (which really feel like a dream by using a dolly zoom effect and surreal and hallucinatory aesthetics and visuals in a real world to add to the mystique of the game)
Let's see what I can do. Just gonna type till lunch is over, so sorry if it stops abruptly.
The first thing the Kid saw was that tower off in the horizon, an unearthly light pouring out from it's peak. The first thing the Kid heard came from that tower, an echoing, cracking noise that managed to resonate within the ribs of the Kid's chest. The first thing the Kid felt was a stabbing pain throughout thier arm, everything below the socket felt like it was on fire. The Kid knew that something was after 'em, just didn't know what, or why. The Kid just knew that it all that mattered now was finding someplace safe.
The Kid woke up on the shore of a river that refused to flow. There was water, but it was still and stagnant as the dead on a battlefield.
The first thing the Kid saw was that tower off in the horizon, an unearthly light pouring out from it's peak. The first thing the Kid heard came from that tower, an echoing, cracking noise that managed to resonate within the ribs of the Kid's chest. The first thing the Kid felt was a stabbing pain throughout thier arm, everything below the socket felt like it was on fire. The Kid knew that something was after 'em, just didn't know what, or why. The Kid just knew that it all that mattered now was finding someplace safe.
The Kid woke up on the shore of a river that refused to flow. There was water, but it was still and stagnant as the dead on a battlefield.
"It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a shot rang out. We absconded to the tobacco factory, whose entrance had been demolished decades before. Across the moors puffed the smoke of our gas chamber, in which we cooked..."
Da winnah!! Well, at least it was the first intro sentence I actually liked. I didn't read the rest. I don't care about "horror" per se. I respond well to black comedy.
The cows, the same ones, every day. They mock me, ignoring my presence amongst them, until I shout myself hoarse.
Da winnah!! Well, at least it was the first intro sentence I actually liked. I didn't read the rest. I don't care about "horror" per se. I respond well to black comedy.
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