Because I Can

[Stardust]

I'm going to run you through my thought processes for this idea since that's the best way for me to get this into any organized form. It may also help you get an idea of what I'm shooting for. If the format is horrible I can always change it later.

Inspiration

First of all, I'll show you what inspired me. It should give you a better idea of what I'm talking about. It was the song "Pain" by Three Days Grace.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poalTChx2nk.
Lyrics:

Spoiler

Pain, without love
Pain, I can't get enough
Pain, I like it rough
'Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all

You're sick of feeling numb
You're not the only one
I'll take you by the hand
And I'll show you a world that you can understand

This life is filled with hurt
When happiness doesn't work
Trust me and take my hand
When the lights go out you will understand

Pain, without love
Pain, I can't get enough
Pain, I like it rough
'Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all

Pain, without love
Pain, I can't get enough
Pain, I like it rough
'Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all

Anger and agony
Are better than misery
Trust me, I've got a plan
When the lights go off, you will understand

Pain, without love
Pain, I can't get enough
Pain, I like it rough
'Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all

Pain, without love
Pain, I can't get enough
Pain, I like it rough
'Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing, rather feel pain

I know, I know that you're wounded
You know, you know that I'm here to save you
You know, you know I'm always here for you
I know, I know that you'll thank me later

Pain, without love
Pain, can't get enough
Pain, I like it rough
'Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all

Pain, without love
Pain, I can't get enough
Pain, I like it rough
'Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all

Pain, without love
Pain, I can't get enough
Pain, I like it rough
'Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all
Rather feel pain than nothing at all
Rather feel pain

It's an awesome song, in my opinion, but let's not get into a music debate. Anyway, that gave me the idea for all of this.

The Beginning of the Idea

I'd really like to make that song into an introduction scene. As in make it the background music during the intro and try to align the actions to the song. I'm not sure how that'll work out, but it's worth a try. XD So, I thought of what kind of scene to make it into, what type of character to use, etc. and I've been working on the idea since it first started in an attempt to refine it into something do-able. So, I started with a character idea.

The Character
Invinsible -
This is the person who will be the main actor during the intro scene. As you can tell, I'm still working on his name and appearance, but I've ironed out his personality. As a sort of ironic twist, this man will have Congenital Insensitivity to Pain, which is a disorder in which the person feels no pain. This being the case, he is extremely tough as he's plowing through guards. :wink:

In terms of personality, he's extremely frustrated. He frequently subjects his body to torture in an attempt to feel something, but it obviously doesn't work. He has a short fuse, but he's also collected and precise when he has a plan. He has trouble adjusting to new situations, however, and doesn't improvise very well.

Intro Scene
Invinsible enters a secret military labratory. After destroying two automatic security guns with pistols, he encounters some guards which he easily kills with an assault rifle. The doors lock themselves shut and a larger group of guards enter through a secret side entrance. Invinsible tosses in a grenade and then walks through the side entrance, jumping over the rubble and bodies.

Where you start controlling things
You wake up as one of the guards that was injured by the grenade. Luckily, you don't have any serious injuries and you choose to walk (since you can't run) after Invinsible. When you find a group of scientist tied up in a corner, you rescue them and ask them where Invinsible is, which is where you enter a flashback that begins to explain the story.

What's going on
What you find out pretty early in the game is that the labratory was a research facility. The scientists were working on a device that would theoretically allow someone to enter a parallel universe. The area around the facility was heavily guarded, but they were drawn away by another disturbance, allowing Invinsible to get inside. Once inside, the security system was infected by a virus, meaning the security doors behind the second group of soldiers didn't activate. Basically, Invinsible was well-prepared and countered all of the facility's defenses. Now he's used the device and the scientists don't know if it works or not.

After that
You foolishly decide to follow Invinsible. His complete annihilation of the facility's defenses makes your character furious and your character has nothing to lose - no immediate family or close friends. This is where you enter the parallel dimension. I'm still working on the parallel dimension ideas, but it's likely you'll have to fight alongside Invinsible at least once to save yourself. :wink:

_________________________________________________________

So that's what I've got so far. Unlike my previous games where I've gone solo, I'm seriously considering trying to get a team together. Lemme know what you think of this idea. I'm most flexible now because I haven't actually started making anything for it yet.

 

[Celestia Whitesword]

I do have one question, re: pre-existing music.

Are there any sort of copyright issues and restrictions in using such in a game?

 

[mawk]

whatever restrictions are placed on the music by its creator. it's generally up to them. if nothing is explicitly stated, it's safe to assume that you have to get the artist's permission. as far as commercial music goes, you probably won't get permission, but the appropriate people probably won't ever notice if it's just an rm game. if they do, though, they have legal basis to force you to remove the song and possibly pay reparations depending on the situation.

but what the fuck does that have to do with this thread?

as characters go this guy seems interesting. I'm not a fan of how directly you adapted the song into a character, but I'll try to ignore that the song was part of the creative process because really it doesn't change anything and it's a tiny nothing of a complaint in the first place.

I'm not a plot guy, so I'm not gonna dwell on that, but I wanna see what you do with this. It sounds like it could be more interesting than most rm games. generally speaking rm heroes are all either mawkishly good-hearted and credulous or have their demons but only in a way that improves their sex appeal.

as far as the plot does go, though, it seems like things might fall out after they get into the parallel dimension. I don't see how the device or the dimension have any significance to the character or story, and "chaser and his quarry forge grudging alliance to survive" is about halfway down the edge of a rut.

your character premise is interesting, and it deserves to be more than a reason to make a generic jrpg stoicguy who explains his immunity to pain in a touching monologue at some point. I don't understand why you need a macguffin to create an unrelated situation for them to deal with -- you have enough character for the plot to be more character-driven than it seems to be right now.

then again, I'm ignoring what the flashback might lend to things.

 

[Stardust]

It terms of copyright issues, I wasn't planning on making this commercial, meaning I won't make any profit off of their song (a large part of the copyright issue) and I was planning on putting the song info in the bottom left or something during the scene so they get proper credit. Don't worry; I thought about that. :wink: If they want me to remove it, I'll remove it, but it won't do any damages while I'm using it and it might be good advertisement for them.

as far as the plot does go, though, it seems like things might fall out after they get into the parallel dimension. I don't see how the device or the dimension have any significance to the character or story, and "chaser and his quarry forge grudging alliance to survive" is about halfway down the edge of a rut.

The parallel dimension definitely needs a lot more working over. This whole idea was kinda spontaneous, so it's still lacking in areas. The parallel dimension will hopefully play a somewhat vital role in the story. Invinsible's whole logic behind wanting to use the device was a hope that he would be able to find some kind of new weapon to bring back to the original dimension to decimate us (or, more specifically, medical facilities because they couldn't help him with his problem). The working together thing isn't going to turn them into goody-goody friends or anything. Gah I'd die before I did that. But when you're fighting to survive...well, it's just good business. (Random Pirates of the Carribean reference. :P)


Thanks for taking a look! I need to start getting organized with this and beging working on the intro.

 

[Celestia Whitesword]

I don't know why copyright issues were the first thing to come to mind. ^_^;; But yeah, thought I'd bring that up.

With that out of the way, I like what you have going, especially in terms of the antagonist. I'm guessing he has a motivation for entering the parallel dimension? I look forward to seeing what you do with this. Very nice premise you have going.

 

[Midnight Daydream]

I genuinely like the idea. It's not a completely new and original idea, and by that what I mean is that it doesn't "POP" substantially, but the premise is solid. You can easily add many twists and development when your story gets more evolved.

I, personally, like the fact that you based a character off of a song. The song doesn't tell you everything about your character, but it gives you a unique base to start off.

Also, one thing is, you spelled "Invincible" wrong. :biggrin: It'd be a shame if you got far into the game and realized your main character's name was spelled wrong, haha.

 

[Stardust]

Also, one thing is, you spelled "Invincible" wrong.

Haha so I did. Thanks for pointing that out! :thumb: I've always had trouble between invisible and invincible.

Also, I've decided to move this to Game Maker. You can read the blog entry explaining why here. This has kinda been put on hold because I'm working on a few other things (helping people out, getting a job, setting up Discussion Abyss, etc.), but I should be working on this again soon.

 

[candle]

When it comes to syncing the song to the animations, you night want to find a copy of the demo for Fear. I don't remember who the creator was, or if they ever finished the game, but in the intro sequence, the scene synced up perfectly with the song Fear by Sarah McLaughlin. That was actually the game that turned me onto her because I loved that song so much.