D_Flayer

[coyotecraft]

D_Flayer
The title is a mix up of the words DeFragment and MindFlayer. It's a visual novel with scifi elements. Cybernetics, A.I, that sort of thing. It's going to be a pretty short game.

[Game]
You don't know who you are. You don't know what happened to you. All you know is that you are on life support and plugged into the Deflayer program because your brain has been scrambled or something. As you progress through each level, or maybe I'll call them F_layers, you must view different facets of your personality to decide who you are. Experience different memory fragments to make up your past, goals, and relationships. Some fragments are reality. Others are fantasy or delusions. And some are fabrications created by the defragmenter to fill in missing information.
It's a "chose your own path" game but you'll have no way of knowing if the identity you built is the real you. When the process is complete the ending will depend on how much you managed to restore. If you pick too many fabricated fragments you could be declared artificial and unplugged from life support; a bad ending.

Mockup screenshot

[To do list]
Write out some more characters and situations.
Draw character portraits and a backdrops.
A special illustration for each ending.

 

[coyotecraft]

I know there isn't much to analyze.
I was just thinking how Deflayer is a weird name to look at.
Maybe D.Flayer D_Flayer d'Flayer De-Flayer

It's a virtual space. Computer program. Maybe D_Flayer.exe? no.
Execution D_Flayer. It has a double meaning. Although execution is like a punishment in terms of death. But if you die at the end of the game, it's more like termination.

 

[LiquidMetal91]

D.Flayer or Execution (or Exe.?) D_Flayer both work IMO.
And the screen is really mouthwatering :D (even if its a mockup)

 

[coyotecraft]

I should just write this like an Ad Libs game, only instead of picking verbs and nouns to create a paragraph. You pick scenes to create the story. Only it'll be less entertaining because the player can only make choices based on what I give them.

I think the goal of the game will be to figure out the right combination of fragments and find out what the real story is. Each ending hinting at what you did right or did wrong.
I'm still working out how I'm going to do this.

The basic idea is: You might pick [the girl] who [is a criminal] and [jumped off] a [bridge]. You wake up greeted by your girlfriend [the girl] so you know you are not her and she mentions bullet wounds implying you were shot.
So next you might choice [the guard] who [fell in love] and [got shot] at the [park].
[face] Uses Portrait as self
[personality] flavor of the text.
[location] background graphic
[incident] what put you on life support

If 3 or more are "fabrications", you get a bad ending. Plug pulled; no hints.

Actually I think all the pieces will be used in creating the story. So you have 3 faces to choose from. You'll assign the other 2 as [Friend] and [Foe]. The unpicked personalities are assigned to the other 2. This might get too complicated to weave. I might have to dumb this down.

 

[coyotecraft]

Got a framework up with autorun events and switches. The location and incident I'm just merging together. So it looks like there will be 9 possible scenarios depending on the personality and location. The face graphic you choose at the beginning just counts toward restoration points but doesn't change the story.

Right now all you can do is make your choices and see a restoration total based on what you picked. Then a common event resets everything.

So now I just start filling in the blanks.

 

[coyotecraft]

Crap. So this is kinda like playing Clue. But without the board or other players. You make a selection; see if you're right. Guess again.
Maybe if each scenario is long enough? I don't know where I'm going with this.

 

[Injury]

Maybe the possibility of changing what happens between the events that have transpired in events that have already happened?

IE
I choose Face A, Pers A, Background A and Incident A

but later on when I play as Face B, Pers B, Background B, Incident B, I can alter the actions of timeline A in some way. Mixing and matching incidents, or having it play out like a recreation of a scene with multiple endings, with only one being true.

Kind of like having three storylines going on at the same time, told from different views, only one is correct and it takes the correct choices from all three to see the picture, thus restoring you.

If it plays out like Clue, it's only because no one really will know what is right until they have tried it out a few times and get a feel for each aspect and consequence of actions taken in game.

I love this idea and I hope I've helped in some way!

 

[coyotecraft]

That kinda gives me an idea. You have 2 people mixed together, plus a 3rd that's a fabrication by the program. The goal is to figure out who is who. Maybe just seeing the combinations is enough.
how to write the aftermath? After you've picked the pieces and complied them into a person you could end up with Person A, Person B, the D_Flayer A.I., or something inbetween. This was all suppose to take place in a virtual space so when you wake up in the end you'll be in a body. I guess the Face you pick at the beginning would decide the body you wake up in. One ending might be person A inside person B's body.

The purpose of the location/incident/memory is to show conflict between the characters. To make things interesting. You could have a criminal's mind inside someone else's body, if he has their memories too he can trick people into believe he is that person and set free to commit more crimes. Or without the memories he gets thrown in jail.

I think I can work with that.

 

[Injury]

Write it all out, and make sure your timeline is contingent with what you have in mind! Person A diverges into Person B's story, but parts of Person B's story is fictitious because Person C is just part of assimilated memories being implanted by the computer.

Have it like Chrono Trigger where the ending is a piece of each major decision made, and the consequence...But I wouldn't think that you want an ending as long as your game, so just the good stuff probably!

Have fun!

OH and too really mess with people...You could write a random initialization event at the start, prior to selecting the character, so each play is a random combination of what is right and wrong. I think that would be a great way to have replay ability and have the player on their toes each play through.