DATAMON

[Velocir_X]

Welcome to the world of Datamon!

Spoiler: Intro

Welcome to the city of the future, an environmental paradise, with longetivity off the charts. The land where the ordinary Joe is so much more. Under the rule of the people. The place of Reality as Virtual Reality, self driving cars, and true surfing of the InFranet (a Sci-fi take on the Internet powered by Liquid Hydrogen - more on that later). Perfect in almost every aspect, or not?
Below the veil of Technology for a better world, our world of 2057s motto, lie the seeds of turmoil and distrust. Despite the apparent benefits of this new society, all is not right. There are those who have been excluded, and those who want out. What does the future hold for the humans of the future?

Mechanics Overview:

Spoiler: Datamon

Due to the advanced state of medicine humans have slight mechanical and genetic upgrades such as titanium bone matrix or immunity to many diseases, but none so drastic as to question ourselves as humans. We are interface to the world and most importantly the InFranet with AI known as Datamon, they are sequenced to our genetic personality, and are learning programs which learn along with us. These are the friends you always wished you have. Sort of like a journal you confide into that replies back. They communicate with the world (I mean stuff like buildings, we're not in life support vats) around us which is powered by similar AI (like that house powered by Cleopatra for anyone that's watched Brink!).

Spoiler: InFranet

Now here comes the only unrealistic part (please don't take it too harshly). The internet (known as the InFranet) is in two interfaces, the standard on your computer surf (like what I'm doing now) and an experience mode. Essentially you enter a terminal, and then are supercooled by liquid hydrogen (the way they do it in cryogenics) and have your body sent down to an underground transport system while your mental data along with your Datamon which is the source of your power are uploaded online as an avatar, you can then proceed to check info, travel (as your body is moved along underground to any terminal), of course conventional means of travel are also available, and play SecondWORLD. This is a very Megaman style mechanic and was mainly put in to make RPG battles feasible in a world where murder, well you get the point. However it has become interesting on its own while I am designing the story. Map design will be different from the conventional thin corridors known to those who have played Battle-Network.

ENTER THE STORY

Spoiler: Overview

You play as the first child of Samantha and Bruce Cooper. You are not anything special, and have never been so. Yours a simple middle class family, your dad, as police chief of one of the four city districts, makes a hearty amount but is no millionaire, and as such your family own a reasonably large flat in one of the city's apartment complexes (suburbia has been discontinued because the detriments of urban sprawl but suburbia still exists as the slums). Your life goes on pretty smoothly for a while (and by that I mean the title sequence and tut, where you get introduced to Datamon).
Then things change during bring your child to work day, being the oldest, Mr. Cooper naturally takes you with him to NY District Police HQ. Over the course of the day and in fact the past couple of weeks your dad, along with the rest of the district chiefs, has been negotiating with tech giant fuBAR,(anybody here has watched Saving Private Ryan??) or fully above the bar (standard). The Police HQ needs an infrastructure upgrade on its servers and fuBAR has stepped in as a possibly candidate nothing wrong right? Well not exactly; After excusing yourself for a quick restroom break, you happen overhear the CEO of fuBAR Richard Crowell reprimanding one of his Marketing Specialists screaming We need to overtake them, how else will it all work!! Sell our tech better or else! Not too legit is it??
But things don't change fast; you're not thrust into saving the world because of this one event. You continue living your life, chasing those of the opposite sex, making friendships, learning things, playing the popular online MMORPG (within an RPG ;]) SecondWORLD. Then two years later scary things about fuBAR begin to resurface. There is unrest in the slums and wrongdoing in the unemployment and uninsured wards. Because of reasons chosen by the progression of the player (such as journalism or a history project) at age fifteen you begin to investigate what's going on, and over the course of your high school years learn unexpected things about fuBAR and the Police along with the big picture
In the end, by age 18, the final choice is put up to you. YOU decide which side is the right one and what to do with it; I’m trying to make the story as non-linear as possible.

Spoiler: Setting

Datamon takes place in a futuristic city which I am designing based of cross cuts of Manhattan, Paris, Tokyo, and San Francisco. On the surface it looks like a perfect city based of Popsci's issue Ecotropolis. However, everything is not as it seems. In its vast real world based metro system graffiti is everywhere, urine in the corner, and that beggar over there plays a taped together two-string violin. The former suburbs have become horrid slums, and the uninsured wards below the hospitals are stuffed

Characters:
(I have not separated into protagonist/antagonist because it doesn't quite work like that)

Spoiler: You

This one is all up to you, and I mean it, personality is decided by the quiz in the begging, and I’m making the game as open choice as possible. In fact I’m using VE for your real world appearance, so I have absolutely no control over this character.

Spoiler: Ben(edykt) Cooper

This is your little brother (based of mine). He's the typical stereotype annoying one, who's obsessed with SecondWORLD (In my real brother's case it' Runescape).

Spoiler: Samantha Cooper

This character I need help on developing the personality, I have absolutely no clue about moms. But I have a back history. Graduated from Yale in 2030 with a masters in geography and associate degrees in business and marketing. She owns one of the cities travel bureaus.

Spoiler: Bruce Cooper

Bruce did his undergraduate work in Political Science, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, and did graduate and post-grad work in law at Harvard, Originally a Police Analyst, overtime he has risen through the rungs of the ladder to District Chief due to his hardworking nature, and knack for reopening cold cases. Your dad is gruff and has a volatile temperament, but is kind and generous and always apologizes afterwards. He is often blunt with his political opinions and is a hard right winger despite being atheist.

Spoiler: Richard Crowell

CEO of fuBAR, Richard is a prime example of someone living the American dream. Raised by a single mother in poverty, thanks to his intelligence, quick thinking, and marketing cleverness, has created one of the greatest companies of our time, comparable to the earlier Macrosoft. An avid philanthropist, Richard is often introduced by his nickname “the Lionhearted. He is polite and well mannered, and walks around with his poker face all the time – which is really good might I add, he's won several tournaments. But all is not as it seems. Richard has had a tragic past. Living alone on the streets with his single 19 year old mother, and having to fend off street gangs doesn't work well on a man. Worst of all, Richard watched as his mom died in the uninsured ward from easily treatable sepsis because an insured 83 year old investor had preference because of his status. Richard has seen a lot of bad thing in the current system, and personally doesn't think that his philanthropy is enough. He's out there to change things

Opposing forces/those in conflict:

Spoiler: The Police

The enforcers of the current law, highly trained, and highly motivated because they believe they're doing what's right. Of course there's always lobbying, bureaucracy, and corruption

Spoiler: fuBAR's Underground Wing

Masked by the many charitable organizations under Richard's jurisdiction, this is his action wing. They break the rules to do what's right for the people, and believe themselves to be Robin Hoods. In fact they are motivated by this excerpt from the Declaration of Independence:

That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.



Spoiler: The Ultimate Decision

Which side is doing the right thing?? Where do you stand?? WHY? I’m am trying to make this question as morally challenging as possible Like in the Witcher

Spoiler: Inspiration

The setting and technologies within the story are entirely based off Popsci issues, and the shows on the science Science Channel mainly the one presented late 2007 dubbed 2057, thus making most of it feasible. Credit will be given to these two sources no doubt.
As for the current political situation, it was very difficult for a 13 year old for me to develop; luckily I have had tremendous amounts of help from my father, my cousin who is currently studying human society and politics, and my uncle who has a PhD in philosophy and law.

One thing though, this in no way represents my personal political opinions,
I am a right winger - I fight against welfare and social

One More Thing:
REMEMBER TO POST!
As of Writing this I have 108 Views but only 2 posts
IT DOESN'T HELP ME IF YOU READ THROUGH IT AND NOD TO YOURSELF
I'M NOT A MIND READER
POST!!! POST!!! THAT'S WHAT HELPS ME!
I Don't Care what you post
Post What you liked
Post What you didn't
Post what needs to be improved
Post you're best thoughts
JUST FOR GOODNESS SAKE POST!

 

[ebhz.Ash.4rm]

You know, you seem to be focusing on who's right and who's wrong a bit too much, if you make it too much of a conscious choice then it could be as relevant as asking them "Will you fight for Light or Dark?" when you create your character at the beginning.

I think you should try and make it more of an underlying choice so they think about it but not as a direct right, wrong choice but instead who they would rather choose. I think if you can do that then it'll be more effective but as it is I think your game is weighing down on the right wrong a bit too much and isn't focusing on a story. Realistically, you're thirteen, do you really think you have enough life experience to give us a trip into the darker or lighter parts of human nature? Do you think you can pull this off effectively through a 2D game as well which you have little to no experience with? I think it's a bit over ambitious.

This is a very interesting project and I like the setting and way that you're looking to go about it a lot, it makes me think of (Bioshock) Rapture before it's fall but in the future. Getting the characters to be believable especially when you're going to leave it as open ended as you want it to is going to be the hard part, because you'll need more than a few extra branches of text to do this, they need to remember past conversations and build up themselves from that, having a rating from -10 to +10 in good, bad, left wing, right wing or whatever isn't going to make it as in depth as you seem to want it. How do you plan on making this world, and how do you plan on immersing us in it?

 

[Velocir_X]

Thanks for breaking the ice!
Okay now for my thoughts:

I think you should try and make it more of an underlying choice so they think about it but not as a direct right, wrong choice but instead who they would rather choose.

That's exactly what I'm going for... At first they appear to be generic right wrong, or even at the beginning they both appear right (Richard being the Lionhearted?), but as you progress perceptions change, the plot thickens and line between dark and light smears (like in real life, things are far from perfect, but we humans tend to make assumptions)... I'm going for the type of think that goes on in chapter one of the witcher - read it up on gamespot if you don't know too much about it. I apperently didn't phrase myself well enough... I have it all in my head but putting on paper effectivley has alwas been a problem of mine.

as asking them "Will you fight for Light or Dark?" when you create your character at the beginning.

I'm trying to avoid this, thanks for the help...

Realistically, you're thirteen, do you really think you have enough life experience to give us a trip into the darker or lighter parts of human nature?

Probably not... But as I said I have a phD in pilosophy and political science on my side
In addition watching the news is the highlight of my day, I've picked up a ot over my reasonably short lifetime - I hope I'm smarter than the average bear...

Getting the characters to be believable especially when you're going to leave it as open ended as you want it to is going to be the hard part

That's why as of right know I'm giving in the gap between discovery (13) and investigation (15) along with the whole point of investigating... I'm doing it to kill the whole "Go save the world now!" cliche and to provide ample place for character development and introduction to the open-endness of the game...

Do you think you can pull this off effectively through a 2D game as well which you have little to no experience with?

I have absolutley no clue...
But then again it's not like I don't have much exp with RMXP. This isn't my "first game" this is the first game I plan on sharing (the rest where, well never actually finished...). Infact I've known the program since late 2005...

I think it's a bit over ambitious.

heh, heh, ambition is my middle name... I've always been the guy that people tell "give up", "go drown in a lake!", "it won't work!" etc. somehow I always prove them wrong...
Just hope it follows suit this time...
heh, heh, you should see me in my physics class!

open ended as you want it to is going to be the hard part, because you'll need more than a few extra branches of text to do this, they need to remember past conversations and build up themselves from that, having a rating from -10 to +10 in good, bad, left wing, right wing or whatever isn't going to make it as in depth as you seem to want it.

For right now I'm using an xy coordinate system for notification (sorta like the good bad slider in fable but more complex) between morality and and position (x). It's vaguley reminisant of the DD law - x - morality system, but I'm not sure if that will cut it..
As for ingame open system. It's chosen by the player in real time, but the choices available are based on a cross reference between past choices, the above x,y system, subject preferences (like physics, math, literature, journalism etc..) and the personality decided by the quiz taken at the beginning of the game... Event scripting it is actually much easier than it sounds... All, in all I want it to work sort of like the (supposed) transition between Mass Effect 1 and 2...

How do you plan on making this world, and how do you plan on immersing us in it?

I'm doing one giant open city based off of Manhatten, Paris, Tokyo, San Fransisco - that's the whole games locale (plus suburban slums). as for immersion I'm using this one Polish RMXP (I'm polish heh) made by Titek - Parallel Worlds - as a role model...
And the whol npc matrix will be made by my offsite minions! Every single friend of mine will end up throwing in three cents... I actually have people at my school who are willing to pay for real estate in the game, you'd be surprised what people will do to be in a video game...

it makes me think of (Bioshock) Rapture

Thnx, having my idea compared to a masterpiece like Bioshock is astounding!

K,
all in all thnx for the help, feel free to criticise more, I still have ways to go...

 

[KuidonNZ]

I like the story of this game,
The 'Datamon' that although seem alot like a digimon, chobits, (If you dont know of the anime chobits, it sort like a personal computer shaped like a person that everyone has.) fusion, seem pretty interesting. But what I dont understand is where they exist.
Are they just in the InFranet or in the real world too?

I like how you plan to give us full control over what out character will be like, as it makes the player feel more involved. But wont that be a bit hard with the way the character will act in events and such?

From what Ive read the story and characters seem ok, but I would like to see more of gameplay ect when the game progresses. That way I could say more about it as a whole.

Good luck.

 

[Velocir_X]

I like the story of this game,
The 'Datamon' that although seem alot like a digimon, chobits, (If you dont know of the anime chobits, it sort like a personal computer shaped like a person that everyone has.)

I can see the similarity, when I originally thought up the game I had jus finished watching 2057 and had blown through a Pokemon gameplay spree :P

seem pretty interesting. But what I dont understand is where they exist.
Are they just in the InFranet or in the real world too?

The Datamon only exist on the infranet, they are the AI we use for interaction with it day-to-day; sort of like modern day "smar" houses
As for the Hard Drive Space they actually inhabit - which I approximate to about 100 or so terabytes
Is within you the human being.
See we are bio-mechanical with medical aids such as steel limbs and camera eyes.
And do to many of our aids on the sensory system the Datamon can interact with the real world, in addition to their digital interaction.
They're primary method of communicating is through a built into the for arm plexi-screen which als handles all our digital reactions (through them of course)
I guess you'd call it symbiosis
What do you think of THAT? :P

I like how you plan to give us full control over what out character will be like, as it makes the player feel more involved. But wont that be a bit hard with the way the character will act in events and such?

For right now I'm using an xy coordinate system for notification (sorta like the good bad slider in fable but more complex) between morality and and position (x). It's vaguley reminisant of the DD law - x - morality system, but I'm not sure if that will cut it..
As for ingame open system. It's chosen by the player in real time, but the choices available are based on a cross reference between past choices, the above x,y system, subject preferences (like physics, math, literature, journalism etc..) and the personality decided by the quiz taken at the beginning of the game... Event scripting it is actually much easier than it sounds... All, in all I want it to work sort of like the (supposed) transition between Mass Effect 1 and 2...

Is should put that up in the main post :P
One more thing - I am also using visual equipment...

From what Ive read the story and characters seem ok, but I would like to see more of gameplay ect when the game progresses. That way I could say more about it as a whole.

How about this:
I am using the XAS abs for battles - which only occur on the internet
And I'm planning for all my dungeons to incorporate both
the non-battling "real world" persona
and the digital "fused" persona
in puzzles
What do you think of that glimpse :P
Anyway I will update the thread with ideas as I get them
though that might be difficult because of my writers block :P

Good luck.

Thank you

 

[Hybrida]

Due to the advanced state of medicine humans have slight mechanical and genetic upgrades such as titanium bone matrix or immunity to many diseases, but none so drastic as to question ourselves as humans. We are interface to the world and most importantly the InFranet with AI known as Datamon, they are sequenced to our genetic personality, and are learning programs which learn along with us.

Wow pretty impressive. So people can get smarter fast and almost never get sick?

Datamon takes place in a futuristic city which I am designing based of cross cuts of Manhattan, Paris, Tokyo, and San Francisco. On the surface it looks like a perfect city – based of Popsci’s issue Ecotropolis. However, everything is not as it seems. In its vast real world based metro system graffiti is everywhere, urine in the corner, and that beggar over there plays a taped together two-string violin. The former suburbs have become horrid slums, and the uninsured wards below the hospitals are stuffed…

(if you see strange letters its because that's what I see in my browser)
Your game setting seems to be pretty good, I would love to see a map of this (when ever you make one)

 

[twelvestarfish13]

Wow that's really cool :biggrin:

 

[Æ№∞₧]

On offense, but all digimon/pokemon clones suck. Even remaking pokemon games with XP is not a good idea.

 

[Jason]

On offense, but all digimon/pokemon clones suck. Even remaking pokemon games with XP is not a good idea.

/facepalm

Dude, seriously, just stop.

Have you even read the story at all ?

I mean, just because it doesn't have monsters being trapped inside a dark portal, that on the the guardian will let in or out (Why the FUCK would he let monsters in, that means they've had to have been let out to be able to go back in), and it doesn't have anything about Kevins parent's getting killed, doesn't mean it isn't an epic game such as your own.

 

[Velocir_X]

Thank you very much for clarifying that up Jrist
I understand there may some resemblance as I had finished playing through Pokemon at the time

But Mr. TG did you at all read the description in the mechanics overview?
They are a single assigned AI
The closest resemblance in the pokemon world are the rescue teams (which indeed I was playing)
You did not mention these at all; and in truth it still doesn't work like that
It seems as if you did that grouping simply because there is a "mon" ending
and truth be told I am perfectly willing to change that;
I have never been good at making up names
In fact the closet resemblance in other games are the Navis in Megaman
It would of been most appropriate to call it a Megaman clone
And yet I took steps to avoid such a grouping
The "mon" are not humanoid and do not "jack in"
there is a cryogenics process involved in order to acess "the net" in such a manner
In adition there is a major difference in battle system from all the games mentioned
I am using XAS Abs a Zelda-style system (And if you didn't realize there is no resemblance there)
And I am attempting to create a dark morally challenging story
which is more similar to modern games such as Bioshock or the Witcher
and not the trivial make-believe matters mentioned in such Nintendo games.
I am striving for the perfection presented in the the Witcher's First Act.
Following excerpt taken from the Gamespot Review

It shouldn't be much of a surprise that the line between good and evil here isn't a very thick one. Everything is a murky gray. The first act is simply astonishing in how it plays out. You start off trying to track down the bad guys who raided your witcher fortress and killed one of your pals, but soon get involved in a feud that pits the religious leader and nobles of a hamlet against a witch. However, nobody's hands are clean. One merchant you deal with is in cahoots with the evil cult you're hunting. A guard you help with a ghoul problem turns out to be a rapist. The village priest you're helping cleanse the region of a demonic dog called "the Beast" is actually a misogynistic lunatic. And the witch isn't much better, given that she's sold poison used in a suicide and employed a voodoo doll to make one of the local bigwigs kill his brother. By the end of the act, in a showdown complete with burning torches and pitchforks, you're forced to choose between the woman-hating, rape-loving, cult-affiliated mob and the murdering witch. It makes the most sense to side with the witch because the villagers are an awfully sleazy lot, but doing so forces you to slaughter virtually all of them and leave their town burned to the ground.

So no, The Witcher sure isn't all sunshine and lollipops. But even though you might need a few Prozac pills to handle the game's bleak tone, the story becomes incredibly compelling when you have so much riding on your actions. Characters seem like real people, not the good-evil-neutral triad of stereotypes that populate most fantasy games.

(note I apoligize for my constant comparisons but the Witcher is my favorite game of all time :])
So in the end I hope you read this and smile looking forward to my project
As I look forward to your improved next one

Also:

doesn't mean it isn't an epic game such as your own

I apologize JBrist but the comparison is uncalled for:
It is impossible to make a game as epic and open as THE DARK PORTAL :P

 

[DojoDesigns]

1. Love the idea for storyline, definitely sensing a bit of an Ultraviolet vibe mixed with some Matrix and some eXistance in the loop.

2. Would like to see some screenies if possible.

 

[Celestia Whitesword]

Wow, dude! From what I've managed to get from it all, it sounds like a pretty neat premise. I particularly dig the bit about playing a game while in suspended animation.

Admittedly, I sort of skimmed things. ^_^;; But so far, looks like you've got a hella good premise. And it's neat that you're creating a world where there's no clear cut good and evil, black and white, but a lovely number of shades of grey.

And, nothing wrong with being ambitious. I too am from the "go big or go home!" school.

 

[Velocir_X]

Thank you two very much for the compliments,
This is a premise I've been working on for a while
I want it to be something absolutely new, plausible and cool

It is perfectly understandable to skim,
This is one heck of a wall of text...
I am hoping to get some screenies up soon enough so that its not as compressive
but the tileset I'm working on is so annoying - glass everywhere @_@

Well anyway thanks a bundle for the posts :biggrin:

 

[Celestia Whitesword]

I also like that you're making it so that there's more than one way to go about things. I'm guessing that you're also going for multiple endings and all?

 

[Velocir_X]

Yup - I want at least ten - heh, I'm insane :crazy:

 

[Celestia Whitesword]

Yup - I want at least ten - heh, I'm insane :crazy:

Nothing wrong with that. It just means that you'll be offering a variety of experiences for the player on multiple re-plays. Perhaps have things involved that determine that "if they do this, they will get ending 1. But if they decide to go elsewhere and do that, things will lean towards ending 2"?

Will there also be something akin to KotOR's Dark and Light endings, as well as a number of "Grey" endings?

 

[Velocir_X]

Yeah something akin to that except more like this:

Ending 1: fuBAR is taken down, everything runs smoothly
---Ending 1b: you decided that fuBAR had some valid points, laws are repealed

Ending 2: You join forces with Richard, many laws are repealed
--- Ending 2b: You kill Richard, The city falls under anarchy

Of course these are very vague examples,
but they give you the general structure
3 or 4 main endings, but many ways to change their flavor depending on individual choices

 

[Celestia Whitesword]

Yeah something akin to that except more like this:

Ending 1: fuBAR is taken down, everything runs smoothly
---Ending 1b: you decided that fuBAR had some valid points, laws are repealed

Ending 2: You join forces with Richard, many laws are repealed
--- Ending 2b: You kill Richard, The city falls under anarchy

Of course these are very vague examples,
but they give you the general structure
3 or 4 main endings, but many ways to change their flavor depending on individual choices

I really like that a lot. Seems like it's really deep, with lots to do between the beginning or end.

 

[KuidonNZ]

I dont really like the subtitle...
"How Is The Future?"
What does that even mean, It sounds like it was asked badly...

Anyway you game looks like its developing well Velocir_X, youve thought about this a lot.

 

[Velocir_X]

Meh the Akuma's logo center was asking for subtitles,
so me and my pal just decided "What The Hell... Lets do it!"
I can get it fixed if its that much of a problem