Legacy of Darkness

[Cait]

Concept - You are a young woman with no memories, hoping that something on the island might unlock something from your past as to why you came to this island to begin with. You must go around solving mysterious, there are no right or wrong answers; only things that don't get your killed in the process.

GAME GENRE: Survival horror, exploring, puzzles
Plot: You play as a young woman who is found floating in the ocean, an apparent survivor from a pirate attack on the ship she was traveling on. However, when asked questions, it is discovered that she has lost her memory. The Lord of the Mage Knights believes that if you search the island, you might jog your memory of why you came to the island to begin with. He assigns Chris, to help you.
Goal: Your job is to search the island, the ruins and as you do, memories do begin to appear, but they are not your memories. A mystery that's a 150 in the making, a lot power and someone whose taking an interest in your character. Can you solve the mystery, find the lost power and discover who you really are?

Mage Knights - A circle of twelve nobles who each bear a ring, a symbol of the power of the counsel, only people with certain blood lines can use the rings. They ruled until 150 years ago, when the island was invaded and one of their own betrayed them. Ten of Mage Knights were known to be killed, but the fate of the one who betrayed him as well, as the fate of the last was unknown. The circle was broken without the two rings, and they were taken over by the invading army. The Mage Knight's power was dissolved, but were kept around to protect the island. When the Rings are together, they have a power that only exists as long as the rings are worn and are together. The two most powerful rings are the Rings of Heaven and Earth, which are the two missing rings.

(History known)
The purpose of the Mage Knights is to rule the island through the power of the twelve rings, protecting it's citizens from whatever is threatening them. When they don't fight anyone who attempted to invade (not often as they are an island), they battle creatures or demicitizens of the dark underworld who come up into the light. They ruled until about 150 years ago, when the Lord of Heaven betrayed the Mage Knights, and the island was conquered by a foreign king, who all, but dissolved the mage knights of power. There only purpose these days is to battle the underworldly creatures and keep the peace as soldiers only. Many of the skills have been lost, because the older people who knew them had been killed in the invasion or by the traitor.

Important characters -
Lord Kaiser Wilburn - the traitor, Lord of the heavens, his statues have all been destroyed as his name is connected with evil, and his name has been tainted in the minds of the people. Even to this day, while they know he was killed, no one knows where he was killed and where his body lay buried.
Lord Christopher Rhenhart - the last Mage Knight, the one who murdered Kaiser was the lord of the Earth. His ring as well, as Kaiser's was lost. He is Chris' great-great-great-great grandfather, the one who lost the ring and made Chris in the position that he currently is in. He was best friends of Kaiser who betrayed everything the knight's stood for.

Characters
Sara - a young girl on the way to the island where her ship is attacked and she loses her memory. she has a birth mark on her arm, and is foreign to the island. Without knowing who she is, she can not hope to return home to the people who love her and care for her.
Chris - The young lord in name only without the ring of earth, he has no power in the counsel which is even more of a joke.

Action or game play: The game play will consist of searching through dungeons, ruins and other places through out the island. However, you might not always be able to search a place, without the proper tool. (Think of Legend of Zelda tools) Except with the fact that everything around you might kill you, and is as deadly as the monsters. I was thinking of a mouse system (if there is one) where you click on items and you can chose to look, read, pick up, or examine.

For example: You are heading to the beach to locate bags from the ship (to see if one of them belongs to you), a tree is in the path of the river, and you must find a way passed it to get to the beach. Do you a. crawl around it, b. chop it into tiny bits, c. ask someone else to move it, d. Find another path, e. Push it off of the cliff? So in a way, it's like a chose your own adventure game which could in fact change the outcome of the game to begin with. Now, here's where it would get interesting, you chose to ultimately ask someone, but if they had something they wanted you to do? But what if you got lazy and just crawled around it, what would happen?

a. you fall to your doom, you're too close to the cliff.
b. uh, oops, something is sleeping in there and they didn't like being woken up.
c. Nothing, you trip, but bruise your ankle.
D. If you push it, what if you wake up the creature and it kills you?

Gaining memories - The whole goal is to collect memories, each memory is connected to a certain item (as in real life, we see an item, we remember things), but in the game, they will likely be represented by a graphic that would appear when you examine the object. I am even thinking about certain interactions for different things might get a memory, some big, some small. The memories are represented by objects being surrounded in light, that only the main character can see for some reason.

Battles: I was thinking of an ABS type of battle system, but with a mouse script, not sure.
Travel and exploring the island, you will use tools, and the people you meet in order to get to all the places you need to go.

Conclusion: (o.o) I recognize that I might need help one this one, as I really do want to release it, because my concept is a mystery, but in a world where anything can kill you. Nothing is clear cut, a single innocent action might lead to your death, or it might not. What you say or what you do will affect how you solve this mystery and how easy it is. well, this is going to be interesting. I am going to write out the script, this coming week and then, I'll know what maps I need.




RECRUITMENT

Spoiler

http://www.arpgmaker.com/viewtopic.php?f=220&t=74981

 

[regi]

It's a decent concept, albeit cliched, though that's not necessarily a bad thing. You put a nice twist, for example, on the amnesia thing, where you find another's memories rather than your own. All of this sounds super vague, though. What are the Mage Knights purpose? Why do they protect the isle?

Also, you might want to elaborate on gameplay elements. How do battles work (default, turn-based or action-based?) If there's not much focus on them, you could scratch a battle system entirely and work with running away from monsters, for example (as this is survival horror). Searching for clues seems like a potentially fun puzzle. Keep polishing the plot and gameplay and you should have something pretty solid.

 

[Cait]

I haven't given much thought as to game play, a fault I know. But I think clearing up the mage knights is the first step in the business. Will edit the above post, to tell some history of the known events from 150 years ago and the purpose of the mage knights.

 

[Cait]

Small update:
I've been thinking about the game and monsters. It is my desire to have a game that the monsters don't play a major role, which means, it will be similar to Zelda and you'll get occasional update in levels. I want to use a mouse system where you use the mouse to examine items, interact with the environment, talk with people, and move. I am going to have the environment be as deadly as monsters are, creatures with animal or human reactions (depending on the intelligent level of the creatures). I have also been thinking about how to locate these memories, solving the puzzle and I've thought about it a lot.

CONCEPT FOR FINDING THE MEMORIES.
Memories are normally attached to items or places. Well, I've been thinking about some sort of light glowing symbol that only she can see or little light fairies (sort of like Zelda's fairies). of course, with each memory you would receive a picture or a flashback. I am not sure how exactly.

MONSTERS: Fighting monsters are merely apart of the environment, meaning they will attack you, but not important. You are free to run away, or fight...I don't want monsters to play a major role in the game, battles take over when you have rpg battles. My game will not have levels, but sort of like Zelda where you get gain more life at certain points. (^_^) Apart of the danger will be the environment and what equipment you have, or are able to get, through interaction with not only the environment, but people as well. (o.o) I want to create a game where you don't just push a button, but forces you to think, react and solve situations (aka ethical situations that people might find themselves in).

If anyone has any suggestions as to how to achieve this, please go ahead and post! Normally, I've only thought of RPGs, but some of the greatest games I've enjoyed as deja vu, shadowgate, Manic Manson, King's Quest, resident evil, and zelda. I thought a mixture of all three (or a little bit out of each system would be best) to creature a whole new game genre!