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Untamed Cherry Cascade
5a5dd4
I also apologize for flipping shit.
I do not, however, apologize for writing massive posts. (massive post warning)
I’ll probably be less longwinded once we properly pin down an idea.
Welp, I'm a bit late to the idea train, and 'simulation' seems to be a pretty good concept to work from, but right now it seems like most of you are thinking about it as just a framing device. You know, just a reason to explain why a character would actually be in all of these different situations.
So I've been thinking about how the concept of a simulation could affect a game mechanically. Like, what you could do with gameplay rather than story to explore the concept of simulations.
IDEA #1: What kind of person would need to be put into simulations of 'normal' situations?
The protagonist is a soldier/marine/whatever returning from a military operation that can really only be described as a clusterfuck. As such, the protagonist does not consciously remember most of what happened and they're wracked with PTSD and general craziness. They're not reintegrating into normal society very well, so they are placed into a reintegration program involving simulations.
So, the first half of the gameplay would be the rehabilitation simulations, which would basically just be like, talking to people, fetch quests, puzzles and minigames, with zero combat. Everything would be kind of feel-good, society would be a little idealized, and everyone gets along just fine.
The second half of the game would be the protagonist remembering parts of the military operation, and would be heavy on combat, strategy, and generally fucked up situations. Like dealing with a hostage situation that goes south, operating under orders to take no prisoners (and having people try to surrender to you), and generally trying to make the best of situations where there is no 'good' outcome.
So, from the start of the game, the distinction between the two would be very clear. Like, you finish a day of simulation and wake up to a memory. As time goes on, the distinction would become less clear, and events within the simulation itself, like loud noises or familiar sights or whatever, would trigger relapses into war-memories. So like, you might be in a simulation where you have to get a part from a store down the road for whatever, but the second you step outside you're in full combat gear and being shot at. And then, upon acquiring the part and making it back to the building, everything is simulation-normal again and the simulation doesn't acknowledge your memory-hallucinations.
At the most messed up you could have both things existing side by side at the same time, so you'd have to like, flip burgers and complete simulation activities while dodging memory gunfire and grenades.
Blah blah blah, it all leads up to some big reveal about what actually happened, which would be something along the lines of the protagonist trying to be heroic and save the world and totally fucking it up.
And then you wake up and have some sort of real-world conclusion level. I dunno.
Anyways, the main point would be the contrast between the calming, upbeat simulation setting and the high-stress, depressing war setting.
Engine wise, I'm thinking maybe something like Hotline Miami, what with the topdown perspective and mouse aiming. This'd give you lots of room for adventure game type puzzles for the simulation half, while still being suited to the combat of the war half. A dialogue system similar to that in fallout (or any other game with dialogue trees) would easily fit on top and allow for character interaction.
IDEA #2: What kind of person would need to be put into simulations of messed up situations?
The protagonist is a settler/colonist average joe on a colony ship that is headed to some shithole death planet. En-route to the planet, they undergo simulation training to help prepare you for life in the shittiest place ever.
Gameplay would switch between simulation activities, like going to get a part, being mauled by an animal, seeking help and eventually completing your task, and real-world on-ship activities. Ship activities could be anything from team building exercises with your fellow settlers to flirting with whoever to dealing with minor ship emergencies. Maybe somebody freaks out over how they're basically condemned and tries to hijack an escape pod or something.
A big part of the shipboard time could be about talking to your fellow colonists about the simulations and dealing with the fact that you will all probably die on this death planet.
Much like idea #1, the main idea would be to show the contrast between the relatively calm life on the ship and the significantly less calm simulation settings.
With this you could have totally different playstyles between the ship sections and the simulation sections because they aren't so closely related. So, running around on the ship could play like a point and click adventure game, while simulated segments could work more like an SRPG.
IDEA #3: A simulation where the user/patient isn't supposed to be aware they're in a simulation.
The protagonist is a vat-cloned soldier in simulation training. Now, this is a society that uses vat-cloned soldiers, so the simulation isn't particularly good or even very accurate. It's more or less half shitty training manual half propaganda, and is pretty much more about teaching the soldiers to hate their enemies than it is about actually teaching them to fight.
Basically, you'd hit all of the standard video game tropes and parody the hell out of them.
Like, oh no, your hometown that you totally grew up in was burned down while you were off on an errand, and your stern but loving father figure has been mortally wounded! With his dying breath, he bequeaths to you an ancestral family weapon which is rumored to have once been used by heroes of old! (The weapon in is a standard issue military side arm.) But that alone is not enough! After rigorous training with the heirloom, you must set out on a quest to retrieve the rest of the legendary hero's equipment! (A combat knife, an assault rifle, grenades, spacefuture night vision goggles, and maybe a uav controller or something) You finally save the day from the evil threat (the enemies of the nation funding the soldier program) but are mortally wounded in your final fight! You are entombed in the great hall of heroes to be awoken when the world needs you next! (The hall of heroes looks exactly like a standard cloning vat chamber)
So yeah. Parody and satire the hell out of everything and generally make fun of the concept of simulation trained vat-cloned soldiers.
Again, this could work for most game types. Something Zelda styled with a retrieve new item and mcguffin from dungeon format could be interesting to play with.
And a few random other thoughts/ideas.
How does the simulation respond to failure? There isn't any reason for the protagonst to forget what happened between the last save and failure, so playing with the protagonist remembering things from failed attempts at a simulation could be fun. Maybe like, even have the simulation chastise the protagonist for trying to cheat with knowledge they shouldn't have yet, like the combination to a lock or something similar.
IS the protagonist aware that they're in a simulation? Do they try to metagame the simulation like a gamer would metagame a videogame? Do they bother flirting with people they know aren't real? If they don't know about the simulation, how do they reconcile failed attempts and whatever, and how do they react upon finding out that everything they know is fake?
Similarly, are they in the simulations voluntarily or have they been forced into it? If it's voluntary, why have they chosen to do so?
How do the experiences of the simulation affect how the character acts outside of it? If simulation is a common technology, how does it affect other characters?
Simulations don’t really mix well with character interaction/flirting. I mean, if half the characters aren’t real, what’s the point? It’d either have to happen outside of the simulation, or between real-world characters that are in some sort of co-op simulation.
Simulations also don’t really work well with exploration. In-story, everything in the simulation had to be programmed by someone, so having secrets or whatever in a military training simulation would be a little weird. Again, exploration could happen outside the simulations, be that in whatever the real world is or, as is the case in my first idea, within the protagonist’s memories/dreams/hallucinations.
Also, I’m still not sure that a SRPG is the best fit for whatever we end up doing. It seems like it would limit us to a very rigid template of overworld, turn based battles, and dialogue/cutscene when it wouldn't be that much more difficult to have real time combat or sneaking or whatever and whatever weirdness we desire.
Like, really, I think it'd be easier for me to make a compelling real time combat system like you might find in a Zelda or Metriod game than a balanced and interesting turn-based system like in Final Fantasy or Pokemon.
I'd still be down to try whatever if that's what we ultimately decide on, but eh.
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