Hello I'm DangerKitty nice to meet you. I'm a novice writer and Video game developer. seeking for a way to develop these two skills i decided to do a quest that i will turn into a text adventure/Choose your own adventure video game after the quest is completed. It will be free! So there will be one major difference between votes in this game. "Permanent votes" and everything else. Permanent votes are decisions that can be made in the quest but will not be included into the game after completion and will be hard baked into the story. This is to cut down on the amount of time it will take to develop the story as i will need to flesh out the storyline to all paths not taken. So make sure to vote! This story is about despair and hope. A classic pair. This is my first quest however and i am doing this to improve my writing so please give me feedback
Attempted Suicide. Not graphic
As you watch people get up to leave your fathers funeral you think I never quite realized how much of your life can hang on a single person. You watch as your dad's co-workers leave, you watch as the neighbor leaves, as your dads manager leaves and you let out a small sigh as everyone with the thinnest of connections to your father file out one by one. It was a small funeral, the kind that you might give from obligation than respect. You knew your father was a serious man, but you thought that surely he had some friends, somewhere to get away from your ever loud house. As you sit there you hear a lady call the funeral "quaint" behind her silken veil to a muttering of agreements. You look around and the plain grey walls, the dull and barely swept floor, the smattering of chairs and your fathers casket and you suppose you must agree. At least the roof is open.
You lean back in your chair watching your mother desperately try to keep her hands from shaking as she stares at your father's casket. For some reason that hurts you in way few things have since you got the news about the factory's accident.
"Even in a time like this she refuses to break." Your brother voices your thoughts as he stands up and fixes his the sleeves of his borrowed suit. "Is this what we have to look forward to? A "Quaint" little funeral?" His voice seems to be resigned, ragged in ways he rarely did when he wasn't looking at the end of a bottle. At least he was sober today.
You sigh as you look up towards the sky watching a warship begin to depart," You know that's what he had in his will, he wanted better for us. He would have had us burn his body in the gutter if he thought he could get away with it. He always pinched money in some of the strangest ways." The ship begins fade into the blue sky.
Your brother gives you a sharp look," Yeah, but that's fucked up. He deserved better than that. He deserved better than what he got. You know that." You nod in response. He seems to want to continue, but he glances away and quickly leaves as your mother approaches.
"I hope that he understands why your father wanted this" Your mother whispers and she watches him stride away. She lays her hand on your shoulder, her grip is firm, both hand and voice devoid of the grief you know she hides. "We need the money so you all can get into a school."
You stand up and give her a thin smile, "He knows, but I think it hurts him to see how little people cared about his passing." You take her hand as you both begin to leave. She would stay much longer straightening chairs and finding all sorts of little excuses to stay but the streets are not completely safe at night, even in times like these.
"All the people who needed to care, do. I hope one day his heart can understand that even if his mind does not." She says as she allows you to lead her away.
You give her a non-committal grunt of agreement before you step into the hallway you glance up at the sky, but the ship is already gone. A shame really, you love the way the sky seems to twist as the warp drives kick in and there are few places that give such a clear view of the sky.
_
As the days tick by your life continues its routine, but without your father or your brother. After he left that funeral you have yet to see him. You know he is alive or the authorities would have come again but whatever he is doing you know does not include his job. The weapons facility reported him absent when your mother called. She is more annoyed than worried but insists that he just needs time to himself to grieve when you talk over dinner.
You think little of it yourself however, in fact you are a little bit jealous. You could never just skip your work like that, you need the money and you know it. A few days after his disappearance as you are about to press your finger to the pad to come back from your lunch shift you think, just for a moment what would happen if you just walked away and took a train to the cluster. You have always looked upon those manifold gleaming towers of strange and alien metals on the horizon and you have always wanted to see them up close, but the moment passes and you step inside. As you take your place on the line and your coworkers welcome you back, you think yourself a coward. You had always thought that had been your lazy brother but maybe you were wrong.
It nears the end of the week as your mother begins to show signs of worry in the ways that only she does. You eat dinner with silverware that has been cleaned several times over as you lament that if your brother were ever around often enough to see when mother gets like this then he would not think her so cold.
That night you wake up from your sleep in a hot panic, you know not why but your dreams have been… intense as of late. Yet try as you might you cannot seem to remember anything. Tonight is different, however, as you bolt up from sleep you remember.
You remember all of it. The gnashing teeth and flashing steel, a tide of beasts flooding down a hill in a wave of savage unadulterated fury. You remember as you heft your spear. You remember you breath slowly escapes you as the tide rolls closer and you can almost feel it as the air thickens with their unnatural fury. Then they are upon you and you struggle in what seems like a vain thrashing. They trample you as you curl into a ball and struggle to resist gnashing teeth and crooked claws. Your dream blurs and you awake.
Deeply disturbed you take a shower as if to wash the dream away. You look up nightmares on the web and the best your search can give you is that your mind is trying to make sense of your father's death through morbid dreams. Rattled but still shakily holding yourself together you force yourself to sleep with a pill.
_
The days pass and you grow restless, your dreams force you to think more and more of your father's death. Your dreams are an endless cycle of terrible beasts and looking for survivors among the twisted, half eaten corpses left behind. You stop attempting to sleep without medication. It costs money, money you can't afford but you have to be awake at your job if you want to keep it.
The second week begins to draw to a close as your mother starts to worry more and more. It takes quite a bit of effort to convince her to give your brother just a little longer. Still you are starting to find it difficult to not share her worry when your brother comes home.
You notice he is still wearing the suit he was at the funeral and you can't help but think of the enormous fee the shop will charge as your mother embraces him. That shocks both of you. You and your brother sit down as mother prepares a dinner that is only slightly larger than usual. You listen to him explain how he wandered the slums and went to the cluster before he was chased away. How he needed time to cope with the whole situation. You tune out until he states that he is going to join the army as a medic. At this your mothers face goes slack and you cover your ears before she explodes at him. You leave them to argue before you go to your room.
Later you go to find him on the roof of your apartment complex standing and looking up at the sky crowded by shabby yet sturdy towers.
"So what really happened?" You ask as you come to stand beside him. He responds with a full bellied laugh.
"What gave me away?"
Your snort as you narrow your eyes but he is still looking up with a faint smile, "Cut the bullshit, you didn't even try that hard. That suit would be far dirtier if you even stepped a foot in the slums, not that you could get away with wearing it there anyways." You go over and lean against the door to the inside. "Speaking of which – what the fuck is wrong with you? You disappear for weeks, you've lost your job and that suit is probably reported stolen at this point. We are scraping by paying for our bills and getting ready for your damn school and now you want to join the army? You know that's a god damn death wish. No one comes back from that, those god damned bugs don't leave survivors" you pause to gain control of yourself with a deep breath and finish "just don't lie to me, please?"
His smile is gone now as he comes over and sits down next to you, "Well it was not all a lie. I did go to the cluster, bummed around there for a bit. Got away with it for a while too on account of the suit probably. Eventually the authorities started to shoo me away. Got mad, they locked me up for a day but it wasn't anything serious." That worries you. Your record is of utmost importance "anyways I got to talking with one of the guards, told him bout dad and all that. He recommended me to this place called the clinic." You can't ignore that.
"We do NOT have the money for some bullshit "medical bills". We don't have the money for some bullshit medical addiction." You scold.
He laughs," Nah man, not like that. Honestly it's kind of a seedy place. Don't get me wrong, its all shiny and clean and shit. After all it is in the cluster, but the people there kind of dodge your questions. Pretty sure it's some illegal testing or something."
"You gonna sprout a third eye, become one of those bugs?" you joke halfheartedly.
"Nah man I'm serious, they do more like mind stuff."
"Oh so you're gonna be a psychic huh? What am I thinking?"
He gets frustrated," NO! They put you in this goddamned machine and it fucks you up. Some shit about experiencing the lives of others. They said it is supposed to help you overcome trauma. They allowed me to do it for free because there can be some bad side effects and they are still trying to figure them out." His outburst surprises you. At the very least you think he's serious. Some time passes as you both watch the clouds drift over the stars. His breathing slows down and you decide to continue the conversation.
"So why would they be testing with something like that?"
His voice is calm now that you are not berating him," Well based off of what they said, probably help soldiers get over their trauma so they can go back to the front lines, but I think that's only a part of it."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, it just can't be only a dream. It's too real and you actually get and retain the majority of the skills of whoever you live as. They probably want to train people with it." You finally look at your brother and he looks at you. His eyes are much sterner than you remember, it almost reminds you of father," When they took me out believe it or not I could actually use….magic." and at that you can't help but snicker but his face remains dead serious.
"They proved magic doesn't exist though." You say and he nods," I thought you were in the dreams of an "ancestor" or something not something so….exotic."
"Yeah, they were very interested in it too. I could do it for a bit but I can't anymore, they wouldn't tell me why but I think I know. I think they figured out some way to have you sit in on the life of someone in another world. When I came back I think I took a piece of them with me. There was an energy inside of me, like mana in video games but once I ran out doing circus tricks for them it just wouldn't refill. I think it is because there is no qi to draw upon in our world."
You sigh, he really was going for this wasn't he," So what does that have to do with you joining the army?" you ask.
He grimaces and he voice goes tight," I was a guard at the beginning when the village I protected was destroyed by heavenly beasts. They are beasts sent by heaven to punish humans who dare to try and learn to use qi. But to call them beasts is a disservice to their terror, they are fucking demons. I remember when they came down upon me like a wave of unholy terror. I've never been more terrified in my life."
Suddenly you find his story a tad more believable. You shiver as you remember those terrible nights you spent fearing sleep and your brother buries his head in his hands.
"The damage they cause-"he continues with a fear and awe in his voice that sends shivers down your spine," it beggars belief. When I remember the devastation left behind by them I can't help but think of our family. Our corpses turned to paste beneath the feet of those bugs as they rain hell down from the sky when they finally make it to our world. I can't let that happen."
That kills the conversation for a long while as you stew on what he has said. You notice that the sky is beginning to brighten as you say "Are you sure they didn't mind wipe you? Or that maybe the piece of this person you took back with you isn't causing this? Maybe it will go away if you wait?"
Your brother stands and starts to head inside, after he opens the door he pauses," You might be right, but honestly I can't go back to who I was before. Whatever happened, I have been changed. That may be disturbing to you and you may think I'm throwing my life away, but even if I am I want to die for something worthwhile." The door starts to swing shut as he walks inside
"And I can't think of anything more worthwhile than my family."
_
In the week that comes your brother begins to prepare everything he will need to join the army. He is a constant flurry of activity as he gets his things in order while arguing or dodging mother. You continue working but you can't shake what your brother told you. Alternate worlds and all that stuff you still can't quite believe aside you cannot deny his apparent conviction. You half expect him to just drop what he is doing some day and just say it was all a joke, but as time continues you realize it is not. He has already declared that the money that was for his school should go to you. But you don't know what to do with it, he may have been lazy in some ways but your brother was always smart than you. He was supposed to be the one to lift the family out of this dump.
At work you think of all the possibilities but they just don't seem real to you. You cannot imagine yourself as a scientist, engineer or whatever. It's too sudden and too much has happened far too quickly for you to adjust. Your brother suggests that you become a deep space researcher, the bugs don't inhabit THAT much of the galaxy after all. But you are too afraid that you might run into something even worse, which he admits is technically possible.
Slowly you realize that you never had anything you actually wanted for yourself, you had always put your family first. This realization makes you feel empty, your job at the factory starts to become unbearable. You can't stop thinking of your father. How we worked his entire life to provide for his family and died having never done anything for himself. You were trapped in his legacy. You cared so much for your family that you never even considered doing anything for yourself and now that you have the chance you can't take it because of all the ways it could go wrong. You begin to drown in your own mind.
You admit as much to your brother later that night as he is packing to leave the next morning. You admit that you are weak. You admit that you are pathetic and you admit that you could not do what he is doing. His rebukes and reprisals don't reach you. His praise falls on deaf ears. He begins to yell at you and scream at you, which attracts your mother. You curl in on yourself as their praise of your cowardice stings you, bruises you.
The next day you find a scrap of paper in your room with an address and a code carefully written in your brothers' handwriting. You wearily stuff it into a drawer
A few days later you are working in your factory when you try to take your own life. A friend coworker stops you and you are suspended from your job. You arrive home and eat dinner with you mother like nothing happened. As you lay in bed, you begin to cry. Then you remember, you remember the claws, the steel. The primal terror that still sears your mind. You reach into your drawer.
_
Morning breaks as you enter the clinic. The receptionist smiles as she greets you. It dies on her face when she sees your plain and sweat drenched clothes, and she freezes when she reads your note. The instructions and doors that you undergo pass like a dream. Blindfolds, bright lights and eyes that look at you like so much trash. Soon you find yourself naked and lying in a machine as they instruct you to try and hold the problem you want to resolve in your mind. Your "Wish". Then the lid closes.
Pain racks your body as you feel as though your very being is ripped out of you. You feel nothing as you drift in what you can only perceive as an endless abyss. Then you shout your wish into that great void. You wish for the blade and claw, to torn asunder and made anew. You wish to be more. Liberated, a feeling of peace washes over you as you wait to become something, anything.
In that great and peaceful nothing, you are heard.
You will be attached to a formidable warrior in another world. Be warned that every class will have weakness you may not foresee. A mighty warrior may not know how to get around anything beyond the simplest of traps. A paladin may be immune to being tempted by petty treasures, but fall for even the most shoddy of rebukes against his god.
[] what are you known for? (Permanent decision)
-[] A Mighty Warrior you strike down your opponents in great and terrible blows
-[] A Crafty and Versatile Mage you always have a spell for every situation
-[] A holy knight, You Mete out justice with an iron fist.
-[] Write in (Must be approved)
[] What weapon do you wield? (Write in) (Permanent decision)
[] You have a partner on this quest are they
-kindred spirits (is likely to share weaknesses and strengths but reduces social friction)
-neutral (May be some overlap in strengths and weakness but not too much, relationship depends on your actions and character)
-grudging partners (They cover for your weakness and you for theirs, however you have an unresolved issue between you.)
Character Stat Sheet
Julius Ofschneyda Lvl 5 Grand mage Age: 53
HP 15
(OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO)
MANA 25
(OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO)
????? ??/??
()
????? ??/??
()
Bio Summary From an Anonymous Anasharian storyteller
Julius Ofschneyda was born into a cult and raised to be the next generation leader from a young age. He studied the art of necromancy. Though he learned studiously, his duties never sat right with him. Thankfully he was saved from this fate when the Church discovered him as he was visiting a sub branch of the cult and crushed it. Put under interrogation Julius Ofschneyda Refused to break. However, he was moved by the kindness of the priests who saw him as an abused child and shockingly volunteered to identify his own parents as the leaders of the cult in the aftermath of the cults downfall a few years later. Pleased, the church allowed him to be attend a prestigious magic school of his choice as an orphan where he became promptly showed his prodigious talent as he became skilled in many fields. He drew the attention of a Grand mage and was adopted.
A new chapter in his life started Julius Ofschneyda learned the art of summoning magic under his adopted father and became an outstandingly talented magician. A few years later he became the companion of the then nascent hero. He became a close companion and teacher of magic to the hero. In return, the hero taught him the magic from his world called Science and XXX XXX took great interest in the magic of "biology". However, the hero quickly outgrew Julius and they regretfully parted ways, though they reportedly remain occasional drinking buddies.
Approximately five years ago Julius created a new form of summoning magic that was dubbed "Spectral Summoning". This new form of magic was astonishingly powerful and earned him the title of Grand Mage. Unfortunately, the partially necromantic nature of this magic has earned him the ire of the church. However at this point Julius was tired of living the adventurers life and now works as an advisor and elite unit for the Royal Family, where he still resides. Rumors say the Church allowed this so that they could keep him under a watchful eye and others that he offered his services to the royal family in return for protection from the church, though none can say for certain.
SKILLS:
Jack of all Trades (Magic): Julius has mastered nearly every form of basic magic and elements and thus has a great amount of useful tricks up his sleeves for near any situation.
Effecient Caster (Passive): As a grand mage, One of Julius's unique skills at magic is that his control has become so fine tuned that all familiar Spells take one less mana to be preformed, this may not take a spell beneath 1 mana.
Spectral Summoning:Julius summons a ghostly replica of an animal or monster whose biology he is familiar with. Summons last for one hour. Costs 1 mana for small monsters, 3 for medium monsters and 5 for large monsters.
Arcane Knowledge: Julius has a bonus to arcana checks.
Experienced Adventurer: Julius has a +1 to avoid when targeted by a dungeon trap. if a trap is unavoidable, 1 damage is negated. Julius has a bonus to trap detection.
Jaded: Your wide travels have shown both wonders and horrors beyond the ken of most. You are not affected by normal scenes of gore and death.
Eidetic memory: You have perfect recall. As long as you've heard or read something, you can reproduce it in detail with no real difficulty.
Posting is good to go. I intend to try to update twice a week, i will do my utmost to post at least one if life puts a lot on my plate. trying to shoot for a realistic number.
[X] what are you known for? (Permanent decision)
-[X] A Crafty and Versatile Mage you always have a spell for every situation
[X] Weapon: Monsters
[X] Partnership: Grudging Partners
[X] what are you known for? (Permanent decision)
-[X] A Crafty and Versatile Mage you always have a spell for every situation
[X] Weapon: Monsters
[X] Partnership: Grudging Partners
I just figured it could allow for discussion before the voting really gets going. its something i've seen a few big quests do and i assume they do it for a reason.
Well. I have to ask how experienced are you with game development? What kind of game will you be making with this? and Finally how experienced with that specific portion of game style?
Well. I have to ask how experienced are you with game development? What kind of game will you be making with this? and Finally how experienced with that specific portion of game style?
I've made some small stuff. Im definitely not super experienced but making a quest a video game is similar to the level of making a visual novel in complexity from a devs perspective, depending on quest mechanics it you may need a bit more programming knowledge but they are not hard to make at all. Its more time intensive than anything else, at least from a programming perspective. There are lots of tutorials available for such things and i have several of them.
Tl;dr making a quest into a video game is about on of the easiest types of projects to pull off from an programming perspective. It leans far harder on writing skills.
Essientially i just intend to recreate quest with the main quest wholly intact and just flesh out all the non permanent vote options. So if you lose a vote you really wanted to win then you will be able to to play the game after i finish it and see how it would have played out had your vote won.
I've made some small stuff. Im definitely not super experienced but making a quest a video game is similar to the level of making a visual novel in complexity from a devs perspective, depending on quest mechanics it you may need a bit more programming knowledge but they are not hard to make at all. Its more time intensive than anything else, at least from a programming perspective. There are lots of tutorials available for such things and i have several of them.
Tl;dr making a quest into a video game is about on of the easiest types of projects to pull off from an programming perspective. It leans far harder on writing skills.
Essientially i just intend to recreate quest with the main quest wholly intact and just flesh out all the non permanent vote options. So if you lose a vote you really wanted to win then you will be able to to play the game after i finish it and see how it would have played out had your vote won.
That's not quite accurate. It's possible to turn a quest into a different system then a simple choose your own adventure. For instance an RPG. Though, I am thankful to hear about you going that way others don't keep quite the same level of written detail. Though would it be more accurate to say text based adventure?
That's not quite accurate. It's possible to turn a quest into a different system then a simple choose your own adventure. For instance an RPG. Though, I am thankful to hear about you going that way others don't keep quite the same level of written detail. Though would it be more accurate to say text based adventure?
My goal will be to recreate the quest and offer as authentic of an experience as i can reasonably provide. Im not hard set on making it exactly one way or another and i will be open to player feedback. If everyone wants a text based adventure gamrethen that is what we will do. Of course it has to be within reason. I will be doing it for and making it free after all.
My goal will be to recreate the quest and offer as authentic of an experience as i can reasonably provide. Im not hard set on making it exactly one way or another and i will be open to player feedback. If everyone wants a text based adventure gamrethen that is what we will do. Of course it has to be within reason. I will be doing it for and making it free after all.
It's more of a personal uncertainty. I'm fine with however you decide to do it. I was just personally wondering, since both would keep the written fidelity, but one implies more features then the other. As a result I was wondering which one you were aiming for. It was safer for me to think CYOA, rather then TBA but it was possible you were going to go for the latter then the former. So I felt like I had to ask.
[X] what are you known for? (Permanent decision)
-[X] A holy knight, You Mete out justice with an iron fist. [X] What weapon do you wield? (Halberd)
[X] You have a partner on this quest are they
-kindred spirits (is likely to share weaknesses and strengths but reduces social friction)
[X] what are you known for? (Permanent decision)
-[X] A Mighty Warrior you strike down your opponents in great and terrible blows [X] What weapon do you wield? (Axe) (Permanent decision)
[X] You have a partner on this quest are they
-grudging partners (They cover for your weakness and you for theirs, however you have an unresolved issue between you.)
[X] what are you known for? (Permanent decision)
-[X] A Crafty and Versatile Mage you always have a spell for every situation
[X] What weapon do you wield? -[X] Halberd
[X] You have a partner on this quest are they
-[X] neutral (May be some overlap in strengths and weakness but not too much, relationship depends on your actions and character)
[X] what are you known for? (Permanent decision)
-[X] A Crafty and Versatile Mage you always have a spell for every situation
[X] Weapon: Monsters
[X] Partnership: Grudging Partners
[X] what are you known for? (Permanent decision)
-[X] A holy knight, You Mete out justice with an iron fist.
[X] What weapon do you wield?
-[X] Shield
[X] You have a partner on this quest are they
-[X] grudging partners (They cover for your weakness and you for theirs, however you have an unresolved issue between you.)
[X] what are you known for? (Permanent decision)
-[X] A Mighty Warrior you strike down your opponents in great and terrible blows
[X] What weapon do you wield? -[X] Throwing Knives
[X] You have a partner on this quest are they
-[X] neutral (May be some overlap in strengths and weakness but not too much, relationship depends on your actions and character)
I've been talking to some of my friends and they think that the vote needs more context, because they dont really care much about it as is. I dont really mind so here it is.
You and your partner are individuals of reputable power and character, enough so that the government has hired you to "collapse" (clear) a dungeon that has been marked too dangerous for most of your day to day adventurers. But not so dangerous as to require the "heroes" attention. Your characters are not particularly worried because he/she has dealt with similar things before.
A small explanation for the companions and the like. Your companion will cover some of your weaknessess but how many and whether those covered weaknesses apply only to combat depend on your choice.
Ex: a kindred spirit for the holy knight will probably be something along the lines of a priest or priestess from your church. They would provide healing and get along with you but share your weakness towards provocations to your shared god ect. Whereas nuetral would be aware of your church but not on good or bad terms with it. Of course grudging partners may be something like a priest from another religion or someone who has suffered at the hands of the church before.
Currently You are all set for the mage option with monsters as a weapon and a grudging partner. its in the lead by only a bit though. I intend to close voting on Thursday around 11pm Central time.
Small note for those with unconventional or vague choices such as a mage using monsters or a warrior using throwing knives.
for the mage people. do you intend to have an enslaved monster that you command? Do you summon spectral monsters using spells to do your bidding or something else?
For the warrior with knives, you may specify if you wish. i'm currently thinking of vikings with their throwing axes replaced by large knives.
remember y'all can write in on both the class and the weapon if you want. if you want to specialize as a certain kind of mage, or a roguish character that specializes in stealth attacks and throwing knives then you may.
Currently You are all set for the mage option with monsters as a weapon and a grudging partner. its in the lead by only a bit though. I intend to close voting on Thursday around 11pm Central time.
Small note for those with unconvential or vague choices such as a mage using monsters or a warrior using throwing knives.
for the mage people. do you intend to have an enslaved monster that you command? Do you summon spectral monsters using spells to do your bidding or something else?
For the warrior with knives, you may specify if you wish. i'm currently thinking of vikings with their throwing axes replaced by large knives.
remember yall can write in on both the class and the weapon if you want. if you want to specialize as a certain kind of mage, or a roguish character that specializes in stealth attacks and throwing knives then you may.
[X] what are you known for? (Permanent decision)
-[X] A Crafty and Versatile Mage you always have a spell for every situation
[X] Weapon: Monsters
[X] Partnership: Grudging Partners
So Veekie. You're voting with me, and I don't plan on harming my chances of winning this vote for a specialization of the form of Mage I want. So, which of the two do you prefer? If you don't prefer either one I'll say that Summoning Monsters was my original intention. But, I'm up for enslaving if you'd prefer that route.
[X] what are you known for? (Permanent decision)
-[X] A Crafty and Versatile Mage you always have a spell for every situation
[X] Weapon: Monsters [X] You have a partner on this quest are they
-[X] neutral (May be some overlap in strengths and weakness but not too much, relationship depends on your actions and character)