Ready to Be Replaced (A Video Game Maker Quest)

[RomanceNinja]

What year does this take place in?

[ ] December 1978 - A month after the release of Space Invaders and it looks to be uttering in a golden age for arcade games…Your company wants in on the golden pot! By the way, how do you make games?

[ ] June 1985 - A twinkle enters the eye of your big boss as they attend 1985 Summer CES. The video game crash of 1983 wrecked the home console industry, but now with the news that the Famicom, now to be called the NES is coming to America… Perhaps that project they were set to release just before the crash happened can now ride this new potential wave.

[ ] July 1991 - Sonic the Hedgehog. A few weeks have passed since the game came out, and wow. Your company is far behind in the race between Nintendo and Sega, but perhaps all it takes is one mascot to change history…

Oh hey, what even is the name of the company you're just about to join?

[ ] Write-in. Blatant expies will be vetoed.

And most importantly… Who are you?

[ ] Write-in description.

[ ] Pick one trait.
-[ ] +10 to Convincing.
-[ ] +10 to Arguing.
-[ ] +d5 to Art. (Visuals, character designs, background and stage designs, etc.)
-[ ] +d5 to Mechanics. (Gameplay, implementation of new elements, A.I., U.I., etc.)
-[ ] +d5 to Audio. (In-game sounds, music, character voices, etc.)
-[ ] +d5 to Writing. (Story writing, character writing, overall script and character personalities, etc.)

Good. Good.

Welcome to the company, newbie. Be sure to make results.

"OR ELSE YOU'RE FIRED!"​

 

[RomanceNinja]

Spoiler: Vote

[X] Plan The Great Revival
-[X] June 1985 - A twinkle enters the eye of your big boss as they attend 1985 Summer CES. The video game crash of 1983 wrecked the home console industry, but now with the news that the Famicom, now to be called the NES is coming to America… Perhaps that project they were set to release just before the crash happened can now ride this new potential wave.
-[X] Blierra
-[X] Your name is Samson "Sam" Smith, a recent hire for Blierra and High School Graduate. An average American Man of distant partial asian descent, you have short blond hair and dull blue eyes. Standing at Five Feet and Nine Inches, you don't really stand out much from the rest of your fellow workers, besides the enthusiasm you put in to all of your work.
-[X] Pick one trait.
--[X] +d5 to Writing. (Story writing, character writing, overall script and character personalities, etc.)

June 1985 - Blierra Headquarters - San Diego, California, USA​

Listening to the beats of your Walkman your head bops, tapping your foot along with eyes closed. "~Wake me up before you go-go. Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo.~"

"Well you better get on with waking up mister!" You open one eye, looking upwards towards your mother shouting out the window. "Go-go!"

"Ha! Yeah yeah mom. I was just having my last moment of peace before truly becoming an adult." With a smirk you get on your skateboard, kicking against the ground as you make it through the streets, tugging your backpack as you do so.



Oh San Diego, the city you've lived in for all your life. You wave to friends and acquaintances you've known throughout the years, passing by Fords and Pontiacs through the roads. You have to thank the stars for it not being a smog day, though it does feel nice that those have been decreasing over the years.

Yeah, this is the life.

—​

You look up at a logo showcasing the words "Blierra". Stylised in a white and grey rocky font against some snowy mountains. "Ohhhh. Now I get it. Blierra. Blizzard. Thaaaaaaat makes sense." You're lucky they didn't ask anything like that during the interview process.

Now here comes the strange part. Apparently for your first day you'll have an important meeting as soon as you get in. Your parents were already hesitant with the career path you chose, and this has only made them more nervous on your behalf.

But like, they already hired you so... What can they do, fire you immediately? Haha!

You walk in, going to the designated place within the building that you were told to go after the end of the interview. Fancy-looking building all around.



The office spaces look damn nice, pardon your language there for a sec. Now to find that room... Where was it again?

Hm... Right turn, left turn, up the stairs, right turn, left turn, left turn again, and there you go-

Oh wow. That's a lot people. Like a dozen or more of folks of varying ages standing around and waiting nervously as they stare at a large double door. Jeez, is everyone today nervous except for you?

"Samson Smith, through the door!" Thew, it seems you made it just in time. No need to wait at all and not too late. You guess you'll have to thank mom later today for that. You walk through, opening and closing the door behind you, and take a look at...



Who the heck?

"Well kid. You wanna make some games, don't ya?"

You raise an eyebrow at that. Getting straight to the point huh? "Uh, yeah. Yeah I do!" Something about the look of this guy kinda motivates you. "I've got so many ideas like-"

Suddenly, the dude takes out a huge cigar and puffs it. One finger raised to stop you going on an idea-spree. Once they finish they get back to talking. "Now hold it, you'll be able to present an idea in the coming days." I will? That soon!? "But, there's some things you've gotta hear first. NES."

...?

"NES?" You can only repeat the word, not knowing what that means.

"A complete greenhorn then. Though the home console's official name is the Family Computer back in Japan, it'll be coming here real soon."

"A home console? Those are like, dead in the water man." This time, it's his turn to raise an eyebrow as soon as you call him man.

Wait.

Is he important?

You look around the room before seeing a nameplate on their desk. Benson Bumball.

...oh shit.

That's the name of the boss of Blierra.

Welp. In for a penny, in a pound. "So what about the NES?"

A smoke of their cigar puffs out. "Summer CES, just a week ago quite a bit of the company went for a trip there. Turns out that console is coming straight to the good old United States of America. That's where you come in. We have a console design sitting in the dust that never released due the crash back in '83. We're bringing it back real soon, and guess what you'll be doing?"

"Making games for-wait. But I came here to make arcade titles. Not the walking corpse that is console releases!" Ah crap, you let that out too loudly.

Another puff of the cigar. "Well kid, you don't have much of a choice. We're taking a gamble here to ride a potential new wave, and you? You and those guys out there are the perfect test subjects. By the way, here's what's gonna happen. You'll walk out that door, and then you'll go back home and have a nice and long think on what game ideas to showcase to my underlings tomorrow. We're on very tight schedule here brat. Now go on, AND GET OUT OF MY SIGHT UNTIL YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED SOMETHING OF IMPORTANCE!"

—​

You don't swear often, or really at all, but...

Fuck.

You thought this was a good and stable company, but they're already trying to run you ragged!? Ugh, you can't even think straight! And the way your mother and father looked at you as you met them only an hour after leaving for work was the worst! At least you can be glad they listened to you talk afterwards.

They tried to discourage you from going back there and instead to find a different job.

But that's not really your style.

This is a challenge now, one that you won't be just standing around and taking hits from. You wanted to make video games and by god you were going to make them!

Take that, Benson!

Welcome to the company. Seems like you're on a tight schedule here, aren't ya?

No plan voting, create your ideas and the three game ideas with the highest votes makes it to the process to be checked by the higher ups.

[ ] Write-in. Go as loose or detailed as you like, things will go into far more detail later on.

 

[RomanceNinja]

Character Sheet​

Name: Samson "Sam" Smith
Age: 18 (Born May 1967)
Description: A high-school graduate with blonde hair and blue eyes, an American that is of slight distant Asian descent. You wear a titular beanie atop your head and a cross at your chest.

Traits:
Writer With a Big Dream - You gain a +d5 to any dice involving writing no matter what the topic is.

 

[DarkKing98]

[X] Mythic Sword: Tale of the Storm Dragon
-[X] They want you to work on a home console, the corpse of the industry, instead of an Arcade game? Fine! You'll do something that's more suited for being at home than at an arcade! You won't let the Big Boss get the better of you!
-[X] You'll develop a Roleplaying Game where the main two characters are a swordsman and a witch! In a land of sword and sorcery, two childhood friends are sent together to prevent a War breaking out from their kingdom and a hostile kingdom by showing off the power of two of their soldiers by slaying a dragon which had been harassing the kingdom of late out in the mountain range close to the borders of the two kingdoms!
-[X] The witch would have different kinds of elemental spells and the swordsman would collect different kinds of swords that were imbued with magical metals that allowed him to use different elements for attacks! You could even take the idea from the paper roleplaying games about different types of damage doing more or less damage depending on the enemy type! Really give your game something that would wow people and challenge them to think how they should play the game!

Thoughts on the idea?

 

[Bobalo18]

[X] Revolutionary Heroes:

A run and gun game where you play as a heroic soldier in the Revolutionary war behind enemy lines. It would kind of be like the OTL Contra, but with a slower rate of fire for shots, emphasizing accuracy and knowing when and when not to shoot.

[X] American Ninja:

A young man's family is killed by an international criminal syndicate! That kick starts an epic quest of revenge where our hero goes to Japan to learn the ninja ways, and then travels the world taking them down. Your character becomes easier to control and stronger as you make your way through the stages. OTL gameplay and style from Ninja Gaiden.

 

[Shadowfleur]

[X] Galactic Conquest

Space games have always had a grip on the public, and you think this will have great appeal as a subject on home consoles too. BUT you gotta shoot for the stars (pun intended) to make consumers pick your game over Space Invaders or Galaga.

You propose playing as an Alien King, seeking to rebuild your civilization on a new planet. You will have the ability to build up your new home base, creating cities, managing farms, fending off armies from other planets, and hiring staff to manage processes in your cities. It's not quite a role-playing game - the goal is to fully populate your planet and have the most powerful planet on your star system.

It's certainly an unusual idea, but it's also a grabbing, unique one.

[X] American Ninja

 

[SaberFail]

[X] Snowed in Tactics!
-[X] a turn based tactical game where the players control a group of kids participating in a snowball tournament against other kids in their neighborhood (like a simplified XCOM)
-[X] combat takes place in a grid, each kid can be placed on any grid on the left side of the screen, they all have a number of actions they can do before the turn is passed to another character, Move (each kid has a limited number of spaces they each can move in), throw(each kid's distance and damage is unique) reload (gather up snow from the ground, each kid has a different carrying capacity) and build (make a small pile of snow to guard from damage, takes a limited number of hits)
-[X] Characters
--[X] Cool Kid: the leader of the group, middle of the road stats, his snow wall takes 3 hits to break, carries 3 snowballs.
--[X] Big Guy: the muscle, slowest movement, high damage, highest HP, his snow wall can only take 1 hit, carries 4 snowballs.
--[X] Smart Kid: the strategist, slow movement, lowest damage, lowest HP, his snow walls can take 5 hits, carries 2 snowballs.
--[X] Little Artist: sister of the Cool Kid, highest movement, low damage, low HP, her snow wall is replaced by a snowman which draws enemy fire but can only take 2 hits, carries 1 snowball.



[X] Mythic Sword: Tale of the Storm Dragon
[X] American Ninja

 

[SailorDianamon]

I am making some weird expressions and movements consistent with some stereotypical nerd depictions, out of sheer excitement.

(I still have many game ideas, both pitched and unpitched, from a previous game design quest)

... Are we able to pitch ideas that we pitched there, but that never reached production stage?


Anyways, I have an idea, one which I didn't submit, as it was unfinished, but which a finished version might not work very well as a NES game, anyways, so I will instead post an abridged variant with less complexity, such as fewer characters, and hopefully a smaller file size? I also cut out characterization points, as the reason for those have been cut out.

Spoiler: Kid Action Heroes!((bad)working title)

The game is a platformer with little more than an excuse plot- a group of child supervillains have set up a series of levels for a group of child heroes to go through, for nebulous reasons that even the villains can't agree upon.

The overall level/areas don't need to be beat in any particular order, but you need to defeat the individual stages in order. There's no simple easy or hard mode thing going on- each character has different powers and gameplay styles, none of them overall easier or harder (or so intended- we might need to make some adjustments for balance issues?), but some stages are designed to be easier with some characters rather than others, but different players would have harder or easier times playing certain characters than others, so it's not so simple in that way? General Mega Man design philosophy.

There're weapons you can pick up as upgrades, that can be used by all characters unless specified otherwise- there are also some puzzle elements, probably with different

You cannot switch characters mid-stage, but can do so at the start of each new one.

Spoiler: Heroes

MOTHY (Moth Of The Halcyon Youth(it has to abbreviate to "MOTHY", but I don't know if that's the best backronym?)) is a moth-boy; he can fly, if you start in a run or drop down from a high enough platform, but has the fewest hit points of all the playable characters- he can also open locked doors without needing to collect the keys that other heroes need to open gates or doors. He can't carry heavy or powerful weapons, or close-range ones, meaning you're limited to the sling he comes with, or, in some stages, a bow and arrow combo, or small ray gun; not specifically those, but light ranged weapons.

Princess is a young girl- she wears a princess (poofy ballroom) dress with a columbine mask with a built-in tiara-thing and has a delayed jump, owing to the fact that she lifts the front of her skirt before she jumps (for that same reason, she can't do a running jump). However, she has a controlled floating thing, like Princess Peach when she's playable in Mario games, only going off of just the skirt, without a parasol (there's a lot of petticoats, or something).

Auto is a robot, it's big, and blocky, and kind of like Guadromon in appearance? But maybe more silver in color, so it looks less rusted? It controls the heaviest, moving slowly with a weak jump, but has the highest health and defense of all the heroes. It has the strongest basic weapon, which can break through walls you'd normally need a bomb for, but takes time to charge.

Little Lionheart isn't a lion-person, but you could probably be mistaken, because he's wearing a pretty good lion kigurumi, and has Wolverine-type claws sticking out of the front paws (the kigurumi is full-on footie pajamas style, complete with gloves with a paw pattern. Fur-suit adjacent, but more casual? Basically a lion Halloween costume). In addition to weapons (which he's slow at using), he's able to scratch to attack.

Spoiler: Villains

Bo-Bo can can jump high, and maybe fly for short periods of time, and has a bullet-hell adjacent attack style, complete with abstraction- quickly shooting out abstract projectiles, such as cute stars, at the player. His design is based off of a jester's costume. His level is themed around clowns and circuses.

Nightshade is a sarcastic chlorokinetic- her outfit is a biker jacket over a somewhat ripped petal dress, sunglasses, and a headband. She summons vines and such in her boss fight, using them for both barriers and some of her attacks. During her attacks, as well as shortly after, the barriers are down, leaving her vulnerable, though you can also just destroy the vines, which also delays her vine-based attacks (which are her stronger ones). Her level is supposed to look like an abandoned city overrun with plants.

Jess dresses like a cowboy, complete with a bandana, and fights using an old-timey revolver. Your basic projectile-shooting boss. His level is, naturally, old-west themed, the boss fight being in the center of town, like a "showdown at high noon".

Kitten plays heavily into the cat theme, and can turn invisible during her boss fight, meaning her sprite vanishes; her hit box is still there and moves and works like normal, it's not an invincibility mode, or anything.

Gimmick's gender is ambiguous, and they fight with a mix of attacks from all of the villains- during their boss fight, they're surrounded by floating cards, and when they use an attack from one of the other villains, they flip the card with the emblem of one of the other villains, to show which attack they're going to use. Their level is based off of a Chuck E. Cheese-type place, but if someone was trying to make an "edutainment" Chuck E. Cheese.

When every villain has been defeated, you get the ending cut scene, where all the villains are piled overeachother in a comedic way, and the heroes all decide to go out for ice cream. There is no final boss, though, admittedly, Gimmick's boss fight does have that energy. This was unintentional on my part, and requires adjustment for balance.

Edit: an upload of the original character descriptions from the unposted thing for another Game Dev quest

Spoiler: Warning: Suggests Unemployable Game Mechanics

Spoiler: Heroes

MOTHY (Moth Of The Halcyon Youth(it has to abbreviate to "MOTHY", but I don't know if that's the best backronym?)) is a moth-boy; he can fly, if you start in a run or drop down from a high enough platform, but has the fewest hit points of all the playable characters- he can also open locked doors without needing to collect the keys that other heroes need to open gates or doors. He can't carry heavy or powerful weapons, or close-range ones, meaning you're limited to the sling he comes with, or, in some stages, a bow and arrow combo, or small ray gun. He was created in a lab recently, and so is naive and doesn't know many things, which is what most of his dialogue might center around.

Princess is one of the youngest- she wears a princess (poofy ballroom) dress with a columbine mask with a built-in tiara-thing and has a delayed jump, owing to the fact that she lifts the front of her skirt before she jumps (for that same reason, she can't do a running jump). However, she has a controlled floating thing, like Princess Peach when she's playable in Mario games, only going off of just the skirt, without a parasol (there's a lot of petticoats, or something). She's very… imaginative, and so there're things that she can see, or interact with, that aren't present when you're playing as other characters. This also includes obstacles and enemies that others can't see or interact with, some of which may be more difficult to defeat than the ones that are baseline, and maybe even some mini-minibosses? She also has infinite ammo with all weapons, but doesn't start out with one- stages typically often a weapon before the first enemy shows up, however. Character-wise, she is supposed to be like one of those preschool girls obsessed with princesses- behaviorally, she's almost like a toddler, with her loose grasp on reality, and extreme credulity, but she speaks in grammatically correct sentences, and can even read at a post-phonics level. She also claims to have knowledge of things she blatantly does not, with only MOTHY taking her nonsense seriously. They're not lies, as she 100% believes what she's saying, it's just utter nonsense.

Auto is a robot, it's big, and blocky, and kind of like Guadromon in appearance? But maybe more silver in color, so it looks less rusted? Auto speaks, well, robotically, with few contractions, and doesn't display emotion. It controls the heaviest, moving slowly with a weak jump, but has the highest health and defense of all the heroes. It has the strongest basic weapon, which can break through walls you'd normally need a bomb for, but takes time to charge.

Little Lionheart isn't a lion-person, but you could probably be mistaken, because he's wearing a pretty good lion kigurumi, and has Wolverine-type claws sticking out of the front paws (the kigurumi is full-on footie pajamas style, complete with gloves with a paw pattern. Fur-suit adjacent, but more casual? Basically a lion Halloween costume). In addition to weapons (which he's slow at using), he's able to scratch to attack. A natural leader, he kind of has that "generic protagonist"/moral paragon personality.

and

Spoiler: Villains

Bo-Bo is a child of seeming contradictions- he's male, but he dresses in what seems to be a dress (it's actually a Pierrot's blouse, or so he insists. He wears white-face clown makeup), it's repeatedly alluded to that he's Asian (and that the name "Bo-Bo" is just his own surname, repeated- "that's not how you pronounce it! I'm being clever!" (I can see him alluding to the actual pronunciation with him saying "bye-bye", which would be how it would be pronounced if he did repeat his name)), but he speaks in a heavy Bostonian accent, peppered with gratuitous Italian. Personality-wise, he's cheerful, distractible, and very affectionate with his friends- when he does get otherwise emotional, though, he's very dramatic about it. I can see him having generous homoerotic subtext with other male characters, part for comedy, and part because I actually do see him as being queer? He can jump high, and maybe fly for short periods of time, and has a bullet-hell adjacent attack style, complete with abstraction- quickly shooting out abstract projectiles, such as cute stars, at the player.

Nightshade is a sarcastic chlorokinetic- her outfit is a biker jacket over a somewhat ripped petal dress, floral net tights with rips in them, sunglasses, and a headband. She has mommy issues, and has the most intimate knowledge of normal crime, the two facts being related. She's the prickliest character in the game, probably, and a joke should be made based around that, with roses having thorns. She summons vines and such in her boss fight, using them for both barriers and some of her attacks. During her attacks, as well as shortly after, the barriers are down, leaving her vulnerable, though you can also just destroy the vines, which also delays her vine-based attacks (which are her stronger ones).

Jess dresses like a cowboy, complete with a bandana, and acts as the leader of the villains- he says he's the direct descendant of Jesse James, but such claims are unverified. As the leader, he's somewhat self-sacrificing for his friends, always putting them first, and acts as a sort of mediator for the team, in addition to having the final say on most decisions, and being the idea guy. He fights using an old-timey revolver, and acts as the straight man and voice of reason to the villains- he's the oldest of the villains, though still thirteen at most, and definitely not older than Gnowoman, though he could be her age rather than younger.

Kitten can turn invisible and plays heavily into the cat theme- she sneaks up on people, even among her fellow bad guys, and has a bit of a rivalry with Nightshade, who she feels needs to lighten up. She's a bit of a prankster, as well as a kleptomaniac, and has a crush on Jess. Able to turn invisible in her boss fight, against most heroes her sprite vanishes (her hit box is still there and moves like normal), but MOTHY can still see her outline.

Gimmick's gender is ambiguous- androgynous and flamboyant, they often change outfits between scenes, and fights with a mix of attacks from all of the villains- during their boss fight, they're surrounded by floating cards, and when they use an attack from one of the other villains, they flip the card with the emblem of one of the other villains, to show which attack they're going to use; Princess can prevent that attack by destroying the card. Gimmick can also attack using the cards as projectiles, throwing them. Gimmick will sometimes vibe with Bo-Bo and Kitten, but they have a trait those two lack, in that they are An Asshole. They still care about the others, but it's buried pretty deep down, which could be an element of Innocent Malice the other villains lack; they're the youngest villain, only a little older than Princess.

I cut out an underdeveloped hero- whose powers are basically the Braid gameplay mechanics both times. Part of the original idea was that different interactions would happen between characters depending on who you chose to fight and/or play as, but that would require 20+ cutscenes that were dependent on all that, and even with shortcuts, I value the idea of unique sprites to display character interactions, so even though it'd just be talking heads with some dynamic shapes or backgrounds, it's kind of important that all 9 Main Characters have a variety of expressions, though I guess that you could do the whole Joy Mech Fight thing and make separate sprites for every part of the space to save space? But even with all that (and having cut out some of the funkier things with the gameplay mechanics) done it still seems to take up a lot of space? Though I fear that we might end up having to invent Comic Sans (or something like it) if we want to make it an NES game anyways, because I don't know of any older comic book style fonts, and Comic Sans was invented in 1994)

[X] KAH
[X] American Ninja
[X] Spelunky

 

[RomanceNinja]

Spoiler: Vote

[X] Mythic Sword: Tale of the Storm Dragon - 14
[X] Revolutionary Heroes - 3
[X] American Ninja - 9
[X] Spelunky Clone - 2
[X] Galactic Conquest - 2
[X] Snowed in Tactics - 5
[X] Atomic Heart (Fallout Clone) - 2
[X] Kid Action Heroes - 2

Mythic Sword: Tale of the Storm Dragon, American Ninja and Snowed in Tactics make it through the process!

June 1985 - Blierra Headquarters - San Diego, California, USA

A day later...

Personalities of all five "Higher Ups" are randomly rolled...

THE FIVE MOUNTAINS

Bartholomew Anderson


Jeffrey Silver


John Davis


Annabelle Klein


Paris Mont
​

What stand before you are five important people. The ones that hold your job by a string and will dictate your future in this company.

Bartholomew Anderson looks to be a rather... Sloppy old fellow. Their suit untucked and and a wrinkled tie as their wide eyes stare at your soul. Considering how old they are you're not even sure they've seen a video game before.

Jeffrey Silver looks like a dick.

John Davis is a old-fashioned guy from his attire and hair, a smile on his face and an entire beer in hand. They're just letting this dude drink on the job?

Annabelle Klein is... Cute. Cute and small. Yet with a face of anger. Well you know what they say about short people, the shorter they are the more ferocious their personality is.

Paris Mont. You uh, can't get a read on the dude. But god damn does he dress fancy.

"Well..." Bartholomew starts, as he holds out pieces of paper to the rest to read. What's on them are the three ideas you managed to come up with overnight. You barely manage to keep in a yawn as you watch the five talk. "These are certainly interesting ideas to say the least. Mythic Sword, American Ninja and Snowed in Tactics-"

"Yeah we know. We have the cards in our hands." Jeffrey jumps in, interrupting the old man. "So let's cut to the chase. What's going to earn us the most money?"

"Now now Mr. Silver, we can't just say such things in front of the lad here. We're professionals, are we not?" Davis speaks, their voice much akin to hearing from an old movie from your parent's era.

Jeffrey, or you guess Silver since that seems to be what everyone is calling him, looks at you. A distinct eye of distain can be seen. "Professionals... Yes. That we are Davis. So kid, you've chosen between one of those roleplaying games, a side-scroller and a... Top-down children's snow fight."

"Silver! Don't talk down on that last one, unlike the bloody ninja killer game or that fantasy nonsense it'd be a great game for children to have!" This time it's Annabelle that pipes in, shouting as she increases the counter of people who have insulted your game ideas in this room to two.

"Oh the children. It's always the children for you!"

"Of course I care about their future! Because you only care about yours."

Bartholomew and Davis just sigh at their antics, the latter taking a huge chug of their drink as it goes on.

Then comes the click of fingers, the fanciful man known as Paris finally joins the conversation. "How about a vote?"

The air grows cold as silence commences as no-one says anything in response.

Paris smiles. "A vote it is then. Let's start with what Mr. Silver so passionately called a children's snow fight, which it is. Does anyone here have suggestions?"

"We change the setting." Silver smirks.

Annabelle's eyes grow wide at that "Hah!?"

"Oh please. As if any child is going to entertain the idea of this when they could just go outside themselves, you know what season we'll be releasing it in." Huh? "Literally anything else would suffice, would it not? Though I suppose we could keep the snow theme itself intact."

"So the suggestion is to the change the setting? That suffices to be voted on. As for me? I'll abstain." Paris says.

"Abstain." Davis sips his alcoholic drink that's nearing to empty now.

"Change the setting." Silver says matter-of-factly.

"Abstain." Says the old man.

"We are not changing the setting you utter baboon!" Annabelle shouts at the top of her lungs, but Silver just dryly laughs in response.

Paris looks at the watch on their wrist. "So it seems it's one to one. A tie. Well Mr. Samson, how about you make the choice here?"

"Wait me?"

Uhhhh...

[ ] Change the setting of Snowed in Tactics. [-5 to the next Arguing roll against Annabelle, +5 to the next Arguing roll against Silver]
-[ ] To what? Write-in.

[ ] Don't change the setting of Snowed in Tactics. [-5 to the next Arguing roll against Silver, +5 to the next Arguing roll against Anabelle]

"That settles it then. Onto the next! How about... Mythic Sword: Tale of the Storm Dragon." Oh wow, he said the full name.

Bartholomew raises a hand. "I have a question for Samson. Judging by how you've written this, I see you must take a liking to writing. Am I correct?"

"Y-yeah." To be honest, you're frankly intimidated by this entire room.

In fact, this place is a madhouse! What have you gotten yourself into!?

You gulp, deciding to say it in more detail. "I'm a recent graduate actually. I put a lot of passion for my writing, if I couldn't get this job I would've tried my hand into fully getting into writing novels." You shyly rub the back of your head at that, a blush appearing on your face.

"Oh a studious man. That's a welcome change of pace to the usual!" The old man laughs heartily. "Though I think we may have an immediate problem with that idea..." Uh oh. "Or rather one word you've used. Witch."

Oh no.

"I'll have to reject it immediately." You are surprised as you see Davis is the one to say that. "In a god-given country such as ours, and borrowing Annabelle's usual words, should we not think about the morality of showing that?"

"Thank you Davis." Annabelle responds, immediately agreeing with them.

Silver on the other hand... "And waste a golden opportunity? The potential money we could make from such a controversy would create a welcoming hand to allow it to succeed. Let the brat make their evil witch. Sabrina the Teenage Witch exists anyways after all." One side of you doesn't believe that Silver is now on your court, yet the other side can't help but feel angered at one of their comments. An "evil" witch!? How dare they!

"I pick the witch to stay." Paris comments, their smile growing wider. You really can't get a read on this guy.

"Abstain." One last voice stands out.

"Huh!?" "What!?" Both Annabelle and Davis shout, causing the old man to flinch from the volume.

Bartholomew sighs. "As much as I am the one to point it out, the era is always changing. Who's to say that perhaps witches won't be as uncontroversial as they are today?"

"What kind of stupid explanation-" Annabelle starts with growing anger before being stopped by Paris.

"Now now Annabelle. He's made his choice, as such it stays. Another tied vote then? It seems there is much that Mr. Samson must decide today."

[ ] Keep the word Witch. [Potential controversy should the game reach release, unknown effects] [-10 to the next Arguing roll against Davis, -5 to the next Arguing roll against Annabelle, +10 to the next Arguing roll against Silver, +5 to the next Arguing roll against Paris]

[ ] Discard the word Witch to something more family friendly. [No controversy] [-10 to the next Arguing roll against Silver, -5 to the next Arguing roll against Paris, +10 to the next Arguing roll against Davis, +5 to the next Arguing roll against Annabelle]
-[ ] Change the female character to what? Write-in. [Depending on your answer it may gain +'s or -'s to certain people's rolls]

"The last to talk about before we round back to the next phase of votes is..." Ph-phase? "American Ninja. The point has already been discussed earlier. For those that wish to change the bloodiness aspect of this idea raise your hands. And those that abstain will hold shake and dance to a song I'll pick out right this instance." Silence. Just complete silence. "Ah, nobody wishes to laugh at my joke then? A simple raise of the index finger should do well."

Two hands raise up, Annabelle and Bartholomew. Three stay down, Silver, Davis and Paris.

Paris speaks again. "The mature subject matter shall stay."

Davis smiles. "Good! A story of a great American man slaying foreign foes would do well!" Annabelle on her part cringes at what Davis says.

"Then perhaps should I suggest a change myself?" Bartholomew asks. "Just for the young man. How about changing the main enemies to something else? Demons, cyborgs, robots, there's quite more that could be done rather than just people. It helps make it more fantastical and less... Real."

Paris looks around the room. "Does anyone object to that?" Nobody does. "Then it is settled. Mr. Samson, make your pick."

[ ] What are the main enemies of American Ninja?
-[ ] Humans.
-[ ] Cyborgs.
-[ ] Robots.
-[ ] Demons.
-[ ] Write-in.

No plan votes.

If you had voted in such stuff as the Spelunky clone or Atomic Heart (Fallout clone) I would've immediately had that idea thrown away within the update, causing -'s to all Five Mountains. Good job not falling into that pit. By the way, all pitches from now on that count as pure clones are automatically disqualified.

 

[SaberFail]

Here's a pitch for Annabelle, our smol angy boss.

Name: Magic Shapes (WIP, will take suggestions)

Spoiler: Geometry, but we ain't dashing!

Premise: a Kingdom is put under a curse by an evil wizard, things are starting to disappear! Now the princess, wielding a magic staff she got from a chest, must protect the her home by using magic shapes to replace what was lost!

Gameplay: each level a selection of shapes will be given, and the player must select the appropriate one depending on the situation, with a difficulty selection allowing the game to be tailored to the level of skill the player has (ie, their grade)

The easiest difficulty will give basic geometry problems, use circles to replace the wheels on a cart, triangles and rectangles to make towers, making shields for knights out of octagons etc.

Higher difficulty will introduce angles or necessitate multiple shapes working together, such as the tower making, but instead of simply using the two shapes, the player must place shaped pieces in the correct places to keep the tower stable.

Other Examples: creating ramps at the correct angles to send boulders flying into the tower of the evil wizard, selecting the correct shapes to break the waves of a flood coming for the kingdom, setting up mirrors to deflect magic to different effects etc.

Edit: Note, Not for the NES!! Too complicated for the console.