#26. Non-Action Game, Anyone?

Just one more thing...

Here's a quick idea for random videogame, heaven and hell know which. So this Five Night at Freddy's was a nice game, using robots for horror, exquisite mood-making, challenging gameplay, all was well put. One of the thing I really liked about the game was the gameplay, notably how the player is a non-action protagonist like any other first-person horror games. Yes, FNAF is a first-person game, but instead of wandering a conveniently abandoned and downright spooky settings, he just sits in a janitor's room, watching cameras and closing doors as haunted robots crawls toward him. It was another fascinating part of the game, since it fits to the setting, and it gives the player the message: You cannot escape from this place. You are to stay here, in your room, and one miss and the robots out there will kill you. Talk about horror!

So this non-action protagonist stuff crawled its way into my mind, and here's what I came with: you, the protagonist, are a dweller, or hikikomori if you speak Japanese, unwilling to leave your room. There's no one but you in your room, and your only way to contact with the others is your trustworthy computer. You may search in the internet for some informations or plot coupons, or play some mini-games if you're not focused enough, but whichever way you will chat with anonymous "friends" in IRC or other equivalent stuffs.

Perhaps you may find someone who asks you why you are alone in your room. Perhaps you may hesitate if the world "out there" is by any means meaningful to you. Perhaps your past crawls unto you and asks you what would've been the best choice back then. Perhaps this is a story of hopelessness, trauma, schizophrenia, agoraphobia, and psychological horror. Perhaps this is a story of yours, or mine.

I know, I'm not the first to come up with this format, but at least I have my format to work on.  As if I've got nothing else to do, hah. Special thanks to FNAF, Digital: A Love Story, and Steins;Gate for inspiration. End transmission.

#25. All's Well... So Far

Been a month... actually it's a tad more than a month, but still. I was busy and lazy, and I'm taking my days off, which is about an hour and a half left to go. So this will be a quick report on how my works are in progress. So here we go:

Kriegspiel: Scrapped. For now. After I spent my spare times for a week or so I found out that, well, making all-new board game was no for someone inexperienced like myself. Storyline is another problem, which will be discussed later on. So rest in peace, Kriegspiel, until next brainstorming.

Gi Megami Tensei: Not scrapped - actually it's almost done on the beginning end and the finishing end. The problem is, what should come between them? Writing a storyline is one thing, but the other is how to realize it into a videogame. I'm not a programmer, yet, just an amatuer writer and a director-wannabe. Starting as a fangame was not a bad idea, it's just that maybe I bit off much, much more than I can even chew. Still, I found that some people are quite interested in my notes of how to make a SMT fangame, so maybe I can assure that someone, hopefully more than one, out there is with me.

Dogma: Nakian and I shared some more discussions and brainstormings since then, but hey, it was a huge project, too huge for just him and me. The concept of the game is there, but the problem occurs on how to make it into a 4X-esque videogame. Nakian's idea was, making a prologue for how this particular faith came into being, applying surrounding environments with it, and starting there. Recently I found this awesome game called Endless Space - maybe this is how we should approach. Faithfully, of course.

Other stuffs: I'm helplessly delusive, I admit. It's just that, my brain just can't stop thinking up something weird for novels, videogames, anime, or whatever. If you're familliar with Discworld, I started to overlap myself with that poor duck. Bah, better pull myself together, I'm still in my service and it's still an year left to go.

Other than that... Nope, nothing more. Gotta go, and I'll keep my fingers crossed to post anything (and I mean anything) within a month. End transmission.

#24. Idea Storm!

Okay, before I really part for like another month, I really have to write this down somewhere. I was doodling with Yu-Gi-Oh! format, making original card ideas and stuff, and got somehow funny and tried to benchmark Duel Terminal settings. I haven't written anything sci-fi enough, but I managed to merge Cthulhu Mythos and sci-fi settings, and tell you this, this is one interesting setting. So I decided: I'm taking this out of Yu-Gi-Oh! format and making this as original as I can.

Here is the synopsis, if anyone's interested:

We all know the parallel world exists, at least theoretically. Here is the world where parallel world do exist, and a group of "precursors" have thrived through the infinite worlds. One member of such precursors have wandered around the infinite worlds, and arrived this particular sector where a highly advanced civilization has fallen down to ruins. In this ruins this curious wanderer discovers a hidden library full of digital terminals, each containing a ghastly information and technology, so hideous and disastrous that no mortal is supposed to discover, or know at all in the first place. The terminals, dubbed "Thaumas" for convenience, have messed up the poor precursor's mind and soul, and as a result this once brave and bright adventurer has transformed into a gloomy, mad oracle of total destruction and a mere puppet of Thaumas... and something sealed within them. As soon as this monstrous fall has reported to the precursors the world will never be the same, as a newly lit blaze of war will consume the precursors, the Thaumas, and everyone within the infinite worlds.

Wow, did I just wrote this embarrassing stuff? Hope I can make better of this, or at least good of it. End transmission.

#23. Trust Issues

Long time no post... again. Expect this for next 12 months, my service is far from over. So I've been working whatever concerns me, when I came up with another slice of idea. So here it goes:

RPG is all about trust, isn't it? You, the Protagonist, trust your comrades, recruiting them for whatever reason the plot requires you, buying them items and equipments with your pocket money, and even saving their arses whenever the boss battle goes too marathon or just plain insanely difficult. The game encourages you with trusting your party members, giving them their own storyline, interaction features with you, and even directly affecting the gameplay. See Persona 3 and 4 for how it's elaborately done.

And here is the twist: What if it isn't? What if, hey, we cannot trust our party members?

So this will be an idea for mock-JRPG genre games, taking features and cliches from your typical JRPG and twisting it into something completely different. You will take control on your comrades, but beware, any false moves or undesirable actions and they will turn their barrels to your back. My suggestion of the setting is Westerns, where outlaws and low-life scums make a quick alliance for a game of pokerino and breaking it down for a penny or two too short.

Of course, I'm not the only one to come up with JRPG with trust issues, and in fact there is a JRPG game that introduces this feature, although it plays it straight, rather than twisting as I did. (It's called Criminal Girls, if anyone's interested.) Guess there really is nothing new under the sun, heh.

Other than that... not so much. End transmission.

#22. Sid Meier's Civilization... in FAITH (Special Thanks to Nakian)

Before I begin, I'd like to say thanks to Nakian, a superior of mine from my military service. He is one brilliant man, helped me with brainstorming, came up with something really interesting (tell you, in the end it was more of me helping his idea), and even allowed me post his ideas on this Workshop. So here we go:

It all began, as always, back in my high school life. I was doodling with some society and religion stuff, which I cannot recall now, and came up with an idea: Sid Meier's Civilization in FAITH. The player will create a religion, spread it, and conquer the world. Initially it was more of a fantastic setting rather than realistic, influenced by Age of Mythology, such as having "God Power" for player's advantage. It was a decent idea, now that I think of it, but it was a dead idea, for no one around me can program or even make a formal game development scheme. So in my old notebook dead idea of "Dogma" (named for convenience) waited, dreaming, or perhaps believing.

And now the stars are right... or, more likely, I told Nakian this idea and he found it interesting.

Nakian defined the central theme of new Dogma as below: "This is a game of making choices according to the given environment, to design and spread your religion through voluntary acts of the people with the subtle spiritual influences you give." This pretty sums up most of the new Dogma - you are a head of your religion, and you will create, develop, and spread your religion according to the setting around you and your people.

The premise of Dogma will be humanity's adaptation to surrounding environment, and consequently creation of religion as a form of culture. At the initial stage of the game you will given a handful of your people and vast, untamed nature around you. Everything around you - be it climate, landscape, fauna and flora - will decide what kind of life your people will live, and how to survive within itself. Player will take control of people and nature from the most simple questions: What do we eat? What do we not eat? (Sorry, no why or where for now.) What do we do with dead people? By answering these questions your newborn religion will grow, accumulating points on "Stats".

In a nutshell: You start with your people and the nature around you. You and your people will be influenced by the nature. You make a choice, which will revolve on making the best solution for given circumstances. Your choice influence your people, their lifestyle, and consequently the nature around you.

For now these are all we came up with, since the magnitude of the game has escalated beyond our grip. Nakian and I agreed on that this will be more of Risk than Civilization, and still working on realizing the gameplay. I have some ideas for campaigns or mods, but since it's kinda ridiculous making mods on a game that does not even exist, it can wait. As always, if you're interested, please let me know. End transmission.

#21. Gi Megami Tensei, Part 1: So, Where Should I Begin?

Gi Megami Tensei is on. I'm not joking.

Okay, I am tardy on Kriegspiel, and for that matter, everything else as well, but at least I'm advancing, inch by inch.

Last time I posted the SMT Fangame Idea Part 1, ATLUS was dying. Now ATLUS is back from the dead, and is energetic as ever. So much of spiritual successor since the original is still up and running, but still, I haven't given up of making a fangame. So here we go:

- There will be Tokyo. And it will be blasted within the first 10 minutes. Well, of course, this is SMT. The setting will be the post-blasted Tokyo, and the story will revolve around the survivors and demons.

- I have already come up with my version of Law Hero and Chaos Hero, who will be your temporary allies but split up as your enemies depending on your alignment. I will reveal them later on, since this will be top-class spoiler on storyline, but let me make one thing clear: I say Chaos Hero, but it's actually Chaos Heroine...

- So the central theme of Gi Megami Tensei will be, allow me quote myself... "History repeats. Humanity makes same mistakes over and over again. In order to break this chain, the history itself has to be ended. But from where?" You know, I'm a big fan of history, so I will take more than one leaf from history - to be specific, history of humanity in general, especially when two or more civilization clashed. You name it, Civil War, World War (both of them), or the Crusades...

- Since I'm learning a lot from history, expect some historical figures as demons. I am aware that this is SMT, not Fate, and still working on how not to make this whole thing just another Holy Grail War on Fuyuk... err, post-apocalyptic Tokyo.

Okay, that's it for now. Better grab some programming stuffs before I get anywhere. Too bad I'm still on my service. End transmission.

#20. Kriegspiel, Part 2: Almost Scrapped... Until Now

Kriegspiel is on. I was almost joking... for some time.

Okay, I admit, I found it hard way that making board game from scratch is really, really hard. Especially when all you have is your high school notebook full of your not-so-old shame. That plus my service equal... well, at least there were reasons that I didn't update Kriegspiel development. At some times I came this close to abandon all this shit and find out something more productive.

Until few days ago.

We all need a spark, don't we?

Here are some updates on Kriegspiel:

- Last time I babbled something about using Resources and adding Core cards. Well, screw that. I found out that using Resource-exclusive cards makes the game too complex, so I scrapped that out. Instead I benchmarked Dimension Zero, where you can use every other cards for Resource.

- Your ordinary card games involve playing your cards directly from your hand. Infinity Wars inspired me to do the other way; you play your cards indirectly from your hand. That is, first you place your cards on separate zone, which will be called Standby Line for now. Your cards wait a turn in Standby Line until they are finally played, at their respective cost, into field.

- The gameplay in a nutshell will be something like this: You have HQ, which grants your troops benefits or acts as a single powerful troop. You build Bases, on which you place your Troops. You attack your opponent's Base to diminish your enemy troops and take control of bases. When no bases stand between your troops and your enemy HQ, you can attack your HQ to finally prove victorious.

- The storyline is still in progress, but nothing has changed in general. Let me work on this for a while. A while. I hope.

Well, that's it for now. As alway, if you're interested, feel free to let me know. End transmission.

#19. Kriegspiel, Part 1 : Developing Board Game From Scratch

Kriegspiel is on. I'm not joking.

For about a month back in my service I've been working on how to make this delusion of mine into reality, and came up with some ideas. This includes gameplay, story, and actual pieces, as much I can. So here we go:

- First time I came up with Kriegspiel it was a trading card game, like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic the Gathering. Then I thought better of it, and considered a miniature game, like Warhammer. After an unexpected yet brilliant experience of Runeage in the army I made it clear: Kriegspiel will be a board game, with cards and other elements.

- What kind of game would Kriegspiel be? The essence of the game will be war; each player will build their army, take base and high grounds, and annihilate the opposing forces from the field. This gives me at least three kinds of elements required in the game: Troop, Base, and Resource. For Kriegspiel, each will be known as Unit, Base, and Core.

- So we have three major elements for the game. The problem is how to combine these elements into a flow of gameplay. Take Magic, for example. First you use Land cards to provide Mana. Then you use manas to play monsters, which takes the major role in the combat. You may also play Sourcery and Enchantments for your advantage. I'm having a similar concept for the gameflow, only I cannot make it out for now. I'll be working on this for the next few months, perhaps.

- As for story... I'm still working on the story, but the structure is almost there. There are three major factions in Kriegspiel: The Red Pricipality, a former city state led by slightly dysfunctional lord, now expanding its territory with merciless troops; The Black Union, a group of city states stood together from the Principality's invading forces; and the White Visitors, the mysterious beings from above, whose intention and identity enigmatic but firepower very well proven. I'll be updating the story as soon as I make it clear enough.

Well... that's it for now, I guess. This is not an easy task, but tell you, it's a very interesting one. If you're interested, feel free to let me know. End transmission.

#18. Kriegspiel is On.

Long story short: Back in high school me and my two friends (whom I can proudly call weirdos) went crazy and wrote a short piece of game scenario, or what we thought was a short piece of game scenario. It was revealed to be a dud, and we wasted an entire summer vacation on it. We enjoyed every single moment of it, though.

Now it's like four years since then, and I hereby declare that Kriegspiel is stil alive. I am a big fan of board games and trading card games, and Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic the Gathering have inspired me ever since then. Add a small epic delusion mostly derived from Dimension Zero, and poof! Kriegspiel is a small project of card game, featuring robotic warfare, alien invasion, and power game.


Here's the synopsis of Kriegspiel, if anyone's interested: Imagine a small planet inhabited by robots instead of humans. Robots live and thrive as humans do, and they build city states on the surface of their homeland. Among the city states is a kingdom, which we will call the Kingdom for convenience, whose might and fortune stands proud among others. But the Kingdom is cruel and oppressive, and some of the citizens revolt against their harsh masters. There is a riot, there is a suppression, and finally a portion of the Kingdom is seperated into the Free State.

Undoubtedly there is a major hatred between the Kingdom and the Free State, but each has their own trouble to overcome. The Kingdom has proven its weak side, and the army takes over the government and takes the power. The Free State is having a political turbulence, with the congress divided into two parties, refusing to unite. And this young (new?) individual, charismatic and ambitious, steps into the congress.

And there's a mysterious visitors from above the sky. For convenience, let them known as the Visitors. The Visitors are sleek, beautiful, and very, very powerful, annihilating the neighboring city states in just a few days and heading this way, both the Kingdom and the Free State. Origins and intentions unknown, the Visitors pose a major threat to both states, and sooner or later the war will be the only option for all three of them...


I'm revising the storyline, as well was developing game system and how-to-play. I'll update the project as often as possible, so if you're interested, please let me know and keep tuned. End transmission.

#17. Gi Megami Tensei is On.

I'm back, again, but I should be back in the army in two hours so I'll make this quick. Last time I babbled about making a fangame of Shin Megami Tensei ATLUS was nearly dead. Now it's back up and running, so it was the idea's turn to stay nearly dead.

Only I was stubborn enough to live up on such delusion.

Hence the project Gi Megami Tensei. It's written 偽・女神転生 in Japanese, literally False Goddess Reincarnation. The name is because, well, Shin Megami Tensei is literally True Goddess Reincarnation. (I know, I suck at making puns.) I just wanted to remind myself and the world (mostly myself, anyway) that I hadn't given up on making SMT fangame as long as I live. If anyone's interested, please let me know.

I'm currently working on the storyline, and hey, it's fun working on something I really craze. I read this TV Tropes article and decided that it's good to have a central theme in my story, so I have this: "History repeats. Humanity makes same mistakes over and over again. In order to break this chain, the history itself has to be ended. But from where?"

I'm taking some reference from I, II, Nocturne, Strange Journey, and a bit from Persona series. Since this is SMT fangame, expect immediate destruction of humanity (or at least Tokyo) within the first ten minutes. I'll be updating my story as often as I can, so if you're interested, please keep tuned.

Other than that... not so much. End transmission.

#16. Memories of LEGO Flash Games

As I revealed myself in older posts, I'm one big game maniac, with only a morsel of actual gaming experience. My childhood gaming memories are mostly some cheap Flash-based games, often played from some big official sites like Cartoon Network or LEGO. Especially LEGO. Hey, those toy-making guys know how to make some fun. And as if their actual toys weren't enough, they managed to create some of the most arse-bruising Flash games and posted on their site. Er, at least some decades ago. As far as I found now they're gone, at least from the official site.

But we all know some things are especially hard to kill in the internet, right? Double bonus if it's some well-made stuffs. Spybotics: The Nightfall Incident is 2002 Flash game and it's still alive. More than one people have good memories with the game, and hey, someone's already creating its spiritual successor. I mean, what more could I say? The world knows it's good game, its design is good, its gameplay is good, its story is good, and decided that it's too good to die in just 12 years. If only I could lay my hands on programmings I would've joined the fanmade reboot. Only I know nothing of programming, and came up with the idea of spritual successor only a few days ago. Too late, perhaps?

Mata Nui Online Game was my another favorite, and so did the sequel. I prefer the original one, mostly because of the imagery. The first-person point-and-click game was something new to me, whose country was (and still is) plagued with top-view strategy or third-person actions. I never managed to clear any of the two, but as an ex-zealot of Bionicle series I know the entire story, so never mind that. Back in high school I almost wrote a story for a game of similar concepts, but it never made it mostly because of my good ol' procrastination.

Well... that's it for now. I'll be back in few months for more random brainstorming. Anyone interested, please let me know. End transmission.

#15. Color Coded For Your Convenience: The Game

Okay, while I'm still logged on, I really want to share this piece of idea with whoever reading this. I'm a daydreamer, not a programmer, so this one is highly improbable, but who knows?

We all know that JRPG has at least one of those "type" that affects the battle. Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy gave us the minimum. Pokemon gave us a whole lot of variation. Shin Megami Tensei showed how serious it could be. But it's kinda tedious to see the same attributes over and over again. I mean, yes, the good ol' Fire-Water-Earth-Air stuff is golden as hell, but sometimes we want something more. Something different. Kingdom of Loathing got hillarious on that, but it still has its limits.

And suddenly I came us with this stupid idea of using colors for type. The idea is simple: Everyone gets a color for type. Every attack has a color for type. Use a similar-toned color against someone, it does less damage. Use a complementary colored attack against someone, it does more damage. For example, it you're red you'll take more damage from green-colored attacks and less from pink- or orange-colored attack.

I know the drawback. It will be one hell of programming shit to make this thing real. But as I have admitted above, I'm a daydreamer, not a programmer. I'll join to solve this problem, though.

The idea was simple like that, and suddenly my delusional mind came up with a story that fits in the system. Imagine a world where the sun shines in separated colors, painting the world in all different spectrum. Everyone in the world is divided into their colors, each with different cultural and emotional background. I have this idea that this is ingrained in their languages, such as "someone's red" means someone's angry and "going yellow" means going crazy.

The protagonist - you, that is - is our classic RPG hero. Jack of all trade, and amnesic. (S)he will be prism-colored, a unique trait that can be any color (s)he wish to be. (Okay, okay, another Persona shout-out, I admit.) The protagonist wakes up, wonders how (s)he got here, and goes on an adventure, with his/her loyal friends (s)he meets.

Okay, this could be better than it sounds. It's just that I can't make it out for now. If you're interested in this piece of improbable idea let me know. I may be out of reach for another month or so, but hey, I'll be most welcome for your interests. End transmission.

#14. Back... For A While.

Long time no post. As I have written months ago I have been working for public service known as "army," and there's not much internet in there. I took some days off and today is the last one of it. Should have used all those time for something more useful, I regret, but hey, sooner or later time will take care of everything.


I have something to write really quick, for I am running out of time. In the army I have been thinking: Why did I start calling myself Weirdo in the first place? Why is this blog called Workshop when there is nothing much to work? What do I want to do, and why? I sorta came up with some answers, and here it goes.

I call myself weirdo because, well, that is what I am. It took me almost 20 solid years to realize and admit that I am not just a geek or nerd, but a freak, a weirdo. I realized that my interest is not like the others when I was like fifteen or so, and I kinda rejected the fact. Only when I was eighteen, when I wrote my first (failed) scenario I had to admit that, hey, this is what I should do for the rest of my life. It is said that humanity has three basic desire - eat, sleep, and, ahem, fuck. It was like I have the fourth desire, to make stories. What to do with it, no one knows, even myself.

This blog was supposed to be my official site, in case I go stranger than usual and manage to write something truly interesting. Now that I think of it, I was trying too hard. I am antisocial to the bone (but again, who isn't?) and thought anyone can be the next ZUN or Studio Pixel if they try their strangest. Hell, it's called Team Shanghai Alice and Studio Pixel but everyone knows that both of them are in fact one brilliant man. I was seventeen when I thought, hey, I can do that, and started to work on my own. Hence the big-titled Weirdo Workshop.

What do I want to do? Write something interesting. Why do I want to do that? Dunno. In fact, someone tell me why. I just do that, like breathing. It's just that I cannot write anything funny or interesting or entertaining.


I have always thought I was unique, and there's no mind like mine. I was wrong. I met this weirdo in the army, and hell, this guy is my spritual replica. (Or am I his spiritual replica? Damn you, Zhuang Zhou.) This experience shocked me into thinking something even stranger: the Earth is populated by like seven billion humans. Let's say that one percent, no, one percent of one percent (that would be one-ten-thousands) of the population is someone like me. Someone addicted to stories and bullshits. That makes seventy thousand weirdos out there. Imagine someone collects them all, and start a project. My guess is that seventy thousand weirdos can make at least one videogame in a decade, if they are motivated enough.

That's what I have in mind. Lucky this blog is named Workshop.

So, well... if anyone is reading this, and anyone is interested in making something interesting, please let me know. Perhaps we can make something entertaining together. Perhaps we can be the next Nintendo. Perhaps people might know who we are, and love what we have made. All of this is just a speculation, except for this - it will be freakin' awesome.


I guess that's it for now. End transmission.

#13. Been A While. Again.

What the title says. I was out for aeons, wasn't I? Lots of things happened while I was away, including army stuffs. Yes, we have mandatory military service 'round here, and it's my turn to work for my dear mother country. I'll be away for some more, but I'll be writing more bullshits here.

Other than that... well, nothing much. Sometimes my life is so boring that Rincewind will (not!) die for it. End transmission.