#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.