story.md

Story

Game Title Ideas

• The Responsible
  • This could imply several meanings:
    • That you are responsible for the actions you've taken
      • That you are responsible for helping your friend and proved that you took responsibility by helping him
      • For the same reason, except for helping the world.
    • This responsibility of yours could also be the solace after any of the bad endings:
      • You can't be responsible for your friend's life
      • Or the company's actions either for that matter
    • Finally, it could imply the responsibility of the company:
      • For developed and designed the device.
      • And, for their unethical methods of testing it.

// Environment Template

Environment X

Story key points

Items

Actions

Tasks?

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Environments

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Intro (Cinematic-like)

• Maybe use a interactive section, revealing one part at a time.
• Make this introduction viewable multiple times from some kind of main menu.

Intro part 1

• NOTE: Make sure the pacing of the intro is sufficient. A too slow game is not engaging enough for most players.

In a time of great technological advances, life is less about knowing the answers, but more about asking the right questions.

This is a story to make you think. See beyond the words and look at the meaning of the bigger picture. With some patience, you might be surprised of what you'll find ahead.

• Button: "So how do I play this?"

This game really has two parts:

1. Exploring the world around you
2. Choosing how you want to interact

To control what happens, you type your action and press enter. For now, everything you need to get started are these basic actions:

• movement
• use
• take / drop
• read

To make the gameplay more convenient, there are features like a command history which help you re-use what you've already typed.

• In instructions, tell players about how information is displayed.
  • bold for directions and some (but not all!) actions. For the other actions, think about what items are around you and how you could interact with them. Or use the inspect [object] command to get the answer.
  • italics for items that can be interacted with.

This is an exploration of interactive storytelling. Of how to make characters and environments feel more alive through text. Instead of fancy graphics, this game uses one of the best renderers there are; the human imagination.

• A random sentence that could fit into an introduction:
  • Play this game by thinking about the current state of the game and choosing how you want to react. Then type your action into the text input.

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Start

• The player is on their way to their friend's apartment. Calls him but only gets the automatic telephone answer.
• The player realizes something is wrong as they approach the apartment
• The player walks inside, the apartment is unlocked. They think "Hmm... I wonder what's happened here." and starts investigating.

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The Apartment

• The best friend Kevin's apartment
• Walk through different rooms, inspect objects, interact with the environment.
• Notes providing backstory scattered across the apartment
• Objects that reveal memories and other details that add to the story.

Story key points

• Try to find Kevin

• When the player "realizes" he's not there (by completing their first task)

  • Sofa (TV) room is unlocked
  • make player go there and watch TV

• Player watches the news, where they discuss something that reveals a clue.

  • Perhaps this clue is that they discuss "this new cool device", that broke sales records for wearable tech. "Everyone seems to have bought one."

• TV reveals clues

  • Make player go to the computer
    • computer has no password - because the friend has bad memory so he don't want to risk losing his data.
      • reveal this through a note next to the computer.
        • "Aaargh! My memory is failing me again. This was the last time in signed in with a password. I can't risk losing access to my own computer. That'd be kind of ridiculous."
  • Search for information related to what's seen on the TV.

• When tasks are completed, the phone rings

  • Make some kind of decision at this point, which affects the future of the game.
  • Then, this is a pretty good point to move on to the next environment.

Items

• Notes revealing back story
• Some important objects to see/pick up?
  • A company poster/brochure
    • gives details about the wearable device and how it's marketed.
  • A TV time table with some TV-shows circled in
    • "Who even keeps these anymore? There's an app for that - In the TV itself."
    • This implies that the friend has memory problems, and need to use various things to help him in his everyday life.
  • Blood stain
    • Don't tell the player at this point, but it's coming from the friend who's getting negative side effects because of the device he's testing for work.
      • This needs to be clarified along the story.
  • Digital photo frame
    • Reveal memories, discuss backstory for those players that are interested.
    • This also implies that the friend has memory problems. He tries to remember old times through the few photos he actually kept, but still has trouble seeing much more than the images themselves.

Actions

• Answer the phone in the friend's apartment.

Tasks?

• Use tasks in this environment to teach the basics of the game.
  • Make the player comfortable.

1. "Find out what has happened in the apartment. Where's your friend?"
2. Watch TV while waiting for the friend.
3. Search for information on the computer.
4. Answer the phone
   • This could be some kind of interrupting event, that allows the player to either answer their mobile phone, or to not answer and keep moving around in the apartment.
     • if they answer, they go along with the story.
     • if not, they can walk around for a while longer? Then get asked to leave through the hallway?
       • Perhaps don't offer this choice - maybe just use a single outcome, where the player can make a minor choice like how they speak to the person in the phone call. This would be easier to implement as it limits the branching necessary.

---

2 months earlier...

• Background story is told starting with this environment
• The player meets their friend in some context (party, at home, café, in town?)

  • They learn about the friend's new job

    • Tester of some new piece of technology for a big tech company.
    • The player don't get to know more details than that at this point though.

  • However, the friend gives the impression that he is very excited about the job.

    • "The applications of this technology is just beyond our imagination. It will change everything!"
    • "Okay, but what is it?"
    • "Sorry, I'm not allowed to tell you any more."
    • "Ah, I imagine a big company is very secretive about such a thing?"
    • "Indeed they are. However, I look forward to share more exciting updates with you in the future"

  • Player monologue/ thought bubble after the conversation with the friend has ended: - "I couldn't help to get the feeling that there was something my friend wasn't telling me."

Story key points

• The friend reveals his new job in a dialogue.
• Seems excited
• The player's character asks some questions which makes the player think, but is met by enthusiasm from Kevin.
  • Make the player feel suspicious of Kevin's job after reading this.

Items

Actions

• Talk to the friend.
  • Branched conversation with different replies to choose from.
  • Could affect the ending.

Tasks?

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Backstory, expand on news reports, background thoughts etc.

• This takes place in the player's apartment.

  • Living room - interact with the TV to watch the news
    • The player thinks "maybe my friend comes soon, it's close to dinner time. I'll watch some TV meanwhile."
    • The news come on, and they talk about a new report. "Wonder what that's about. I don't think my friend minds if I borrow his computer."
  • Desktop - Use the computer to search for more information about the study.
    • "Login screen" - The friend is so careful with security, yet he don't have any password for his home computer. "Imagine what a burglar, just walking into his open apartment could do. Hehe..."

• A group of researchers report that they've made a huge breakthrough in how the human mind works.

• They hope to cure some disease thanks to this research and experts praise the research.

• However, the player can, if they examine details in this environment, learn that the research was funded by the big company, and performed by researchers.

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A later conversation with the friend

• The friend reached out to the player - they feel ill and want to talk - but can't really talk.

• The player might start to suspect that the company is abusing their friend.

• The friend: "I'm fine. They just connect me a couple of days per week. It's not that dangerous."

  • "You do see how this job is affecting you right?"
  • "Relax, I get paid well! And I get to see this new technology before anyone else It's truly amazing once you see how much you can use it for!"
  • "But what are you going to do with all your money? Buy meaningless stuff that you can't even use with your shaky hands?"
  • The friend gets angry and ends the conversation, feeling that they don't get any support - not even from their best friend. And so they start to turn against the player, preventing them from helping their best friend.

• The player starts to form their opinion about how the company operates and what they are working on. They also might start to think that the best friend needs help.

Story key points

Items

Actions

Tasks?

The realization

• The company runs an ad for a new brain-computer interface

  • "Imagine having all the world's information just a thought away, at any time. Imagine needing no more servers or computers in your daily lives. Just use this device. This will change everything."

  • The player connects this ad to what they've learned about their friend.

    • When the thought hit them, they just stop and drop everything on the ground.
    • "Oh wow! My friend sure is in danger..."
    • "And how is this company getting away with this? How is no one reacting!?"

  • The player also sees several posts on social media - several of his friends have already bought their own devices.

    • He tries to talk them out of it, but they just dismiss him as a "tinfoil hat"- "Relax, it's going to be alright! Something like this surely is tested extensively!"
    • At which point the player can see the connection to their friend(s).

  • Now the player needs to make a choice, how to go about solving these problems

    • Either save the best friend first - or stop the company
    • Maybe do both? Maybe this can only be done if everything happens in the correct order - and fast enough according to the in game time.

• In the end, the player realizes that the company is developing a device that connects to people's brains.

  • It makes them lose their minds gradually, but slow enough for them not to notice it themselves. The device might be planting thoughts into their minds to control them. This way, users think that they gain the benefits of a literally "mind blowing" technology - even though it's ultimately at their own expense.
  • The "Server less architecture" used by the system seems to be linked to the fact that the devices are connected all the time.
    • The user's brains are used as servers. Users become like mindless drones, controlled by the company through their system.
  • They used young, enthusiastic people to test the device before release.
    • Your friend was in kind of a bad spot, and didn't have much of a choice but to accept the offer - or was just really grateful for the "opportunity to test something cutting-edge" and best of all, to get an apartment and other benefits as part of the deal.

• Message of this whole game

  • Be critical of new technology - It's okay to be excited - but don't just accept things (because you're a diehard fan boy with extreme brand loyalty).
  • We need open discussions if we want a healthy relationship with technology.

• Maybe this would fit like an after-thought provoking section after the game is completed?

Regardless of which, the best one could do is probably to start with something small. Ask questions when you interact with technology. "Why was this designed the way it is?", "Who created this?", "What are their intentions behind this design?".

In a time of great technological advances, we need to be aware of design. But above all: Who's responsible? Let's discuss the ethics of technology. Let's be responsible for what we create.

Now go ahead and ask questions. Awareness comes from questioning the world around us.```