If you want to share your ‘city descriptions’, you are welcome to do so.
And thanks for the long comment, it’s always nice to see this degree of involvement.
If you want to share your ‘city descriptions’, you are welcome to do so.
And thanks for the long comment, it’s always nice to see this degree of involvement.
The continued interest in my project has spurned me on to write up something new. I’ve also recently learned how to make a structure and plan stuff better, so I might as well apply these techniques to this project.
I) Top-Down Plan:
If I want to make this game, CoG will likely only allow me to go for the ‘Hosted Games’ option. (https://www.choiceofgames.com/looking-for-writers/) I’m not a published author, so I won’t be able to take the direct-to-Choice-of-Games route with which you can earn either 10.000 or 5000 + 25% royalties. I have already estimated that writing a CoG game would require 120 hours of work. If you earn 10.000 for it, that’s paying 75 dollars an hour, which is an amazing rate. This however is not for me since I’m not a published author. That puts me in the second box:
‘Hosted Games’ will give me 25% royalties. I have no idea what that will amount to, but I’m going to guess like 500 dollars maybe. I doubt a lot of people click on ads. The other bonus would be that having a title to my name published, I would be allowed to go the payed route the second time I might write a game. This means the question for me is, how much time am I willing to work to create a game for free with the uncertain possibility it can open the door for future ‘employment’?
Assuming making a decent game will require 100 hours, that will translate to 10 weeks of hobby working. Assuming it earns me 500 dollars that’s 5$/hour.
II) Word Count
By nature I of course want to create a super expansive and ambitious game. But I should dial it back and make some more realistic ambitions; go for something short & sweet and doable. CoG says that a full-fledged game has a minimum of 60,000 words. They say that a ‘good author’ can write 1,000 words an hour. That would mean 60 hours of work. But that’s unrealistic because: a) I will also need to learn Choice Script, b) I will need to do a lot of planning ( http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/ ) c) I don’t think I can do 1,000 words an hour because it’s also writing code at the same time and d) bug-fixing and editing will take up a bunch of time as well. So my guess is (Mastering Choice Script: +10 hours), (Planning: 10 Hours), (Bug-fixing and Editing: 15 Hours), (Word Speed 700/hour = 60.000/700 = 85 hours). Total = 120 hours for a full-fledged game for 500 bucks. That’s a little less than 5$/hour.
Now, let’s say I dial things back and go for a word count of 40.000. Adjusting the guesstimate that’s 80 hours. 80 hours is two full work weeks. But as a side-hobby, thats 8 weeks. Am I willing to devote 8 weeks of hobby ‘work’? Well it IS fun and I am passionate, so I might just do that.
III) Gameplay Structure
Aiming for 40.000 Words + 80 Hours means I will need to do a few things:
IV) Story Structure
(Meta)
Set-Up
Beginning
Middle
End
Epilogue
(More Specific)
Set-Up
Beginning (Act 1)
Middle (Act 2)
Ending (Act 3)
Epilogue (optional)
V) The Next Action =
Write a first draft for the “even more specific outline”.
Set-Up
00
Introducing Game World Lore
It is the year 1542, you are an immortal Witchhunter with a sinful past. You are here for atonement. As a Witchhunter you try to fight fire with fire, you allow yourself sin, to fight the sinful.
Character Look, Customization, Background, Language, Nationality, et cetera
Lots of choice and customization. Influences Stats Screen.
Choice For A Mentor
(Possibly: Each Mentor will allow a different ‘training mission’.) The 5 Mentors are: Portuguese, Dutch, German, Savoyard and Croat.
‘Tutorial Mission’
Portuguese: go on a missionary trip to Sengoku JAPAN. Fight a creepy girl with long hair ghost. Spread Christ with the Jesuits. Introduce firearms to Japanese.
German: the Trial of ‘Innsbruck’: participate in a German witch trial. (Detective Work).
Savoyard: investigate Huguenot Protestants in France. (Detective Work; Inquisition style).
Croat: Travel through Slavic areas and defeat Baba Yaga and a Werewolf. (More of the beast-hunting aspect of Witchhunting).
Dutch: Attempt an assassination on John Calvin / burn some printing presses.
Complete Tutorial And Beginning of ‘Act 1’
Get some consequences rewards for your actions. Next step is you go into ‘hibernation’. Remember your immortal. You come back before the heyday of the Fourty Years War (Protestants vs Catholics major war; million total death toll)
Beginning (Act 1)
-01
Choice Of Two Possible ‘Campaigns’
After your ‘hibernation’, you get to choose when you want to ‘wake up’, and where you want to go next to influence history.
Choice 1: Battle of Lepanto (1571)
Option 2: The Last Inca Stronghold (1572): Join the Spanish in dealing the final stroke to the Incan Empire.
After completing one of these two campaigns, you go back into hibernation, until campaign 2.
Interlude: Set Up Of MAIN PLOT
Around (1610) pamphlets of the ‘Rosicrucians’ start to appear. The Rosicrucian Order is a precursor to the Freemasons, which in turn are considered ‘Illuminati’. The Rosicrucians represent the ‘Mystery School Teachings’, which are denounced by the Roman Catholics as the ‘Luciferian Doctrine’. Luciferians say that Lucifer is a good god who can lead man to immortality through the promise of technology and knowledge and enlightenment. They say that the Christian God ‘Adonai’ is a tyrant. The Roman Catholics offer the opposite: Lucifer is a fallen angle and deceiver of man, ‘God’ is just. The Main Plot is about the struggle between these two paradigms.
Campaign II: The Thirty Years’ War
Once again, you have two choices. You can side with the amoral Cardinal Richelieu and the French Kings Louis XIII and XIV. Or you can participate in the Spain vs. Netherlands War.
Choice 1: Raison d’État (partake in the schemed of Cardinal Richelieu to cull the Holy Roman Empire; you’re actually a double spy for the Pope to find out what’s going on in France)
Option 2: Alva vs William of Orange (assassinate William of Orange; support the Spaniards in their claim of the Netherlands)
End: Find out the involvement of the ‘Rosicrucians’ in all of this. Did they manipulate Richelieu? Did they sabotage Spain?
Interlude II: Massive Disaster
Some sort of massive disaster takes place. Maybe the Catholics suffer a humiliating defeat? Maybe the Jesuits (who are secretly Satan worshippers?) have taken over the papacy. Maybe everyone in your order ends up getting murdered. All your friends who bear the ‘Mark of Cain’, slaughtered. In any case, after this Disaster you are forced to go into hiding, to bide your time, to go on a ‘spirit journey’.
For the sake of closure, let’s say the disaster takes place just at the end of the Thirty Years War with the Peace of Westphalia.
Middle (Act 2)
02
‘Spirit Journey’
Remember that at the beginning of the game, you were faced with a choice for a background; your ‘origin story’. You could have sold your soul to a demon (Soul Debtor), (Crusader), (Tempted By Power), (Second Chance), (Aristocrat Origin), (Called To Arms), (Heartbroken). I will have to rewrite the seven origins, but in any case, during the ‘Spirit Journey’ saga, your character will come full circle and deal with his origin story.
Soul Debtor: Get your soul back.
Crusader: Finally deal with your hate and find peace.
Tempted By Power: realize you have fallen from grace and find humility.
Second Change: give another a second chance to find Christ.
Aristocrat: affect your families name and lasting legacy.
Called To Arms: achieve glory.
Heartbroken: find new love.
At the end of your ‘Spirit Journey’, your character will have dealt with his origin story, either negatively or positively.
Interlude III: A New Resistance
While the Congregation For The Doctrine Of The Faith has been ‘destroyed’ and your brothers ‘scattered’, a new resistance has been formed. This one however, is more religiously ‘tolerant’. You meet Buddhists, Protestants, Muslims, Hindu’s et cetera. A bunch of bad-ass holy warriors unified in their battle against ‘the Devil’.
Campaign III: Exotic Adventure
The theme of the third campaign is learning about the other religions. At the end of this campaign you will also have a new ‘Best Friend’.
Choice 1: Japanese Buddhist; have some fun in Japan with Samurai’s. (1660) (Buddhist Friend)
Option 2: Oliver Cromwell; experience some fun Irish Catholic versus murderous Protestants drama. (Irish Pal)
Path 3: Go on a Ship Trip with Dutch Protestants from the VOC. (Protestant Buddy)
Fourth Way: The Ottomans in Transylvania. (Sunni Muslim Mate)
Interlude IV: 1666 {London In Flames}
1666: obviously some demonic stuff is going on with the ‘666’ et cetera.
Campaign IV: The Salem Witch Trials
Only one option here; time to explore the New World and the Colony of New England and hunt some witches. This is a Witchhunting game after all.
Interlude V: Love Interest & Legacy
In this interlude you get to ‘explore’ your sexuality, choose a wife, possibly invest some of your cash and try to build a future to your name. Who do you want to be, come 18th Century? A wealthy bourgeois merchant in Paris or a prole living in the streets?
Interlude VI: Another Disaster
Though you have had success and fun in interlude V, at the end of ‘Act 2’ another shit goes down. And you’ll be going into ‘hibernation’ again until the 18th century.
Ending (Act 3)
03
Results Of Interlude V
It’s the 18th century and you get to see the fruit of your loom. Who have you become, what have you achieved?
Spirit Journey II
Remember in the beginning of the game you had to pick one of seven deadly sins that marked you? In Spirit Journey II you deal with these sins and how they have affected the legacy of your empire.
Campaign V: New Mission
After Disaster 1 and Disaster 2, the responsibility of Witchhunting now rests on your shoulders. After atoning for your ‘deadly sin’, God has called you once again to heed his call. Now it’s your turn to bring resistance to the Freemasons / Luciferian Conspiracy.
Choice 1: Investige the Rothschild. This wealthy banking family has been financing wars for an entire century and have nearly crippled France. How are they related to the Luciferians? Also: investigate Enlightenment Age writers as agents of Satan.
Option 2: Inflitrate the Bavarian Illuminati. You succeed in breaking them apart, but they flee and survive.
Side-Theme: You establish your own Holy Order and basically build your own Counter-Conspiracy Secret Society.
Campaign VI: Revolution
Join either the Loyalists in the American Revolt, or those loyal to King Louis XVI in Revolutionary France.
Choice 1: Fight the Freemasons in Washington and their machinations in bringing about the American Revolt.
Option 2: Witness the storming of the Bastille and the crumbling of the Ancien Régime in favor of the godless Enlightenment.
Interlude VII: The Passage Of Time
Your Counter-Conspiracy Secret Society continues to duke it out with the Freemason Luciferians for centuries. The 19th and 20th century pass along and the major conflicts are shared. You are once again in hibernation.
Campaign VII: The Final Climax
It’s the 21st century (future) and in a ‘Scifi-Punk’ world you must put an end to the final conspiracy: the arrival of the ‘Antichrist’ in the world. This is the last chance to win so everything hinges on this.
Epilogue (optional)
004
Consequences Of Climax
We learn the end consequences of the final battle in the 21st century.
Reflection and ‘Happy Ending’
Your past deeds and story come full circle. You have been an epic lord of amazingness. You have a choice in how your lasting epicness will be eternalized (statue? book? named bridge?)
Satisfying Conclusion
The final themes and loose ends are wrapped up. The end.
VI) Themes
A. Immortality And The Passage Of Time
A major plot element is that you are immune to aging. This allows to explore familiar tropes of immortality (Vampire tropes etc) and allows us to have a game in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 21st century.
B. Lucifer vs Adonai, Two Mutually Exclusive Paradigms
The two main factions of the game are the Luciferians and Christianity.
Christianity: Mankind is fallen. Man is in sin. Men are lower than God, subservient to God. Mankind is rebelling against God and sinning. Mankind should atone for their sin by confessing Christ is Lord and accepting they are a ‘fallen’, ‘wretched’ species that can only find salvation through Jesus Christ. God (‘Adonai’) is just, loving, almighty, personal, holy. Lucifer is Satan is the Devil is a fallen angle and a deceiver. The Luciferian doctrine started when the Serpent offered the apple to Eve and Adam & Eve were tempted by original sin and seduced by the promise of knowing good & evil. Hell exists; the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist. Theism. Mysticism rather than Enlightenment: God is above all else, reason leads only to fragmentations and endless eroding of absolute authority (Joseph de Maistre). Without God, man becomes individualistic, egocentric, selfish, amoral, because he believes he is all alone and responsible for himself; seeks happiness through external means in the material world. Men who accept Christ no longer follow themselves, but follow Christ and are ‘born anew’. Supernatural world view. French Revolution = Satan’s Work.
Luciferians: Adonai is an evil tyrant god. He was the greater God, but Lucifer was a ‘sub-god’ (Gnosticism) who offered freedom to Adonai’s ‘slaves’ (humans). Adonai, the God of the New & Old Testament, is cruel, petty, evil, harsh, unloving and tyrannical. Lucifer = freedom, free will, intelligence, independence, righteous revolution. Lucifer offers the promise of becoming God yourself through knowledge & enlightenment. Sin is an illusion to control people. There are no rules or laws, there is no objective truth or morality, man is free to ‘do as thou wilt’ (Crowley). Hell doesn’t exist. Atheism. Ascension, apotheosis through technology (Deus Ex; Singularity; A.I.). Enlightenment: man can achieve greatness through reason alone. Individuality, selfishness, amorality (Machiavelli), realpolitik (Richerlieu; Metternich; Bismarck; Kissinger). Free will is Satan’s (Lucifer) gift. ‘Materialistic’ world view: this is all there is. French Revolution = March Of Progressive History (Wig History).
C. Temptation Of Power
Every quest will leave you with an option leading you towards pride or humility; will you accept more and more demon powers to become more powerful, or will you abstain and remain humble? At the end of the game, you can have the choice to follow the Luciferians or the Christians.
I really hope you write the rest of this. Its a great piece and I think that you can get a great job out of it. People will definitely be interested in this sort of game.
Glad to see you full with energy like this, and if you plan to add new Slavic locations with Muscovy as an option works, but I would also suggest Poland then (even more because it’s Catholic and Teutonic Order/Prussia is nearby) for the story
btw, I’m nowhere near a Twitter celebrity status, but thanks anyway, made me laugh
Hope to see this finished, I’ll help as much I can for it to happen.
Well done, you have made an impassioned case for Croatia and I appreciate it!
If Napoleon and a Byzantine Emperor (which one btw?) and Austro-Hungary and 19th Century Bavaria all perpetuate the stories of the fearsome Croat then there seems to be some convergent validity to this claim (different sources across different time-frames making the same claim).
I’ll make an effort to include Croatians in the story and make reference to their fearsome nature. (Depict their roles in the Wars of Religion, the battles against the Ottoman Sultanate, their contribution to the Battle of Lepanto).
However, in the 16th century, when the game starts, they’re just not as large or relevant as the other countries I’ve included in the game. If I had to make a list of the top 15 cities of Europe in terms of power, population size and economic importance, I don’t think Zagreb would make the cut in 1542. The countries I have included where all chosen for a specific reason:
Italy: pinnacle of the Renaissance. Center of Rome and the Papacy.
The Netherlands: upcoming power; Erasmus; Protestantism upcoming.
Denmark: Copenhagen is an important city; Vikings.
Budapest: Hungary is relevant in the Ottoman vs Habsburg Wars; also Transylvania and Van Helsing.
Spain: the most powerful player in 1542.
Poland: big, large population, historically relevant at the time.
England: very relevant player.
Austria: (Habsburg Austria includes Spain) Another important power. Austria is also meant to represent all of Catholic Germany.
Ireland: Roman Catholic background.
France: upcoming power under Louis XIV and Richelieu.
Switzerland: language variety, center of Protestantism (Calvin).
Savoy: Italy/France mixture.
That’s not a pleasant thought.
I’m all for making Croatians count for something, but this feels a bit much.