Hello! I’m currently batting around ideas for a choice game (two, actually, but focusing on this one for now). Any suggestions are welcome; I will probably update this as the games build from concept to actual writing (or I’ll make a thread in Works in Progress at that time, we’ll see).
The game concept in question is somewhat based in the Magical Girl genre, though there will be the option to play as a boy or a girl (which is why I hesitated to put Magical Girl in the title). I intend to put some slightly darker/more realistic twists on the genre, though at this point I’m not hoping for utter grimdarkness. The basic plot is a magical war of sorts taking place in a modern-day city between factions that have dubbed themselves Order and Chaos (tentative names). The player character will start out as a newly-awakened Cosmonarch (also a tentative name), basically a magical girl/boy with a specific “power sphere” (Potential will probably be the player character’s sphere), and they will experience a several-year career leading to one of multiple endings.
I’m trying to think of specific plot points that can be hit, like choosing a mentor, attending training programs for rookie Cosmonarchs, more serious decisions… I know a major stat involved will be a “kill count,” which is pretty much what it sounds like. It ideally won’t be as simple as “you killed someone, +50 bad points.”
So, I’d like suggestions for possible events and stats I could put into the game. Current ideas for stats are athleticism/strength, magic skill, and mercy vs. hostilty. I look forward to your suggestions! Thank you!
@Damian In my current plans, I want to keep the scope of the game to someone on the Order side (corruption- the term for switching from Order to Chaos- results in a Game Over for now). But maybe in the future, if this pans out well, I could do a spin-off for someone who starts corrupted or for the player character who got corrupted!
@Blazerules Chaotic Good is very much an option! You may be on the side of Order, but you will have the option for all kinds of not-strictly-lawful things. Like killing.
Order and Chaos are just the faction names; there’s supposed to be a large spread of alignments even among the factions.
but what about playing as a Chaos to Order character? unless thats what you meant when you said the following
(you could probably call them redeemed or something similar) anyways you could be ignored and shunned by the other groups for being “impure”, or it could do the complete opposite and you will be loved and rejoiced for joining Order.
Either way though, I like the Magical Girl/Boy idea.
@DragonWarrior Yeah, that’s under the spinoff category for now. I’m considering making a second story featuring a Chaos-starting character who can purify, but I don’t want to make the two stories too close to each other or have things bump into each other too much.
@Grapefruit Yes, of course! You can make all manner of enemies and allies here, and even find a romance partner. The specifics are currently a bit up in the air, but I want these things to be options.
I’d be curious as to what these girls/boys are like when they are not magical. It might be worthwhile to ask if they have anything in common as a group–similar circumstances or physical peculiarities.
you can’t be a magic girl or boy without some weirdly inappropriate or silly outfit its in the bylaws i checked its the same reason none of the bad guys attack those sailor girls when they do there transformations that take so long its not that they cant attack then its just in the rules and regulations of there union group
anyway a modern take of the magic girl genera would be interesting and a mentor sounds like a good idea
and a kill tally sounds like a good idea cause with that kinda power generally you’d think mistakes would be made or emotion would cause you to do something that a normal person couldn’t do so easily giving you a thing to think about
would you be a superman, a punisher, or a judge dread of the magical community
@faewkless (And Grapefruit- silly mention cap)- You do indeed have to wear a silly costume to use your magic, but guys won’t have quite so many frills. :'D
@Drakeye That reminds me- you will get the option to use a “fast” or “slow” (fancy) transformation before battles. “Slow” is kind of the default, and… I’ll try and work out a reason why enemies don’t attack while you transform.
Some good stats for this would be :
Sanity. Counting how many loose screws the character has
Detached vs Social. Basically whatever the character is a loner or someone gets/try to get along with others.
Popular vs Infamous/Unknown. Whatever or how the MC is perceived by the general public
And Head in the clouds vs Level headed. Whatever the MC lives in fairyland or if he treats his situation with realism.
Example: Before me stood five minions of the dark mage / Before me, five people the dark mage was manipulating with mind controlling magic
You could just keep slow as the default and make it a thing - like, when a Magical Boy/Girl begins their fancy transformation the sudden influx of magical energy bubbles around them creating a sort of impenetrable barrier that lasts until the transformation finishes? Or something?
I just have this image of some guy getting hit by a big blast and then, when the smoke clears, he stands triumphant, completely unscathed… and wearing a nice frilly sailor scout outfit.
Obviously the outfits of the blue and green boys are actually decent (prefer the green one, as he has actual boots).
Yellow isn’t too humiliating, except for the fact that I loathe shorts (anywhere but on a tropical beach/resort).
Red wears what looks like an embarrassing school-boy outfit with way too short shorts and pink is, of course the most humiliating as it’s red’s school boy outfit with the addition of what looks like high-heels and a more feminine cut of the shorts and jacket.
On a related matter, what happens to someone’s actual clothes during transformation? Are they disintegrated and lost in the void forever? That would be very embarrassing upon de-powering and also very expensive and would likely prevent our heroes from owning nice clothes.
Are they transported to the magical boy/gir’s home or base? similarly embarrassing upon de-powering, but at least you could afford to own actual nice clothes.
Or do they actually transform into the silly outfit and revert back on de-powering?
