@JLBH I have written my thoughts on DP under that thread.
The minor role deals specifically with part three and part four of the story:
Part three: Life on a spaceship. You would write your interpretation of 1000 years in space. Either through many generations of people, each living and dealing with the boredom of the same scenario and the knowledge that their entire life will be spent inside a metal cage.
Or, you would write about the life of a crew member looking after all the occupants of the spaceship who are kept in a deep cryogenic sleep for the duration of the journey. The crew member could be alone (unlikely, but possible - perhaps due to rationing of food supplies) or as part of a group. The story would play out entirely as you determine with the ultimate goal of completing the journey safely.
Alternatively, you could write about another scenario entirely, something I haven’t thought of or considered. The choice would be yours.
Part four: So the spaceship has successfully travelled 1200 light years from Earth to this new planet. What do the inhabitants do? What did you bring (or not) with you from Earth to help set up a new life here? What is the local fauna and flora like? How do you deal with other survivors from earth (from a potential second ship). Is there alien life here?
Again, the choice would be yours. You would have free reign to interpret the life as you see fit with just a few conditions set to begin with (still to be determined).
The major role depends. There are two major writing roles for this project. For both, we will work and talk together to establish the full story.
First role: Story mode. For this role I have ideas in mind already to introduce the player to the concept of the game. The first playthrough will be set with less options for the player to change. It needs to be immense and well-written as it will be the first entry point for the player. This will be a large undertaking and I would need to know you are dedicated to the project for you to take on this role.
Second role: This would involve working with myself and a coder to create Earth in 2115. This is specifically working on part two of the game. Together we will create a frame for the world and as the writer, you would need to create paragraphs for all of the potential options that could happen. for example, one option is to tell the world about the asteroid early, giving them time to react to the threat. How do they react? Will there be sabotage attempts on the spaceship? Will there be private enterprises building their own spaceships? Or, alternatively, will the governments of the world conspire to keep the asteroid a secret for as long as possible? As aid to the president, how will you deal with media questions about mysterious deaths of astronomers? How will you deal with amateur astronomers blogging about the ‘asteroid that will wipe out the world?’ This part will be easier as there will be three people working together on it, but it will involve lots of alternative ideas that need to be written about.
So perhaps @Samuel_H_Young with input from @MaraJade could be the writers for part one! I like that idea. I’m glad you’re both interested in the project!
@Nocturnal_Stillness I fully understand, yet to have you as a guest writer for one of the part three branches would still be amazing! I’ll speak to you separately and see if we can work something out that would suit us both.
@CS_Closet it’s a shame you are so busy as your input would be most welcome on this project. Perhaps I will call on you for advice from time to time.
@FairyGodFeather several of those ideas will be open to exploration through part two of the story. I like the way you are thinking with this project. Would you like to take a step further and become involved in the writing process?
@Samuel_H_Young I have set up a private mail system for you and MaraJade.
@FairyGodFeather one reason I have gone for the complete destruction of Earth rather than exploration for necessity is that I don’t want the spaceship inhabitants to have contact with a ‘norm’ . Their development will be independent of any other contact with humans in it’s entirety.
I’m interested but not sure in what role. Maybe coder, maybe dedicated testing/proofing. I have 3 games planned already so my time is tight but community projects are important.
@Andymwhy Then don’t have them have contact with a norm. Perhaps the communications systems break. Or they just stop getting messages. Or there is an anomaly in the star system which blocks outside communications, and when they land they need to cannibalise their space-ship so no relay system to speak to earth.
No light speed travel can also mean you can’t get your communications to go faster than light speed either.
So if they’re a space ship travelling at close to light speed, and communications travel at the exact same speed they’re not going to get any messages until they land on the planet, and all of those messages are going to be as old as the journey. There’s no real-time communication. If they encounter a disaster when they reach the planet, and send back a message calling for help, it’ll be another thousand years before earth gets that message, and another thousand years after that before they can either reply and/or send help. (That’s assuming the planet’s a thousand light years away.
Even at much less than that you’re still speaking of delays which make any sort of two-way communication impossible.
I can write romances , when the game is in need of them.just pm me tell me the character once the wipes is up it will make it a lot easier to analyze the character .
I’m hesitant to volunteer to write any actual game content, since I’m extremely flaky. I’d also be more interested in using email to communicate than the forum message system, which I find rather awkward to use. With the added bonus that gmail allows the creation of group documents I believe. Although I’ve no idea how those work.
I can test and help with code, brainstorming that sort of thing. I’m really unreliable when it comes to writing content though so I won’t offer.
@JimD understood. Perhaps I can call on you for help with creating Earth in 2115 as that part will be the most technical.
@Fantom the discussions for this game will be open so there will be room for you to read and learn. As well as adding your own ideas into the mix!
@CS_Closet fantastic! Your knowledge would be best for part three - an area where each writer is given more freedom to write their own version of the future. I’ll keep you in mind!
@Rosalyn_samalt06, for the spaceships that rely on the constant repopulation of the species, romance will be essential. If you are up for it you could write your own interpretation of life in a spaceship (from birth to death!)
@FairyGodFeather, how would you like to stay on board as a consultant? What We have so far is a shell. Your ideas are great! While I still favour the idea of total destruction; the idea of the future of the human race in peril and how the people in the know manage the situation, I also like the idea that communications become less frequent over time due to the distance travelled. This is a community game; we can put the ‘reason’ for travel up to a vote.
I have watched a lot of groups try to do this, if I had not so many projects going I would love to be involved. For now all I can do is wish you all luck and the occasional feedback
@FairyGodFeather It is these questions that are why you would be perfect to help out with the Earth part of the story! As the leader of your nation (aid to the leader… still tbc) these are the questions you will have to answer. Your choices will then affect the journey itself. How many ships will be built? Do you have time? Do you have the finances? How many people can each one hold? Who gets to go? Is there an age limit? Will there be a lottery? Will you sell places to the mega-rich? Will you focus on scientists? Will you focus on miltary? Will you take families or individuals? Will you try to keep knowledge of the asteroid secret so people remain ignorant and worry free? Will you tell the world, giving people time to prepare to die, yet open yourself to a likely breakdown of society? You will have to juggle logistics with moral issues. Then, on the spaceship itself, you will get to see how your decisions pan out.
@Lordirishdas No problem. I’m sure we will be asking for plenty of feedback through the forums!
Is being a bureaucrat what would make the most compelling story? Would those sorts of decisions be in the hands of just one person? Do those choices actually matter?
They would if you were running a sim. It would be interesting to have to balance out all those factors. I think in a Choice game the story should come first though and I’d argue that degree of micromanaging isn’t interesting to the story.
Now being a mid-level bureaucrat who’s found themselves charged with assessing people’s applications. Who’s forced to interview applicants and deem them worthy or not, keeping in mind the other factors. What would you do if a mother’s suitable, but her husband and children aren’t and she wants to give up her seat so her eldest son can have it? Do you just bump the whole family off the lists.
Or, I think the story of the bright young intern who discovers this grand conspiracy the government is hiding. That the planned space missions are evacuating an earth that’s about to be destroyed. Do you go public with the information? Do you blackmail them to ensure you and your family get places. Do you keep your knowledge secret but use it to game the system. Do you have the computers to get yourself included? Do you try to bribe your way on?
I’d think actually uncovering a conspiracy would be far more exciting than being the one at the top making all the life or death decisions.
I would imagine that the super-rich, and the corporations would be the ones with the most money to put into these space projects. I’d be surprised if there weren’t corporate sponsored ships, with contests for people to get a space.
If the writers are up for a bit more work, there’s always the option of having the micromanaging available, but giving the player a choice of shoving that aspect off on someone else (basically condensing the multitude of choices into one major choice and hoping whoever was assigned will do what’s best). Then the player is free for a more story-like experience if that’s their play-style preference.
Not to say that the simulation style gameplay can’t be woven into good storytelling, but it may be less hassle to break it up in such a manner.
For the first playthrough of the game (story mode) you play through the life of a civilian. You have to acquire a ticket to the ship (perhaps uncovering the conspiracy could be included here… I like that view point!), then live on a predetermined ship, then experience life on Kepler 62e.
The second playthrough puts you in a position of power where you do have to micro-manage the situation. Your decisions here are reflected in the stories that unravel from different writers in the spaceship section of the game, and subsequent planet section.
if you don’t want to go earth in danger what about make it for greed reasons. The Earth of the future consists of business consortiums and the main business is terraforming. Keppler could be a valuable target so that is the purpose of the journey.
I’m struggling to see how a business scenario could work. Keppler is 1200 light years away, so would take a minimum of 1200 years to reach (more likely a LOT more, but we are writing sci-fi here). Not even the businessman’s great-great-grandchildren would see any benefit from the investments… It would have to be philanthropists to be more realistic. Changing it to terraforming would mean changing the planet to Mars, which changes the whole story completely. 250 days in space doesn’t compare to your whole life.
I’m still heavily in favour of the ‘Earth is doomed’ scenario as it makes every decision much more important. I want to explore the reactions of people at the news that everything they have ever known will be destroyed. As a community game, it will go to a vote… so we may as well get it decided now!
VOTE:
Why are the humans going to Kepler 62e?
An asteroid is going to destroy the Earth. Run now!
Another disaster will wipe out life on Earth (explain with your vote)
Since it already happened on mars it will also soon happen on earth, earths atmosphere has become weaker because of all the people cutting tree’s, factory’s and other stuff that’s bad for the enviroment but let’s get back to what will happen. Since earths atmosphere is so weak, it will be destroyed if there comes a powerfull flame thing from the sun that i dont know the name of in english wich will probably come soon and destroy earths atmosphere, destroying all life on earth.
