So, this one of (funny enough) four different CoGs I’ve been working on (two of which haven’t been coded, and the other is Star Wars CoG that I’m contemplating rewriting entirely), but for the last month or so I haven’t worked on any of them, because I’ve been so busy with other things I simply haven’t had the time. So, I’ve decided to just post one of them up, and decided on this one. Not even a fraction of the introduction has been finished, and the writing thus far for it is… shaky and clumsy, I haven’t really go through it properly to proof read it and give the wording of the narrative a decent flow. There’s also a couple things I’d have rather had eased into such as the interaction with Alessandra and what not, because as is–it’s kinda’ abrupt, and I don’t really care for that, which partly goes back to the clumsiness I was talking about.
In any case, the story is centered around a female protagonist, which there are three variations of said protagonist to choose from, which are aesthetically different and does change how various characters will regard her as well as have various impacts within the narrative to varying degrees. It’s another western, and I’m trying my best to stray away from Allen Gies’ Tin Star, which is nothing shy of friggin’ phenomenal, but naturally I don’t want to unconsciously be influenced by anything he wrote, so I’ve been abstaining replaying it for the past couple months now in spite of how much I love that CoG. In any case, Four Guns you’ll find to be fairly linear, and that’s by intention, while I am going to give some unique choices pending stats, center choices, and hidden choices–really it mostly affects aesthetics.
Anyways, the protagonist alias or nickname everyone knows her by is “Four Guns” because she carries a four gun rig, which was a common thing for outlaws to do back in the mid to late 1800s, because it was simple logic of–more guns equals more bullets, and the more guns you have that’s less reloading to do in the middle of a firefight. It’s easier and quicker to simply draw another gun in a firefight than being limited to one gun and having to reload it every five or six shots (pending the revolver) in the middle of gun fight. Thus her “four gun rig” she’s known for. It takes place in Kansas, butI wanted to get away from the cliched Dodge City set up, and so I’m having the story take place in a fictional town north of Dodge City, which is called ‘Vale’. Downside is the current place where the story ends is JUST before getting to Vale.
Originally, Four Guns herself I wanted to be a kinda’ female variation of Billy the Kid, and playing off of that back in the late-1800s the nickname for Bridget was ‘Biddy’, so I guess the ‘default’ version of the protagonist to choose from would be her, “Biddy the Kid”. But then I got idea for other versions of the protagonist so I decided to make it a choice between them. Each of the names really I went with for the protagonist(s) are fairly cliche, but I kinda’ wanted to go along with the classic old style western cliche in that regard. Such as, the second version is French/Polish hunter and trapper out of Minnesota (Biddy is out of Missouri), and her name is Claire ‘Deadeye’, where Biddy is a straight up pistol wielding gunfighter, Claire is a sharpshooter. I like to think of Claire as… if a 17/18 year old hunter girl possessed Quigley’s (from Quigley Down Under) marksmanship with a Sharps’ Buffalo rifle carbine. And lastly but certainly not least, the other version is Coyote ‘Longrifle’, her actual name is never mentioned, people in the area simply call her ‘Coyote’ because of a particular hat she wears and a coyote bite scar on her right forearm, which the coyote she made her hat with is the coyote who bit her. She’s half-Native American, her father’s tribe is the Wyandot, who are more commonly known as the Huron from northeastern part of North America, but because of the Indians being relocated by the US government at the time, they had been moved out of New England regions to the midwest, at first into Michigan, but then lastly into reservations in Kansas, making Coyote a known local in the area. Those of her father’s tribe call her ‘Longrifle’, but both the names Coyote and Longrifle are merely nicknames, thus her actual birth name that her parents gave her remain unmentioned. Ability-wise she is at first a balance between a melee scrapper and sharpshooter like her father was, but if going with her unique choices it will be her melee ability that goes up stat-wise the most. In any case, all three versions of the protagonist are also known in the region as “Four Guns” because of that four gun rig, Biddy simply relies on it the most of the three. And for editorial simplicity’s sake I have all three sharing the same physique essentially, while having an otherwise aesthetic difference in appearance.
There will be two romance options, and they will regard each variation of the protagonist differently. Alessandra is one of the two whom you meet in the very beginning, and she takes an instant shine to Claire, and is intrigued by Coyote, but though it’s not really shown at first–she’s mildly amused by Biddy yet otherwise indifferent toward her. Whereas the other option is more smitten with Biddy, amused by Claire, and nervous with Coyote. Whether the relationship develops into a romance or simply a romantic friendship or just a friendship or nothing at all is largely dependent on the interactions with them. Though, I’m debating on a third romance option and very open to suggests.
The introduction is basically a classic vengeance tale of “Four Guns” seeking to get revenge against her parents killer(s), which is an outlaw by the name of Preacher who leads a very large outfit/gang. See? Classic western cliches, which I really wanted to play up as the narrative progresses. Problem is, again, there is very, very little to it thus far, so not even really an iota of my ambition for it is reflected within what’s currently there. But it’s going to be episodic, somewhat in the idea of the nickel and dime store books of western legends and gunfighters, which in this case are about the exploits of “Four Guns”. The introduction is meant serve as the establishment of what really caused the legend of “Four Guns” to take off, while introducing the main cast of characters; and later “episodes” being one new tale after another, each being a full or at least short CoG game in their own right. That’s the ambition, whether I can accomplish that or not… we’ll see. I’m holding off on my other CoGs to give it a go.
In any case, here’s the link. Despite the clear flaws in the writing that have yet to be addressed/fixed and there only being a little bit to mess around with, I hope you at least like what is there:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/175889841/Four%20Guns/mygame/index.html
