Gauging interest for 2 game ideas (UPDATE with more plot information)

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*EDIT (11/19/15) SLIGHTLY UPDATED THE INFORMATION PAGES. 100 LIVES NOW NAMED “9 LIVES”. Click here to read. Front of the information page also contains a link to a blog where I’m going to posting development information and character concepts, if you’re interested in that.

EDIT (10/13/15) SOME INFORMATION FOR THE WORLD OF 100 LIVES. Click here to read.

These ideas are fairly unrefined, but I wanted to see if either or both of them seemed to have any potential:

Burn Contract- The player takes on the role of a demon who has been summoned by a person (adult or child, I’m not sure yet) who wants to make a deal with the devil.

They want 24 years on Earth during which the demon will be their servant, helping them towards their ambition (I haven’t decided on the ambition’s particulars yet, but it will be one that they can’t achieve without the demon’s help), and in exchange they will give themselves up to eternal damnation. Think something very inspired by the various interpretations of Faustus, but with the actual storyline and reason being something different.

The demon will have the choice to support this contract or be against it, to serve the person wholeheartedly or not, to corrupt them further or try to lead them to the light.

100 Lives- The player has 50 lives through which they need to live a fulfilled life with their soulmate.

The player starts out in the midst of a romance with an NPC (gender of their choosing) in a fantasy-folklore type island setting [imagine less dungeons and dragons, and more oral history]. Their life is mundane and peaceful until the day that another nation comes by and begins to colonize. It isn’t long before the NPC is killed by the colonists, and the MC follows soon after.

Skipping over some detail about the religious aspects of the game (which will be based around a fictional polytheistic religion), the MC finds out in the afterlife that souls can only reach “heaven” (it won’t actually be heaven, but it’s a similar concept) if the soul lives a fulfilled life. The soul is given 100 lives in which to be satisfied. Normally this is not a difficult thing to accomplish, but the MC’s soul had been split in two at some point in its creation, and they need to find and reunite with the other half in order to ascend. The other half is the NPC from the MC’s first life. They both only have 50 chances.

The MC soon finds that this is even more difficult, as the colonization of their island just marked the beginning of a war that would continue through many/all of the lives they would be reborn into. MC is the only one who remembers, because their gods decided to bless them with that.

The game won’t go through every life, it’ll skip over a bunch in which the MC can’t find the NPC at all, and the less significant ones will just be defined by short moments that are meaningful. According to the player’s choices, the world will be changed. It will become easier or harder to reunite, and the world may end up better or worse because of what the MC does with their lives. The story will end with the MC succeeding or failing to live a fulfilled life with the NPC. It doesn’t have to be a better world for this to happen.

4 Likes
2

the second one sounds potentially good… :slight_smile:

3

The second one sounds so unique! Like a mix of Choice of Romance and Paradox Factor.

The first one, if we’re a demon wouldn’t that make us want to manipulate them for their own gain rather than do good? Spirit possession sounds more likely, evil path turns us into a demon whilst the good path allows us ascension to heaven. But the ideas sound solid if you put a good amount of effort and passion into it. I say go for both ideas :blush:

4

Just an idea but why not do both? The first one is that romance one ,then a sequel to it could be the summoning one

5

Burn Contract sounds really cool but how about making it like this you get summoned by a teenager and helping them and staying with them for 24 years sounds unique sense it will be the first time I saw a gem where the NPCs around the MC age but the MC will not sense demons are immorals maybe you could stick to the contract and help them or have a taking a human form and getting in a romantic relationship with them or trick them and take their soul to hell “I know it’s evil don’t judge me XD” but anyways it sounds good and it’s a new concept but 100 lives sounds good too but I prefer number 1.

6

Both sounds intriguing. I would have to say number two first, as I haven’t really found a romance that really piqued my interest, but this one does. Number one, however, sounds a lot better when it comes to action.

7

Both sound coolio. Flip a coin, maan.

8

I’ve considered doing a somewhat romantic reincarnation story as well just because it’s such a great fit with interaction fiction. I’d love to see you pull that one off.

9

I’d play either, but the second idea sounds better.

10

I like both ideas but the first seems more interesting

11

Yeah, I’d say the second one might come first because everyone wants a new romance story so … yeah… I like stories with demons so I like the first idea more but that doesn’t mean that I won’t check out whatever comes first so good luck.

12

The second one is a good idea.

13

Playing as a Demon summoned by a child gets my vote.

14

Burn Contract sounds a lot more interesting, though if you’re playing as a demon I’d say you shouldn’t be trying to lead them to the light at all.

Instead you should be deciding on which is the best way to corrupt the person and trying to figure out which way will cause them to do the most harm in the world.

If you manage to corrupt them to a very large degree you get a hell promotion by your boss after the 24 years are up. Failing to do your job properly results in getting a demotion or worse.

1 Like
15

Hmm, both sound interesting - I like the idea of getting to play through a bunch of lives to succeed in a certain task (reminds me a little of ‘Spirit Circle’, actually).

The first idea intrigues me more though - we basically get to be Mephistopheles (do we get to sing le veau d’or too? :laughing: ). Could be more interesting if the summoner is a kid too - a kid’d have less of an idea of an idea of the potential pitfalls ahead, not to mention tricking him could ve good for making the player feel like a bastard for doing so - though it could also be like shooting fish in a barrel if the kid’s too naive and/or not quick to learn… On the other hand, what reason(s) could an employee of Hell have for trying to guide his summoner ‘to the light’? Better work out a good reason(s) there, if I may suggest…

16

Both good ideas. For Burn Contract, I’d be inclined to make the player the person who summons the demon, rather than the demon itself - perhaps accidentally, or perhaps the demon’s service is inherited. Because it seems like the demon isn’t the one making a lot of the choices - it’s the summoner, who has to choose whether to try to use the demon’s powers for good, in an attempt to avoid damnation, or whether to cut loose and have fun, consequences be, well, damned.

The demon and his pals would be quick to throw obstacles in the player’s path. “Okay, you don’t want to risk your soul by using my powers, I understand… But are you sure you don’t want me to kill that mobster who’s threatening your friends?”

Plus you know that demon’s going to be crackin’ wise the whole time…

17

The first one, if we’re a demon wouldn’t that make us want to manipulate them for their own gain rather than do good?

I know that tends to be the popular way to do demon-related fiction, which is why I’d like to refer to Faustus for some inspiration (since the demon, in the play version at least, spends much of his time trying to convince Faustus to stop).

1 Like
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The romantic relationship idea did come up for me when I was planning out the game. It’s still tentative since creating a romance between a demon and a young human is kind of… very iffy. But I think as long as I emphasize that it’s not a healthy relationship, it’ll make it into the game.

1 Like
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I really admire the ideas of yours I’ve seen on the forum, so I do hope that you’ll like what I come up with!

Oh, there will definitely be consequences to doing your job improperly, but I’m going more for biblical-esque fiction so it probably won’t be in a career type format.

Definitely. Character motivation is an important part of both these story ideas, but more so the first one, considering it’s “out of character”. I’m definitely going to be taking a lot of inspiration from Mephistopheles, though. I might go meta and reference the different versions of Faustus within the story.

20

I’m a little set on the idea of playing the demon, but you’ve really got a good idea there, especially with the split motivations. I’ll look into that idea as well.