The Tower (WIP-Gauging interest in story)

Hosted Games Works In Progress
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Hey there, since there have been so many new WIPs popping up, I might as well throw my game idea out there too. This is my first game, so any suggestions/feedback would be welcome. Do you think it’s a good idea? Do you think its a little bit TOO similar to someone else’s story? Or do you think my time would be better spent on other ideas?

(Edit 5/12/16)
Title:
The Tower

Story:
Set in the near future, a Megaquake has shaken the earth to its core unleashing thousands of bug like creatures upon the recovering nations of the world. Burrowing up, and pouring out of, pits around the globe, these Netherspawn kill anything in sight.The world, now in turmoil, struggles to fight against this new unrelenting enemy. And as governments begin to fall… Millions(Billions?) die in the dark months ahead.

A few months later, the remaining European nations have formed the United Forces Army (U.F.A) effectively halting the steady insect advance further north and preserving some of the last clusters of society.

Your Role:
Following a few months after the U.F.A’s formation, your batch of Recruits have finally completed training and will now be distributed among the U.F.A’s branches.
You will be able to choose between two (maybe more) paths: Trooper and Operative. Which will eventually lead you to a promotion and command of your own squad(along with the discovery of certain abilities), ultimately leading to command of an Outpost.

This Outpost is based near The Tower, a mysterious structure that is believed to have caused the Megaquake. It is your duty to guard this Tower from the populous,investigative journalists, foreign governments, and the occasional Netherspawn that makes it past the front lines. If anything were ever to get through the perimeter and into the Tower, something much worse may come out of it.

Features

# Squad
Command your own Squad of Troopers or Team of Spec Op Operatives, going on missions for the U.F.A.

# Psychic Abilities
After exposure to certain elements, learn to control your new found psychic abilities.
Pyrokinesis
Telepathy
Telekinesis
Extra Sensory Perception (ESP).

# Romance
Okay now that I think about it, there is going to be Romance somewhere in the story… I’m not sure how many RO’s there will be but I’m sure there will be at least 4.

#The Company & Officers
I am not sure how these will be applied. There may still be an Operation that requires you to leave the Outpost, where you will command a squad/company as you travel a war-torn Europe. While, as this Operation goes on, an attack on the Outpost occurs. Thus, you can choose beforehand, whether to go with the squad you send on the Operation or to stay at the Outpost for the defense. Whichever one you choose will have a higher chance of success.

My Thoughts
Now believe it or not, what inspired this was actually Wreck it Ralph and Endmaster’s story, Eternal. Wreck it Ralph had that huge tower with the bugs and the soldiers battling it out. And after reading Eternal, an insect enemy that is almost unstoppable would be a great end of the world story idea. :smiley:

Okay, so the outline I have right now starts off the story with the MC finally completing training Camp and choosing to join a branch of the U.F.A… Whichever path the MC joins will have its own separate story and events that transpire, leading to your promotions and the events that give you your pyschic powers… You will eventually be sent to the Outpost.( Which also acts as a sort of Psychic Training Hub) There are not many Psychic’s around but the few newly exposed men and women are sent to the Outpost.

I’m still thinking things through. Hopefully, I’ll have a demo out next week. :sweat_smile:

If you have any thoughts feel free to type em down! All of this is just an idea, and I won’t be surprised if it gets completely changed later on. Thanks for checking this out!

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So is this two paths? Protect your outpost or travel to Paris, or will one path lead into the next. I think you would need more then one point to release the vapor. Perhaps you could have the prep with the chemicals and maps of where it needs to placed, to be effective it all needs to be released at once. Just my thoughts of course. Loved Wreck it Ralph. :smile:

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Reminds me of Starship Troopers.

What if you change the bugs into demon-like creatures instead, so that it will invoke the Apocalypse?
I mean they came from underground right?

And with that, you can even make different kinds of demons. Some flyers, some crawlers, assassin-like creatures that only attack during the night.

Aside from that, good premise. Though I doubt us Brits will want to work with the Russians, even if it’s a catastrophic event such as this. Hahahahahah…

P.S.
And we’re close to leaving the EU. Will this be another ploy to make us stay? Hahahahaha…

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@Lordirish Yeah, I’m still thinking on that… Maybe two paths wouldn’t be so good. I’m thinking the U.F.A orders you to lead the Operation and they either have you appoint someone to defend your Outpost or they just appoint someone themselves. Which will affect how things go at the Outpost… I’m not sure.

And thats a good point, I thought maybe the Eiffel Tower could be a sort of control hub for the rest of the release stations, maybe a reason for putting it on the tower could be Signal strength to the rest of the stations. Or maybe instead of going to the Tower, you could instead go to the various substations along the , now overrun, front lines and try to retake them one by one and hold them till everything is set.

Wreck it Ralph was great! Animation just keeps getting better and better. :smiley:

@Knightstrike
Oh yeah Starship Troopers! Yeah I’m kinda going for that, just a less modern version.

Hmm, yeah I’ve been thinking always calling them “bugs” & “insects” can get kinda boring after a while hahaha Changing them to demons would add a little spice to the impending doom factor. But with all the other story ideas with demons, might it be a little too much?

Maybe just turning them into humanoid monsters, glowing red. We could call them Embers. And the big tanky ones could be called Molten… maybe…One things for sure, I’m definitely going to add some variation to the enemy from beneath.

And in terms of the U.F.A. there can be some tension between the countries… and maybe hidden agendas :spy: Distrust doesn’t just disappear like that. There may be countries that don’t join, or countries that can’t join.

Hahahaha who knows? Maybe the Mega Quake wasn’t just a natural disaster…

There can be so much stuff to add…Maybe even roaming bands of deserters/looters that are terrorizing the more peaceful areas. Anyway, sorry If im blabbing my ideas at you guys. Thanks for showing some interest, I really appreciate it.

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The two path approach might not be bad depending on how much work you want to do. You could take the post and receive reports of progress of whats happening as you try to defend your outpost. The group may even travel through your outpost and you have to try and make a break in the enemy lines so they can care on their mission. Just throwing out ideas lol :stuck_out_tongue:

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Wow thanks, that’s really good! There can be a pool of different characters at your Outpost later on in the story, and you can assign who becomes the Leader of the company, Head of Spec Ops, Engineering,etc… If you choose to stay in Command at the Outpost instead of going on the mission.

This is my first game tho, so I don’t want to bite off more than I can chew. That would be great to see in the story but I still need to find out if my writing is good enough to do it justice. :smiley:

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What about angels then? Mutated/demonic angels.
Like that movie Jeruzalem, with giant Nephelims.

Or if you don’t want to go Biblical, why not Lovecraftian/H.R. Giger-type monsters?

Meaning monsters with squid-like shapes with tentacles, deformed foetuses, monsters with vagina-dentata. Basically things coming from nightmares.

736×633 322 KB

What I’m saying is, don’t go for basic humanoid monsters, bugs, or other similar ones because they’re overdone to death. Your game has potential. Make it unique. Make it standout. You even have a nice title already, ‘The Tower.’

Watch Edge of Tomorrow (Tom Cruise). See the Mimics?

And make them strong, Make our (humanity’s) situation close to hopeless against these monsters, and that only through our ingenuity and sheer will to live, can we hope to defeat them.

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Yeah you make really good points I was just going for an enemy that’s easily describable and easily imaginable for people…

I think going Lovecraftian/Giger would be the better choice… but then again i’ll just have to see if my writing can do it justice. I could always go all in and say Cthulu’s coming is the reason for everything. His worshipers are summoning terrible monsters to prepare the world for him etc… But then it might feel less like my own story, so maybe not.

Thanks again for showing interest! It really means a lot! I have a lot to think on now…

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Don’t go for Cthulu. You’ll be sued for copyright infringement. Hahahahah…

Just use it for inspiration.

You can even make use of the title, ‘The Tower’ as a plot device.

Maybe this Tower is a literal tower. And that it is the reason why these creatures emerged from the underground. You don’t even have to explain its origins. Let the readers/players come up with their own interpretations.

The Tower is an alien ship? The Tower of Babel? The Beacon to Another Dimension?
The Pathway to Hell?

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Thanks a lot Knightstrike, this is exactly what i needed! I’ll take some time to think up another outline based on all of this and then try to write up a demo.

Hopefully I’ll have one up by next week but we’ll see. :smile:

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To add to @Knightstrike’s suggestion, the Outpost is not important because it protects the region. After all you describe it as a small outpost in a war with no real fronts. The outpost is important because it guards the technological treasure trove that is the Tower.

Small outposts do not merit Engineers (I assume combat engineers/sappers?), Spec Op operators and Scientists. Those are all Battalion or Regimental assets at bare minimum. The Tower however? Definitely. Perhaps High Command believes that the work of the Scientists can result in weapons and devices that can turn the tide. Your command might be small in numbers but crucial in scope. Of course others feel that the Tower is a wild goose chase hence a relatively small command protecting it. Too big and it will attract attention after all.

I have two suggestions for cast members. A military intelligence operative assigned to you to prevent leaks about the “alien” tech. A Spook might actually be why there are Spec Op operators attached to your unit. Ostensibly they are under your command but sometimes curious civilians who wander too close to the Outpost without an appointment will wake up close to town with headaches. The second is your senior NCO. Your Sergeant Major might be your direct line to your troops while your 2IC is doing day to day things. He is also in charge of rank and file discipline so it would be to him that you give orders for discipline and training.

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Well, there can be a war front.

What if ‘The Tower’ is infecting/plaguing the area around it? Like the Corruption in Dragon Age? Or the Creep in Starcraft? And it is expanding at a fast rate.

Allegorically, you can compare it to a penis, that it is bringing forth sperm/life into our Earth. It’s quite fitting too since one one of the alternative names for Earth is Gaia, and we always call it ‘Mother Earth’ and not ‘Father Earth.’

This also ties in with one of the theories about the origin of life in Earth, called Panspermia.

If you’re going that track, I suggest you add psychic abilities too. Like the ‘Plague/Corruption/Whatever Name You Want to Call It’ is hazardous to most people and potentially even fatal as it rewires your genetic strands, either mutating you slowly into those aliens/creatures or killing you outright. But there is a certain percentage of humans that when exposed to it, gains psychic abilities like telepathy, mind-reading, etc. And the most powerful even can move objects (telekinesis), start fire (pyrokinesis), etc.

The MC can be one of those psychics.

This ties in with what Gary then suggested. You not only have to battle these aliens/demons/creatures but also have to make sure that no one aside from official parties can venture in the ‘Zone/Outpost.’ Though the Mafia, Illuminati (or some secret World Order), other governments will try to of course. And you can decide to stop them or help them in exchange for rewards like additional resources, weapons, vehicles, etc.

You also have to worry about PR of course. Hide too much information from the public, and they start to come up with conspiracies and create unrest for the government (e.g. rallies, debate about military spending, etc.)
But then tell them too much, and a similar thing will happen. People will panic. So there has to be a balance.

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So how exactly would spec ops work into this? Do they have some tech that makes them less noticeable to the bugs/demons?[quote=“Gary, post:11, topic:17245”]
Small outposts do not merit Engineers (I assume combat engineers/sappers?), Spec Op operators and Scientists. Those are all Battalion or Regimental assets at bare minimum. The Tower however? Definitely. Perhaps High Command believes that the work of the Scientists can result in weapons and devices that can turn the tide. Your command might be small in numbers but crucial in scope. Of course others feel that the Tower is a wild goose chase hence a relatively small command protecting it. Too big and it will attract attention after all.
[/quote]

If you go with this which I think is great idea maybe you start as a company commander of a division of scientists/troopers/etc. and in an attack many of the officers are killed and you end up taking control and for this you get promoted. Maybe an everlasting battle for Paris? I’m not sure if it was already mentioned but if so check out the battle for Madrid in the Spanish civil war, Stalingrad in WWII, or any fight on the Russian war-front, battle of the bulge…

I like the idea of a literal tower. Maybe we assume they are mindless insects at first but if you want to do multiple books we find out at the end that they have started to build a huge structure(s) like anthills. They quickly become more intelligent, prolonging the fight. I also like the idea of an alien ship that maybe nose-dived into Earth creating a tower-looking structure, if so I think the bugs should have some pretty insane tech compared to the humans though.

Different types of enemies would be cool. What would be even cooler is if we are attacked by new, unknown creatures at least every once and a while. Maybe The Tower is their lab for creating new types of soldiers.

Plot twist: you are actually on another planet and the tower is a human ship.

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Nice, maybe the insects actually evolve and multiply through the absorption/consumption of other species.
Like if they consume enough humans, they start to look like us and also develop human-like traits. Soon enough, they’ll also start talking like us.

Do you know the manga/anime ‘Hunter X Hunter?’
Chimera Ants!

So combination of the bugs from Starship Troopers, the Zerg from Starcraft and Chimera Ants from Hunter X Hunter.

-Hive Mind
-Phagoginesis (Reproduction through devouring)
-Fast adaptation/mutation
-Division of Labour

That will be a scary foe indeed.

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Maybe those who are chosen as Spec Ops have psychic abilities. Then they use these psychic abilities to form a camouflage and also mask their presence. Of course, the military has also developed suits/machines that amplify these abilities. Think of Ghosts from Starcraft.

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Ok, I’m just going to tell you right now: I’m not one for detailed answers. I can give them out fairly well, just don’t really like to. All I can say about your WIP is that it sounds fricking sick as hell, man!! I love the game already!! and I’m not even playing it yet.

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@Gary Well, I would make the outpost seem unimportant at first, due to the MC’s low ranking. The real battlefront would be further south, around Switzerland, Hungary, and Romania. But when more and more attacks happen, destroying the other outposts, and the one fort in your region, it creates a new front line with your Outpost as the main defense.

But that was my old idea… Not sure anymore.

What if there were multiple Towers? Following @Knightstrike’s idea about corruption, there would be multiple Towers all across the globe. The Tower in this story would be the only one in U.F.A. Territory. It would be somehow dormant, still giving off corruption, but not attracting/summoning enemies from the ground.

@Kelvin Well, the original idea for the Spec Ops was that they would be used for Recon and Sabotage. Now that I think about it, it might sound kinda weak against a primal insect/alien enemy… But another thing I was thinking about was Search and Rescue. There are still many survivors beyond the front lines. My main thought was that Spec Ops units could go deep into enemy territory and survive.

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Well one suggestion I can offer is that the MC thinks it is not an important posting. Perhaps the MC gets a commendation for courage under fire and a promotion to company commander. Then the MC and the MC’s command are assigned to what appears to be a backwater outpost defending some insignificant towns ostensibly for recruitment, training and refit. On the plus side a bona fide Hero of Humanity is the garrison’s commanding officer and that person takes the MC under his wing, grooming him for a higher command.

Then disaster strikes. It could be bugs eating most of the senior staff when some idiot turned the Tower on. Perhaps it is NOT bugs for once but radicals, politicals, rebels or some other group that manages to assassinate the command structure of the unit while the MC was out on patrol. Could even be a new strain of bug that act like certain caterpillar parasites and take over the brain of their host. For whatever reason the Chief Scientist survives but most of the command staff does not, making the MC the commander for the interim. Thus the Chief Scientist starts explaining what the Tower really is and what it can do.

I would think that if the Tower were unique, it would rise in importance. Rather than corruption, it could be signalling the bugs to come attack it for some reason. One twist is that the bugs were once human. They were transformed to act as cannon fodder in a long-forgotten war and rather than spend the money to change them back, they were locked into suspended animation for the day when Humanity might need shock troops again. The earthquake broke the seals and the Bugs are understandably RATHER UPSET. The Tower might indeed be a human space vessel, the jutting prow of an Adam’s Ark class colonization ship. The Tower extends far, far underground and within its depths are the machines that can return the Bugs back to their human forms.

As for Spec Ops, maybe they are Pararescue Troopers? Those chaps take choppers into the thick of the fray and evacuate troops who could no longer fight, much like what you stated. Otherwise they might be force recon which operate as forward scouts searching for bug movement.

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That’s a pretty good idea, but to get the worldwide destruction and all the “humanity is in danger” thing going, there should probably be dozens of “facilities” worldwide. Places where these “Ancient Troopers” were once created and then stored. And then in each facility, there could be this “Brood mother” where the bug men would bring their captives to turn them into more of them… thoughts?

I’m not really sure what to call this enemy ( because I’m not even sure what this enemy is yet haha) BUT the things I know for sure are:

  • They appear because of The Tower

  • They come from the underground

  • They are “insect-like” in their reproduction/multiplication

  • There are variations to them (e.g: Tanky ones, Flying ones, Taint/Poison carrying ones… Oh and if we’re going with the taint/corruption bit, I could have these guys capture/kill different animals and bring their bodies to be changed into corrupted and more destructive versions of themselves.)

  • They are powerful

I’m thinking up names like “The Spawn” or “The Hellspawn” Any thoughts?

Oh and I’ve been thinking of the stats. These are what I’ve been planning for.

  • Leadership- The ability to command and inspire men and women during(and out of) combat situations.

  • Tactics- The ability to think on your feet and formulate plans and maneuvers to best solve the situation at hand.

  • Intelligence (Knowledge of the Enemy)- The ability to spot and understand the weaknesses, vulnerabilities and habits of the enemy.

  • Mechanics- The ability to build and maintain turrets, vehicles, weapons and armor. ( This is one of the original stats that I thought up before posting here. I’m not sure if I’ll keep it though.)

And other ones like Fighting, Marksmanship… and then later on you’ll get the Command and Morale stats for your squad/company.

Now if I go with the Psychic MC ( as @Knightstrike suggested) that’ll open up a whole lot more abilities like:

  • Apportation – Materialization, disappearance or teleportation of an object.

  • Bilocation or multilocation – Being in multiple places at the same time

  • Clairvoyance or second sight – Perception outside the known human senses

  • Divination – Gaining insight into a situation, most commonly through a ritual.

  • Empathy -The ability to feel others’ emotional or physical feelings

  • Pyrokinesis – Manipulation of fire

  • Levitation – Bodily levitation and flying

I guess it really does depend on how much work I want to put into this…

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How about the Broad troops
Biological
Rapid
Offensive
Adaptive
Defense

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