The Void Above (WIP)

Hello all! I have been a member of this forum for some time and have read most of the Choice or Hosted games available for download on my phone. I am an avid lover of both books and games, and nothing is more interesting to me than deciding a character’s fate myself, and that’s what has brought me here! I come up with ideas and write, and then scrap, and then take a break, and then write, and then repeat over and over again mostly just for fun, but now I’m actually here with the intent of finally joining the writers among this forum.

So here it is! My WIP. So far all that has been done is the summary, character creation, and the intro, which includes a little backstory and character creation for the MC.

The Void Above is about a specialized, militarized section of NASA’s Office of Planetary Protection. This section is a group of scientists and soldiers who were brought together for specific reasons in order to investigate newly discovered alien lifeforms, however upon embarking on their journey, the group discovers that things are not what they appear. Your soldier MC is the leader among this group. MC is fully customizable as far as gender, looks, fighting style, weapons, leadership style, etc. On your journey to find out the truth, you can discover loyalties, enemies, aliens, and love if you allow it. Will you live up to your leadership potential or will you fail your team? Will you blindly follow orders or questions everything your superiors tell you? In a world where there is something unknown and mysterious around every corner, will you learn the truth? And more importantly, will you even make it home alive?

SO! Thoughts? Comments? In a game like this, what would you like to see and what would you just HATE to read about? Also, when you have a story with extremely versatile story paths, how do you keep them all organized? Is there some super awesome software out there that can neatly keep track of my giant web?
Thanks for the input, guys!

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i’d love to slaughter some xeno scum yessir

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Sounds fun, I’m looking forward to it.

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I like it, I’m definitely interested.

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Howdy all, borrowing my mates account (with permission) and let it be said that I am a fan of anything si-fi related. reason for borrowing Moons account you may ask yourself? just until I get my own one that’s why, but I have been monitoring this website for a while so I am not a newbie.

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I am sure you will find some!

Well welcome Moon who is not Moon.

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I like it soo interested

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I’m really into sci-fi at the moment so this sounds very interesting. Have you decided whether there will be romanceable aliens in the game?

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I’m really into sci-fi at the moment so this sounds very interesting. Have you decided whether there will be romanceable aliens in the game?

actually, no, that was not something that I had thought about. The lifeforms were going to be pretty primitive, so not sure anyone would actually want to romance that. Although if there were enough people interested in the idea, I could probably figure out how to add a more intelligent lifeform to the mix.

sounds interesting! i’m looking forward to it. it could just be because i’m hyped for it but this reminded me of the upcoming game mass effect: andromeda where the plot is basically humanity sending the MC and their crew outside the milky way to find a new home for humanity. your WIP is more on finding new alien life forms and the truth tho :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: haha

btw question: around what year do you think this is set? asking because if it would be, say, 2025 the technology would still be pretty close to what we currently have and that would affect how far we can travel and possibly how advanced the aliens we meet are etc. if it’s set in the 2100s though, i imagine a lot more things would be possible lore-wise since earth probably improved a lot by then. just some wishful thinking…

anyway, some tools for organization help ( all are great IMO but not sure which you'll find working best for you ) :

Index Card for iPad
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scapple.php
https://bubbl.us
yWriter5 - Free writing software designed by an author
i still don’t know how to properly put links sorry hAhh

edit: no alien RO/s in a space exploration game? aw that’s too bad :disappointed: anyway speaking of ROs, are the ROs you currently have in mind part of the crew or somewhere else?

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Sounds intriguing. I look forward to seeing how this progresses.

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Thanks for the info! I am currently using Scrivener now, but am anticipating having problems following it in later when the choices start to really affect the story.

And I am a HUGE fan of the ME series! I have to admit, that I absolutely do draw a lot of my inspiration from it, as I really never got into anything else in regards to space travel, but I think I became so emotionally invested in the characters that I actually started to care about the factual parts of it. After I finished ME3, I went and did a lot of research on the possibilities of sending people into space and how we would go about finding aliens. I would say my storyline would be more along the lines of the First Contact War in ME, although the plot will definitely be a lot different, and at this point I am actually not sure it would result in a war at all. It’s more about how the MC thinks they are going into the beyond to do something helpful for the human race but discover everything they were told was a lie. In ME, it is humanity against everyone else, then humanity joining forces against a third party. Here, it will be more like humanity against humanity for now.

I have not decided on the year yet, but it definitely will be set in the future, as I want to give humanity plenty of time to catch up on technologies before I send them out into the void not knowing what that beeping thingy is.

As lastly, on ROs, I am definitely not AGAINST making an alien romanceable, it is just something that has yet been worked into the plot. Unfortunately if I can work it in, it would be towards the middle of the game and I just worry about it feeling like a rushed romance… although there definitely be options to open up in part 2! (You know, if I make it there :slight_smile: )

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Looking forward to whatever you cook up :grin:. Will the aliens be humanoid in shape or are you going for something different? (also I love your profile pic/terrified of it :smile:)

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Likely a little bit of both. I would assume that not all life would be identical anyway.

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Nothing like a little sci-fi to brighten up the day, it’s time for Commander Shepard to begin his adventure!

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This is good~ I love anything to do with sci-fi! And yay for Mass Effect! :heart_eyes:

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This sounds really interesting. I think what I like to see most in a sci-fi setting is really unique and detailed planets and aliens. If you can picture the planet in your head and then give a really detailed description of what the world is like, that kind of thing really sucks me in.

As for what I don’t want to see… Modern technology in a futuristic setting. I don’t get why so many sci-fi stories will set their games thousands of years in the future and then just give the characters pistols and assault rifles. It’s the future! Pretty much any weapon you can imagine is possible, so get creative. :blush:

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Yay! (blue skinned) space hunks, or at least that’s what i hope of course. :wink:

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glad that you found a tool working for you! hopefully, it won’t cause much troubles later on.

ahhh yes :heart: i love ME too tbh! i’ve been doing a new playthrough of the trilogy as i wait for andromeda. hopefully, i can not romance a certain turian this time around :sweat_smile: if you took a bit of inspo from ME, then i’d say that’s a good thing since their lore and worldbuilding is just amazing and very expansive!

for ROs: if you didn’t plan on doing it, then i’d say shelf the idea for the time being. would rather have good romance that actually makes sense instead of purely aesthetic rushed fanservice :wink:

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