I wanted to write a more traditional game script, since Crescent Eternal is a blend of console and PC RPGs wherein the player is essentially inhabiting a pre-created character, but is able to make choices as though they are said character. In Alpha, a very short game I am currently writing the script for, the player gets free choice of who they play in the style of western RPGs.

With that in mind, I drafted this overview of the game’s plot and gameplay which are tightly woven. This entire idea is an experiment in atmospheric storytelling and database response AI, though after writing some of the script I think I’m going to cut out the latter and focus on telling a story with the game itself instead of telling it in cutscenes or dialogue.

This first iteration is pretty much the bare bones. The design prototype will be reworked as I develop the script. Right now I’m just writing the script for the very beginning up until the player finding out he/she is now a werewolf, as I plan to submit it for the visual storytelling class I’m in right now and we’re only allowed a 3-4 page script.

Player wakes up and hears a man swearing and throwing things around (VO/SFX). The sound is muffled.

Looks around room:

Player can hone in on different things. Most noticeable is the clothes strewn about the room. Player will notice that their sense of smell is rather strong, and they can easily pinpoint the smell of sex and blood. Clothes, including undergarments, are strewn about the room. Bloodied sheets are balled up in a hamper. Blood splatter is on the wall beside the bed.

Investigates door:

Door is locked from the inside.

Investigates bathroom, where sound is coming from:

Door is opened from the inside as a man with wild hair and an unkempt beard comes out and starts apologizing profusely, almost whimpering in his distress.

Player can interact with the man by typing in things. Game has a database of key words and also syntax strings and phrases for those words that trigger certain responses. Database is built by writer roleplaying this scenario and recording the interactions of participants; ie testing the gameplay model as a prototype.

Some combination of ‘what’ and ‘happened’ or similar question gets the man to hesitantly start to explain. He spends a lot of time apologizing, but with firm pushing or gentle coaxing the player can get the answer: this man, a werewolf, bit you last night after inflicting a mortal wound upon you while his aggressions were heightened by passion. By extension, you are now making the gradual change to a werewolf.

With the right triggers he will explain that the bite is somewhat like the way a slow-moving venom would work. You will feel its affects gradually.

Something in the man seems to change and he regards you in an almost predatory manner before practically fawning over you, saying you must be famished. He goes to cook you a meal whether you agree or not.

The player can look around, learning by the atmosphere the backstory here. The player’s response to some of the items they find will determine the relationship of him/her and the werewolf as anything from recent lovers to a married couple. The player’s reaction also determines whether he/she knew that this man was a werewolf.

If the player attempts to leave the apartment they will be met by the locked door, still locked from the outside, and boarded windows. The player has to evaluate what they have at their disposal and find a way to get out using items lying around. Design for this gameplay element is as of yet undecided. More research is needed. Additional difficulty factor is provided by the fact that if the man returns to the room and sees you doing this he’s going to make things increasingly more difficult for you.

The man will return with a beautifully prepared rack of lamb for you to eat. Refusing it will only convince him you need heartier sustenance and he rushes out to the market before you can protest. Eating it proves to him that he was successful and he will also rush out to the market to provide you with more food. During this period you have time to plan and execute an escape. The gameplay consists of two different modes – a sort of survival resource puzzle mode when he is gone and psychological warfare when he is present. But again you have to find some way to hide your activities if you’re trying to escape when he returns. The player is alerted to this by his heavy, boot-clad step on the stairs.

This time he’s got raw slabs of beef for you, not cut or otherwise prepared in any way aside from the initial butchering work. He insists that you need something hearty and it makes him almost giddy when you eat it. If you protest he becomes angry at first, swiping the meat off the table, upturning the table itself. Then he rationalizes that you’ve simply developed a more refined palette sooner than he thought you would.

Again the player has the same gameplay options here. No significant change is really made until the next run-in with the man, though there is an ever-present feeling of danger and accomplishment. He will go back out and fetch something else for you. This time when he returns you can smell him when he’s out on the street below.

He’s brought back a human heart wrapped in butcher’s paper. He’s covered in blood from head to toe. The player has a few choices in this final climax.

If the player has progressed successfully in the survival gameplay he or she will be very close to escape. The man will inevitably see though, and will be set upon you. At this point your strength has progressed to where you can wound him if you use the right tools and strategy. You can also revert to manipulating him verbally to escape if you have been keeping up progression of the psychological warfare gameplay.

If the player has progressed successfully in the psychological gameplay he or she will be very close to breaking the man. At this point your senses are heightened and you can tell when you’re hitting the right ‘buttons’ with him. You can manipulate him into letting you go or revert back to the survival gameplay if you have been honing your skills there.

The player also has the choice to completely accept what’s going on and eat the heart that’s being presented. This can be used as a ruse in the psychological gameplay or a distraction in the survival gameplay as well.

During the climax the man will go on about how you would make the perfect mate. There are three outcomes: You escape by force, you manipulate him into letting you go, or you stay with him.

If you escape by force or manipulate him to let you go the game will switch to a final short level where you seem to be repeating the events at the beginning of the game, but when you see your captor, it’s now the character you played during the game; you have become exactly what you escaped.

‘Stay with him’ ending needs some more thought and development. The thought I had seemed to be more of a reward than the other endings, implying that this is the ‘right’ ending when there should be no ‘right’ ending.