Would you play this game?

[Emerald]

The "hiding from muslim authorities" part reminds me more of:

[alkis21]

I would play this game. I just wouldn't dare creating it! If you do it, you're a braver person than I am.

If you are prepared to do a lot of research and offer some not-so-well-known details about the country in question, avoid the stereotypes and the black-or-white (ie evil or benign) characters, I think you may be on to something here.

[Tuomas]

I wouldn't call it too stereotypical, as I would call it interesting and appealing. I immediately thought if Khalied Hossein's book, released early this year, about two wives that escape from their husband. It happened in Afganistan. By the time Talibans took over instead of communists, all men had to wear a beard, women and children couldn't walk outside alone and women had to cover their faces. Plus when someone does somethign new, they shouldn't be accused of trying to create stereotypes. All the games I've played have a certain stereotype in them. A muslim woman as a stereotype is just as interesting and acceptable in my opinion.

[Emerald]

Seriously though, is this meant to be a stealth game?

I don't know if it would work very well as a standard adventure game. AG protagonists tend to all have one thing in common - they're outgoing, and good with people. It's rare that you have an adventure game hero who responds to a 'talk to' command with "Nah, I'm too shy to just walk right up to him and start talking."
But the thing is, I doubt many muslim women on-the-run would fall into the "exhaust all conversation topics" kind of person that standard AGs tend to require. It would just come off as contrived if she's as chatty as April Ryan or George Stobbart. But, if she isn't like that, it could mean a very boring and lonely game (which, maybe, would express the feeling of being a fugitive...)

[Pixelia]

I apologize if my first pic was stereotypical, I had this vague idea floating in my mind and I wasn't certain how I would express it into an adventure game. I like the idea of a deeper look into moderate Islam versus the more extremist side. I want to be able to touch certain taboo aspects while being watchful of what I express into this game.

The game dialogue and puzzles will be hard to figure out. I'm thinking that the character is able to talk with other people but what she says and whom she says it to will decide if the game ends or not.

[MoodyBlues]

I might play this game for the beautiful, stark, minimalist artwork, but I have a few reservations about the basic plot:

*  If this woman knows that she could be stoned to death for adultery, then there needs to be a very compelling reason for her to take that risk.  "She found true love!" is not a sufficient reason by itself.  Maybe she was very young and immature and didn't take the consequences seriously.  Maybe she assumed her family was wealthy or well-connected enough to help her out if she got caught.  Or maybe she committed adultery before her country was taken over by Muslim extremists, and the truth is just now coming out.  (This could work in Afghanistan, depending on how old she is and when the game takes place.)

(EDIT:  I guess I was a bit harsh on this point.  After all, everything could be against her, but she ends up doing what she wants because she's willing to accept the consequences.)

*  Deadly consequences aside, does she have any moral qualms about what she did?  If she was raised in a society that says adultery is a grave sin, why does she rebel?

*  What repercussions, other than the threat of capital punishment, come about because of her decisions?  Can she really just fly away with her lover and escape all her problems?  Does she have children?  Does she have an illegitimate child?  Is she pregnant?

*  How did she manage to sneak off with her boyfriend in the first place?  In some extremist countries, women cannot go out in public without a male family member.  So she's either really good at sneaking, or someone in her family helped her meet up with her boyfriend.

*  Is this game supposed to make a feminist statement?  If so, then why does our female protagonist have a man swoop in and save her?

As long as you keep everything credible, do plenty of research, and avoid making characters completely good and completely evil, you'll be in good shape.  Good luck!

[auriond]

I find it really, really strange that in a thread where people are warning Pixelia against stereotypes, they start making stereotypical jokes themselves. I know it's supposed to be ironic or something, but it's just strange.

Look, I live in Singapore. We have a multicultural society. You don't have to look any farther than my circle of friends. One of them is in love with a Muslim woman. He is a Chinese, Buddhist I think. She is Malay Muslim. Despite 50 years of government propaganda telling us to be tolerant and accepting of one another's differences, both their families don't approve.

Stoning? Full body black veils? These are all so far removed from the reality of our lives here that yes, we do view the Middle East much as the West does, as a distant land alien to our own cultures (blame it on the media). Yet the basic premise is the same: my friend has gotten into such terrible quarrels with his father over the relationship that the father has threatened to throw him out/disown him. Once the father even came to the workplace after such a quarrel, intending to have it out with his son in public. Which is a very strong taboo here - airing private affairs in public.

On the lady's side, she does not wear the tudung because she doesn't feel like she can be fully true to her faith as long as she is going out with a non-Muslim. And it's putting such a strain on their relationship. She is always afraid that he's not sincere. Why? Because he won't convert to Islam. He can't, out of a sense of filial piety for his father.

Their dream is to fly away together, somewhere where all of this won't matter.

I don't mean that you should do the story of my friend, Pixelia, but I want to show that situations like this happen in real life, and it doesn't have to involve adultery and stoning. Yes, you can believe in your faith but still fall in love without any intention to rebel. Yes, you will struggle with it morally. No, it doesn't always have to be about feminism, or suicide bombing or terrorism.

And all this doesn't even have issues of extreme conservatism to muddy up the waters.

Pixelia, you have some beautiful graphics and you have inspiration and a story to tell. Tell it. But I repeat: do your research.

[Layabout]

Yeah, the new image is great.

About the stereotypes... Well.. I blame the media. In most western countries, the media is so inundated with the negativities of the muslim religion, and I was making a political statement against these stereotypes in the form of humour. The type of humour that most muslims would get offended by (and possibly condemn me to death for :p ).

I don't reserve my anti-religious feelings to those I don't understand. I studied theology in high school. I know alot more about the various religions than the average pleb. Ask disco about my anti-catholic view.

I have been so dissillusioned by religions. I'm a Roman Catholic. I choose not to have religious beliefs. I accept there may be a God, I accept there may not be. Religious extremism is a foreign concept to me, because I cannot fathom a rational, concious human being could believe in something without any evidence of it's existance.

On that note, lets not get into a religious argument. There are about 20 other old thread that could be resurfaced to do that in.

All I gotta say, if you believe strongly in this game, make it. If its the kinda game you wanna make, make it. If its the kinda game you would wanna play, make it.

You are what counts.

And on that note, more paintovers !!!!!

[LimpingFish]

Auriond has perfectly expressed my point about first-hand knowledge or experience.

[Pixelia]

The issue I want to mainly address in this game: Honour Killings.

The story revolves around Nasrin who flies overseas from Iran to study in England. She spends four years there, makes friends and slowly forgets about the taboos and don'ts of her culture. She starts partying like her friends and dates guys. Spending so much time away from her family, she had forgotten the fact that she had to come back eventually. Her father calls her on the phone and announces he has found her the perfect man to wed. Nasrin has long lost her virginity and with mounting dread as the date to return home approaches, she is torn between her easy-going modern life here and her loving family and her duties as a Muslim woman in her country.

She loves her boyfriend, Josh but at the same time she has her Islamic way of life and family members waiting for her.

Nasrin listens to her parents and marries the man her father has chosen. Nasrin world then turns upside down. Her husband is outraged to find that there is no blood on the sheets after their first night together. The in-laws want her head and her father says he will kill her with his bear hands. The family she had thought would always be there for her changes into vengeful blood-thirsty monsters over-night.

Nasrin must decide if she will be killed at the hands of her family or if she attempts to escape to another country and go into hiding.

To her surprise, there is still hope and she finds an ally where she least expects it.

[Eggie]

[Domino]

Custer's Revenge sprite. That is funny.

Sorry my post is off-topic

[Layabout]

Hooray for silly paintovers

[Andail]

Pixelia, with that last post you immediately deprived me of what little hope I had left that this would be an original plot.
You have managed to high-light exactly the aspects of the Islamist culture that we're already over-fed with. Is it real? Yes, in many cases. But it's not original, it's been written and filmed and talked about for ages. You're just feeding western egos.

My girlfriend since 2 years is from Iran, her family and relatives back in Iran are very modern, and have nothing but positive things to say about me and our relationship. I talk with her aunts and uncles on the phone, they send me gifts, cards, etc. They study, marry whom they prefer and can go abroad. Sure, they're oppressed by a fanatic regime, but they're not stone-age themselves.
Why not portray what a modern, urban Persian family is like?

Here's something original for you:
The blond modern young British protagonist suddenly gets depressed by the hypocracy of his warfaring government, the crap food culture and the perpetual rain. He decides he wants to pursue spirituality, healthy food and a nice climate. He begins his journey to the orient.

Or:
The young girl, who happens to live in one of those backward rural communities that still treat women the way you describe, fallls in love with a young Tibetanian monk.

[Pixelia]

Ty for all your help. I'm off to make my game now.

[Jack Sheehan]

What about a docu-drama-sci-fi-sit-com about welders, and welding?

[Emerald]

What about a docu-drama-sci-fi-sit-com about welders, and welding?

"Honey, my welder parents are coming over to our starship at 0800 hours to criticise your welding in a comical manner... Just thought you should know."

"Just leave me alone you bitch! I'm gay!"




Seriously though, the game sounds quite original for an adventure game. There's nothing really like it around (nothing significant, anyway).

The part I don't like is the freakshow sentiment of the game. It seems like it's more about how fucked up Muslim people are (y'know, he might seem like a loving father, but as soon as there's the slightest drama, he whips out his Kalashnikov) than about the real world.
It seems like any real message present in the game would be drowned out by all the bullshit stereotypes...


Still, it's up to Pixelia what game he/she/it wants to make. It might turn out to be brilliant, regardless of the "America! Fuck yeah!" idealism...


(Apologies for the lang-goo-wige. I just felt like cursing unnecessarily today...)

[Pixelia]

Nothing is set in stone yet. What about...

Nasrin weds the man her father has chosen for her, she's back in her country and is happy, etc... She becomes an emergency-room nurse in a nearby hospital. Her sister-in-law is married to a cruel man, she comes to confide to her that her husband suspects her seeing another man and has warned her that he was going to kill her. Nasrin is helpless and can only comfort her friend and send her back home. The next day, Nasrin has no news of her sis-in-law, so she decides to go visit her on her way back from the hospital. She finds her in her home bloodied and weeping, her in-law says that her husband had tried to kill her and her children, and that in self-defence she killed him instead and hid the body. If she is discovered she will be executed, she is only fourteen. What is Nasrin to do? Will she compromise her own safety and future to help her friend?

Perhaps, Nasrin's own husband helps?

[Emerald]

I like that idea a lot better, actually. It's not quite as stereotypical, it's equally (if not more) dramatic, and it seems a lot less boring.

[Pixelia]

I like that idea a lot better, actually.

Ty Emerald, me too.