Game Idea: Polybius.

[ginanubismon]

In 1981 a German company called Senneslochen had near secretly release a game into the local portland area, some in bars while other in backwater arcades. The game was suppose to be so popular it nearly caused local coin shortages in the area, but afterwards players would act strange, some swearing off games (and some becoming anti-game activist), have nightmares, vomit, become enraged and some times even die, both from mysterious causes and suicide.

This game, was called Polybius.

And it is all a bunch of bull, a supposed hoax that was created by a member of usernet that took off like wild fire and changed into an urban legend. Many people have claimed to have played this game, but no proof of this game exist.

Until now.

A young collector, about fifteen or sixteen years old, had just bought his first arcade machine from a private seller for five bucks just to practice fixing arcade games. After getting it home he gets to work, which his mother kind of thinks is fruitless. A few weeks pass, the young collector was found dead in this room without any cause of death; he was healthy, there was no signs of suicide and his window and door were locked.

You come in after his funeral, arriving with your other child you begin to try drink yourself to death, wondering into the garage where the hunk of juke sits. In anger you blame it, curse it then kick it when you heard someone scream, checking the house you think it was in your head until you see someone, or something, hiding by the window.

It just gets stranger from there.

That is the game idea, it is you, a grieving mother, verses an freaking obscure entity of an arcade game that seems to be bending reality all around you.

I plan on a short game, just one mid-size house with some alternate pockets of universe and a few characters.

P.S. the urban legend is "real", just look up the name on wikipedia to find it.

[Questionable]

A twisted reality house from the perspective of a mother going crazy? Cool.

Because of an Arcade Game? Less cool.

Basing it off of this urban legend will give you an easy back-story, but I think that you could come up with a more creative reason for delving into a crazy twisted reality.

Overall, if you did it, it would probably be a good game if you put some effort into it.

I don't want to discredit the beginning concept, but I think you can turn this into something vastly original. Let's answer a few questions:

What arc do you want the main character to tell?

Are there any specific events you want to occur and why is the character going to begin this arc?

How will you translate a failing sanity and a mutated reality into a visual interactive experience?

What is the main setting?

What are you trying to convey?

What is the problem and, ultimately, resolution?


Once those questions are answered we can then reverse engineer! You will have been inspired, taken the derivative of your inspiration and then apply it to a new completely YOU concept.

I'll put in some hypothetical answers:

What arc do you want the main character to tell? I want the player to venture through the characters mind, experiencing his emotions of grief and depression and anger and guilt, etc...

Are there any specific events you want to occur and why is the character going to begin this arc? I want the main puzzles to be him confronting these emotion in a tangible way. Almost like his personal demons are corporeal threats that he must combat in order to regain his sanity. He has to kill his best friend. that's why he begins this mental deterioration.

How will you translate a failing sanity and a mutated reality into a visual interactive experience? I want to mix the occult and demonic with the old west. It'll ground that he's a character in the "Wild West" and also the fantasy doesn't;t need to be explained as it's a total figment of his imagination.

What is the main setting? The old west town he's the Marshal of, with the reoccurring hubs being the Saloon, Main Street and the Whore House (Ooo... filled with succubus, vampyres and nymphs.)

What are you trying to convey? I want the game to be a metaphor for dealing with death, though more importantly dealing with the emotional strife of being an accidental murderer.

What is the problem and, ultimately, resolution? The problem is that the character is constantly under attack from his "Personal Demons" who have betrayed him. He needs to find out why, and regain control of the town... in the process the player learns that the reason his Squad of Robbers, Pillagers and Killers has betrayed him is because he killed someone... but who? Ultimately the player comes to realize that this isn't the reality at all, instead this man is trapped in shock, moments after committing the murder and he is battling his emotions... We find out who he killed, how he killed them and why, over the course of the game as the man struggles to survive the slaughter and take back the town (a metaphor for controlling himself.) At the end of the game the player looks back on everything that has happened, and after knowing the full story is given the chance to end the characters life, let his demons devour him, or let him live...


So, by using what you described to me I took that influence and game up with a game idea on the spot. Original, though influenced in many ways, and it frees me up to create whatever story I want.

Using a process like this allows you to be inspired, but instead of making an adaptation it allows you to create something new entirely.

If you build the game you laid out, you're going to have to lay out the back-story of Polybius and I can only see two ways to do this:
A.) An intro at the beginning of the game.

These are boring and I usually skip them if at all possible, if I can't be told it during the game, I don't need to know it. This of course has led to being confused by the story in some poorly designed games, making the game play less enjoyable by default.

B.) Exposition during the game by "scraps" of info, or NPCs. In something like this, it would be weird if some character popped up and was able to explain to poor old mum, why everything was happening and what she needed to do in order to stop it.



You know what sounds like a better game? Get rid of the Arcade game... instead, it's mom at her sons funeral... she can't take the grief, she pops a bunch of pills, 15 minutes into the wake, her world goes shitface... practically everything you wanted in the game can still be in it. The reason for the game occurring is simplified, no need for exposition or back-story at all.

I'm not saying that it's a bad idea. I think it could be pulled off and as long as the game play is engaging, any of the flaws I pointed out would be negligible anyways... BUTTTTT, I do think that there is room here for an even better game concept.

[Evil]

A twisted reality house from the perspective of a mother going crazy? Cool.

Because of an Arcade Game? Less cool.

I think the arcade aspect is cool, but I agree with most of what Questionable said. I've always thought this urban legend was interesting (and maybe true), but it's a hard story to adapt into a game.

I like the idea of the mother going crazy, or something along those lines, distorting the house and her perspectives of things, I just don't see the connection to the game. If you're going for the mom thing, scrap the game. If you want to keep the game thing, make it a detective or a relative that's an officer of the law.