Short story competition

[Andail]

Allright, let the creativity flow again, pick up your paper and pens, ready your keyboard, etc.

Until two weeks from now, all are welcome to contribute with a short story that is less than 5 pages using 12p and single spacing (minimum one page, three pages recommended), and is about what could happen while you construct an AGS-game. Preferably made up.
I guess a supernatural theme is suitable, for instance being physically effected by things in the game.

Also more realistic plots are possible, like somebody who gives his friend a game that, if played well, will lead to some sort of discovery concerning himself or whatever.
I'm gonna be pretty liberal here; it's enough if some of the story's elements is AGS-related, the whole bloody plot needn't be just about.

Thriller, fantasy, comedy, I guess everything can be done.

Just sign up in this thread, and send me the stories when you're finished with them. Whether we want to declare a winner, or just create a nice collection of stories, is up for discussion.

So, dead-line is friday 22:nd.
Good luck.

[Trapezoid]

Sounds fun, I might go for it. Maybe... Haven't written any stories in a long time.

[Rincewind]

Aye, this sounds like something I could need - I haven't been writing on my novel for at least a month now... I'm definately a bit ring-rusty, to say the least... Oh well, it'll be fun anyway.

[DragonRose]

Oh, I am so in on this one. Prepare to be dazzled!

[Evil]

Great Idea! I have a querstion though. Does it have to be "while" you construct an AGS-game or can it be an AGS-Program/Game related story? We should do these all the time

[Barcik]

Damn it, how come when I suggested this idea (more or less) nobody seemed interested? Prrr...

Well, nevermind. I'm in.

[Ginny]

I'm in, the idea sounds great!

[Hobbes]

I love this idea!

I couldn't help but notice you said "send me your stories"... So, here's my first but I'll prolly throw a few more into this thread. Although the thing stands on its own, I already have a few ideas where to take it.

Read and enjoy! Birth of the Dark Devil!

EDIT by Andail:
I saved your story, and will publish it on the dead line day. That way, it will remain secret and people won't be influenced by it. Thanks for your contribution.

EDIT by Hobbes:
Okeydokey.

[Robert Eric]

Five pages?  I can't do a story with only five pages.  Fifteen, maybe.  With five pages, I can only do the introduction...





What a load of bullshit, eh?  Maybe someday I'll stop being lazy and write one...

[Andail]

All right, I already got two stories, and they are surely interesting reading. Please keep signing up and contribute.

Robert Eric, why don't you give it a try? Short story writing is of course an artform, and some training is required to keep it concise and simple.

[Robert Eric]

I'll have nothing to do tomorrow, I'll give it a try then.

[Andail]

It seems I won't be here during the scheduled dead-line. That isn't much of a problem of course, since you can just publish the stories here without my help.
Good luck anyhow.

[agsking]

Cool idea, I may enter...

[Bluke4x4]

I am most definately entering this one...

[Barcik]

Note: The following story is a shameless Asimov rip-off

---------------------------------------------------------------

 I always liked creating games for pen & paper. The kind of games that require nothing but some cheap pulp paper and a dull pencil. It always warmed my heart to see a person in a train or a bus take a piece of paper out of his pocket and play one of the games I invented. I enjoyed seeing people enjoying my games. Furthermore, I enjoyed creating them.
 It wasn't my career, of course. Nobody can make a proper career out of creating games and selling them for a 100 bucks to a local newspaper. It was just my hobby.
 She didn't like it. Whenever she saw a messy template for a new game, she would go: “Oh, Larry, why do you bother with these games of yours? Nobody plays such games nowadays. In fact, nobody even reads those newspapers where they are published. Why must you be so old-fashioned? It's all about computers now. I bought one just for you, to take your game creation to a new level, and yet I'm not sure whether you can even turn it on!”  
 And I always replied, “Darling, but all these computers are so complex, and I like my games simple.”
 Until one day, when I just couldn't take it no longer and would have done anything to get her off my back I said “Well, alright, Martha.”  
 The computer was a dusty mess. The display seemed menacing, and the keyboard was alien to me. But Martha said, “Don't worry, I'll set it all up for you until you learn how to use it yourself.”
  She pushed some buttons and moved the mouse around a bit, and said “There! This, Larry, is a program called ‘Adventure Game Studio'. You can easily create adventure games-“ I was always very fond of adventures, “-and express your creative skills with this tool.” She pushed some more buttons and moved the mouse around a bit more. “Here, that's the tutorial. I'm sure you'll know what to do after reading it once or twice.”
 I didn't. Scripting? Areas? Hotspots? I felt like an illiterate man reading a book.
 Well, better give a try before I give up. I chose one of the ideas which whirl around my head constantly at random, and begun creating a game.
 I quickly drew a couple of backgrounds and a character (drawing was another one of my hobbies) and asked Martha to scan them. She said, “It's your game, you scan them.” So, after an hour and a half I had my backgrounds and a character ready and in my game. Now what goes next?
 Scripting? Yeah, scripting. I opened up the script. Well, how hard can it be?
 To my surprise, it really was quite simple. The computer allowed me to easily pick the name of the function after I typed just one letter, and pointed me to where I had committed scripting errors.
 After a week, I had a two “rooms” game ready, and I uploaded it to the Internet. I have received some nice feedback and a lot of constructive criticism from the other game creators, who turned out to be very friendly.
 So I decided to make another game.
 The second time, it was even simpler. The computer offered me even more help with the scripting, and even fixed some animation glitches and spelling mistakes for me. After a month, I had a second game which was longer, better and received more praises. I even won a monthly competition.
 And so my games continued to become longer, better and received more praises. I became a well respected member of the community of creators. The program became steadily easier and friendlier. My old hobby was forgotten.
 And so I decided to make my masterpiece. A game that will suppress all other games, commercial and independent alike.
 I co-operated perfectly with my computer now. It was as if it has learned to know me. I hardly needed to do anything. I would import a character, and it would immediately make its dialogs. I would import a background, and it would immediately make all the areas and interactions for me. I would create a new inventory item and it would immediately fit it in a puzzle.
 After half a year the game was ready. This time, I managed to achieve success not only among the other independent game creators, but among professionals as well. It was reviewed by all big gaming magazines, and scored high at all of them. It was the pinnacle of my game creation career.
 When the year ended, I was invited to an online awards ceremony, held by the community of independent adventure game creators. My game won numerous awards, including the one given to the best game.
 I created the best game! The computer helped me conquer the peaks I failed to reach with the pen & paper. Martha was right all along.
 It struck me then, with all the might of a denied truth.
 I turned off the computer and grabbed a dull pencil and a piece of cheap pulp paper.

[Ginny]

Ooh, I love it, Bracik!
Makes my idea sound like rubbish, hehe. I'll still finish it though.

Do you think it's better to upload it as a word file or just post it here?

Great story, really loved the end .

[Ghormak]

Warning: also a rip-off inspired by another author.


I'm afraid I'm not going to survive. My breath is getting weaker and weaker as I write these lines, but something inside me compels me to go on. If I don't live to warn people, there is no hope for mankind.

I was sitting in front of my computer, quietly perusing sites about adventure gaming. There I stumbled upon a program called "Adventure Game Studio", or AGS for short. I've never considered myself an artist of any kind, even less a game creator, but something about the program appealed to me, and it made me want to write an adventure game. Before I even knew it, I had clicked upon the download link, and a ten minute wait followed. It was 11 pm, a late August evening as I sat there watching the percentage slowly creep towards a hundred, all the time imagining great adventures and stories I would be able to turn into games. When the download was finished, I didn't hesitate. I unzipped the program, and launched it immediately.

Things were off to a great start. I wisely decided to keep a few tutorials open while using the program, for only a genius would be able to comprehend the myriad of options available without documentation! I created a room, I added hotspots. I adjusted the GUI and I made two characters. I scripted puzzles and I explored all the options as I continued my quest for the perfect adventure game. I was caught in a wave of enthusiasm, I felt neither hunger nor thirst, and sleeping was the very last thing on my mind. I kept adding room after room, line after line of dialog, and debugging the script was a breeze.
I noticed that it was now well past midnight. Clouds had appeared, covering the moon. No streetlights were visible, and every lamp in the house was turned off. The only source of light was my computer screen, displaying the result of what must have been hours of work.

It was then that something to the left of the screen caught my eye. A queer little icon right between the 'Characters' and 'Cursors' tab, whose picture resembled a pair of mittens. I was startled by my discovery, as I had not seen it before, even though my eyes had barely left the screen since I started the program! I wondered what function in AGS still unknown to me it could possibly represent, but I found no rational explanation for the appearance of a pair of mittens in the menu of an adventure game creation program, and I still don't.

I shiver as I recall the events that followed immediately upon my clicking of the icon. I deeply regret I did it, but my curiosity was too great at that point, and it was as if an invisible force moved my hand for me.

It was as if the power went out, and now I'm starting to believe it did, because the manifestations I saw had nothing to do with the computer or its programmes. The monitor blackened, the low humming of the fan disappeared, and the occasional spinnings of the harddrive came to a halt. I didn't see or hear a thing, as everything was covered in a darkness so intense I could almost feel it. Slowly the clouds parted, allowing the moon to reflect the rays of the sun again, softly illuminating my front yard. My heart nearly stopped as I saw the shapes. It took my eyes about a minute to get used to the light, but as they did, I could count to 15 foul, monstrous humanoid creatures lumbering about on my yard! Seven of them appeared to be erecting some small buildings seemingly made out of hide, as the walls kept flapping in the wind. Two of them were gathering pieces of wood and placing them in the middle of the yard, and the rest were performing unholy gestures as they appeared to be chanting something that I can only describe as a low, gurgling noise not of this world:

"N'gwlrui Rh'oger fhtagn, Bl'yechup mwgl'af!"

I was mortified with fear as I kept watching the horrific display on my front yard. After a while, the two wood-gathering beasts had returned to the "camp" (for lack of a better word), and had started a fire. The light from the fire allowed me to get a better view of the things. It was a sight I would rather not have seen, and if gouging out my eyes would erase the vision of the monstrous creatures from my mind, I would not hesitate a moment to do so! All creatures had two legs and two arms, but that's where the similarities between us humans and them ended. Where you would expect to see a head there was only a writhing mass off what looked like living, crawling, pulsating worms or tentacles, and the torso was equally vile, filled with ominous and frightening carvings in the flesh. One of the things, the one with the longest tentacles, grabbed what looked like a carved piece of wood with some strings attached to it. As it started rhytmically hitting the thing, ear-piercing tones emanated from it, and all the other beings joined in on the chant. The combination of the horrible visuals and the loud, spine-chilling noises was too much for any human to take without going insane, and I passed out to the sound of the ghastly chant.

When I awoke, my computer was showing signs of life again. I can't see the creatures anywhere, but I know they're still out there. I can feel them. I can sense them. They're coming for me, they know I am here.

AGS tells me the compile was successful. Before I completely lose my strength, I must delete the game I made. God knows what would happen if anyone were to play it! The mittens button certainly convinced me of the evilness imbedded in this program, and I'm sure the powers a finished game would contain are even greater than that.

It is gone. The game is gone, and AGS is being deleted as I'm writing this. The creatures are still lurking about, but atleast the true powers of my game will never see the light. God help anyone who finds this program. God help us all. I hear a noise. They're coming.

[Ginny]

Ooh, love it Ghormak. I'll post mine soon. I might post another one later too, cuase I had an idea

[Bluke4x4]

Gosh, I didn't read either of those and I know they're both better than mine:

The Horrible Death of an Unfinished Game

By Bluke4x4

Once upon a time in a beautiful forest far away, there lived a monster. The monster terrrorized the forest, and ate all the flower pixies.
The poor flower pixies (who were eaten) tried to get out, but alas, they couldn't. Eventually, the monster (named Fred) finally got his
most wanted thing he wanted: a computer! He went online, found a cool game and played. But he too wanted to make a wonderful game like that.
When he found it was hard to make an action game, he destroyed the computer. After getting a better computer, he realized that to avoid
destroying another computer,  he went off to search for anger management classes. After his sessions, he was a changed man--- I mean,
monster. Anyway, when he came home, he ate a cookie. Then he went to his computer, but the computer wasn't there! He realized some horrible
robber must've stolen it. Holding in his anger, he bought a new computer. Then he realized that the cookie he had earlier caused him a terrible
toothache. So he went to the dentist. The dentist pulled fifteen of his teeth out. Again, the monster held in his anger. Coming back to his house,
he saw a whole bunch opf dirty clothes out on his lawn. Holding in his anger yet again, he threw them on his neighbor's lawn. The neighbor got
mad, and yelled at the monster.  The monster, yep, held in his anger. When the monster went inside, he noticed that his computer was gone. He trembled,
but still held in his anger. He bought a new one and got online. He got AGS. He thought it would be very very easy to make adventure games. But actually,
it was s l i g h t l y hard. The monster trembled. He whined. And finally, He yelled. "BRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUAAAAAAARRRRRGGGG!!!!" He yelled as he tore
apart his computer. Seeing their chance, the pixie fairies crawled out his mouth, choking the beast, killing him. Then his neighbor saw that, and thought
that that was cool, so he decided to make a game...
TO BE CONTINUED?

[Rincewind]

Hehe, good one, Ghormak!
Although I didn't really realize we were to post it here... Silly me.
Allright, here it is, then, not really inspired by anything, just sat down and wrote whatever came into my mind... Oh well...
Hope you like it.  



                                 

Nightmares and Gameplay

Slowly, and with the artistic grace of a daydreaming hippo, I reached for the mouse and made the final clicks. There. It was done. Deep within me I knew that a long period of stress and woe was over. I pressed “Save game” and then turned off the program.
My mind was still humming with the endless tune from the game - A silly, insignificant little melody, just made for someone to go humming on. But even though the tune was humming on inside my head, and my eyes were hurting from the intense staring at the screen, I felt like I needed to do something. Just something. With a few rapid clicks, I had opened up the file that said “dott.exe”, and the screen was once again, like so many other nights filled up with a colourful, cartoony screen, filled with the many joys of adventure gaming.
I didn't know why I continued staying up that night, despite my tiredness. I still don't know.
In the end, when I had both broken a piece of gum off the floor with a crowbar and frozen down a hamster, my eyes couldn't stand it any more. Neither could my brain. Nor my ears.
I shut down the computer and made a hasty exit to the bedroom.
It was empty. As usual. Now you might think that I'm about to write “A bit too empty”, but that would be wrong. It was absolutely, and completely ordinary empty. Whatever that means.
I faced the cold, white sheets on top of the bed, and sat down for while to think. The tune was still humming in my head. Humming like a crazy mockingbird on ecstasy. I just couldn't get the tune out of my head. Usually, it would stick around in my mind for a little while, but then leave after a few minutes for something else to appear instead.
But this time it didn't. No matter how much I kept trying to think of something else, it kept going on in the background. I started thinking. Was it because I finally finished the game? Was that the cause of this tuneful haunting?
No. No, it couldn't be like that. If it was like that, that meant I was stark raving mad, and I knew I wasn't that.
In a desperate attempt to shake both the thoughts and the music out of my head, I sprang into bed like an ostrich on a trampoline. Now I felt another feeling coming â€" Sleep.
For one of the first times in my life, I actually felt happy when my mind suddenly blurred away into a black daze.


The following morning, I woke up with a headache from hell â€" I had no idea why, but my guess was that the idle staring into the screen hadn't done me much good. I decided not to touch the computer, and just relax. After all, I had no deadline to follow, and no duty to fulfil.
I could just sit down in the couch, listening to music and watching TV.
Then, like a bug creeping up on your sleeve, that little tune came into my mind again. Like the sound of jungle drums, the tune just kept hammering on inside my head.
Now it was louder than ever. It was like someone had left the stereo on, with the volume on the maximum â€" Except that this time, I wasn't able to change it.  
I started to hold my hands against my ears, in pure panic, but it didn't help. I tried turning up the volume on the cd-player, but it was no match for the extremely loud tune that was playing inside my head. Now it wasn't a charming little melody that stuck in your head anymore. It was the most irritating sound I had ever heard in my life. I finally was able to make it stop by just screaming out loud in thin air â€" Then it magically vanished for a while. I was relieved, but my joy did not last very long. After a short walk down to the local pizzeria, ordering in some fast food to soothe my empty stomach â€"the tune came back.
This time on a lower volume, but more distorted than before.
I couldn't help myself, but I started humming to it, just to make it go away. I didn't realize at first that my humming was quite loud, and that people around me looked suspiciously at me.
One of the guests whispered something to the waiter, who than walked up to and asked me if I could please stop my humming. I told him that I was sorry â€" But that I couldn't stop it, that I had got the song stuck in my head and that I couldn't get it out.
He looked at me like a man does at someone who's just told them that their last name is Jellybottom, and that they run an Eel farm off the coast of California.
In the end, I felt too embarrassed to stay, and cancelled my pizza.
I ran home, both frightened and angry. Frightened of why the tune couldn't stop playing and of what it was doing to me, but at the same time very angry at it for ruining my day.
It was then that I suddenly saw what you might call the ultimate shock.
In front of the computer stood a small, colourful creature, staring at me. It wasn't as much that he was small, or that he was standing on my desk, but rather the fact that I had created him!
He was Horace, the main character of the game I had made. A small, almost oafish fellow, who gets lost in the forest and has to rely on what he see and hear to get out again.
Suddenly he pointed at me, and I swallowed quickly.
“Me?” I asked, with a rather stressed voice.
He nodded. I asked him what he wanted, but he didn't answer me. He just pointed at the turned-off computer behind him. I started walking closer, since it was in fact in front of that screen that the whole thing had started. I don't know why, but I reached out a hand and touched the screen, as if in a trance.
And in a second, my whole world turned into a blue-green blur of sounds and smells. I could see what I ate yesterday and my mother's lawnmower behind a great mountain of soap.
Horace jumped around in front of me, as if he wanted to lead the way to something, but I couldn't move. My legs were nailed down to the ground, and my muscles all had cramp.
Suddenly, that tune appeared once more. But this time not in my head. It came walking in front of me, in a visible shape. It wore a black robe, with a golden note on the side, as if to represent music of some sort.  
How I knew that was the song, I don't know â€" I just knew instantly that that was the tune that had haunted me all day. I tried to open my mouth to scream at it, but even my mouth was paralyzed.
It came closer, and in one move, both the tune and Horace had moved and now stood in front of me, with their palms on top of my head.
With one last chant they opened their eyes and everything turned white.

“Let there be death.”

Fire. Fire... Fire. Fire!
I woke up in my apartment, with a dunk of gasoline in my hand and with a half-blurred vision.
I heard people screaming outside my door, and I suddenly saw in front of me, my whole living room and kitchen on fire. In the middle of this burning inferno there was a sort of epicentre, where my computer stood, bursting out green flames. I took a last glance at it, before it exploded in a great cloud of smoke, and the firemen knocked down the door and dragged me out. The last things I heard before I fainted was from the steady voice of my neighbour mrs. Grahams:

“Oh, it must have been ‘im â€" He was always up all nights, working on some sort of project, he said. But I know that he was doing something else â€" Somethin' illegal! And now he's burned his own apartment down! Just yesterday, I saw someone leave this package outside his door, labelled C.J! I'm sure that's one of them new illegal drugs!”