Whizzard's Guide to Text Adventure Authorship v1.1 - Part 5 by Kevin Wilson Originally published on CompuServe/Internet Supplied by both Graham Cluley and Richard Hunt @~Continued from Issue 39 10 ---------An indepth look at my 9 Favorites ------------------- 1) Deliverance: Unfortunate - That blonde bombshell in almost every old detective movie. Scientist's daughter (Mad or otherwise) Mind-controlled innocent. Abused child. Group of Unfortunates- The character's village, city, state, country, world, galaxy, universe, and dimension are all good ones. The character's family too. Threatener- Any army or other natural disaster. Rescuer- The player, of course. Setting the scene: Portray a tranquil setting, with only a faint hint of what is to come. The rescuer may be on vacation, or whatever you like. Hook: Something happens to bring the plight of the unfortunate(s) to the rescuer's attention. It may be anything from a murder, to an escaped dying prisoner, all the way up to an alien invasion. Buildup: The rescuer decides to look into the matter. You need to either provide an overwhelming motive for him to get involved, or provide an alternate storyline for the character to follow. Cliffhanger: Create imminent danger to an unfortunate with a puzzle between the rescuer and the rescue. The buzzsaw scene in Hollywood Hijinx was very vaguely an example of this. Plot Twist: The unfortunate has been lying to the rescuer in some manner or another. Either the danger was understated, or (for humorous effect) greatly overstated. Perhaps the unfortunate represents the only true danger to the rescuer. Climax: There should be a confrontation between the rescuer and the threatener, whatever it may be. Be sure to eyeball the section on game endings in this guide for general info. Reveal your plot twists now. Resolution: Either the rescuer successfully completes his rescue, or he flubs it. Or perhaps he discovers the true unfortunate held captive by the phoney one. 2) Pursuit: Fugitive from punishment- Ford Harrison (j/k) An unjustly accused convict A persecuted minority of some sort, such as a telepath or space alien. (ET!) A falsely vilified person (Re _The_Running_Man_) Pursuer- Police, secret service, enemy telepaths, air force. Everyone. Setting the scene: Firstly, you need to justify the pursuit. Tell the player who is chasing him and why. Also give the player an idea of any unusual powers or abilities he has, often used in sci-fi versions of this plot. Hook: Perhaps the player's escape from his enemies. Or perhaps a close call with an enemy agent. If the player has powers, give him the chance to use them here. Buildup: The player begins to see signs of a subtle, but vast network that is working against him. The puzzles get more fiendish as pursuit becomes more and more serious. Helicopters and advanced equipment show up more and more until.... Cliffhanger: Something goes wrong. An arranged rendezvous doesn't show up, or some device important to the character's efforts fails him. He is left in a dangerous and precarious position. Maybe a friendly person has to bail him out. Perhaps a similar fugitive, either an old hand or a possible love interest. Plot Twist: Friendly fugitive betrays him. Or perhaps is captured trying to protect the character. Maybe the enemy is just a cover for a deeper, more sinister organization planted inside it. Climax: The fugitive confronts the head of the organization, tries to rescue his love interest, is captured by that deeper organization, or has to perform something particularly hairy to get away. Resolution: The player wins his freedom or flees to another country or what have you. He also defeats the evil organization and rescues his love interest. The player reaches deep inside himself and discovers a new power that was previously dormant or suppressed and uses that power to overcome his enemies. Any or all of the above are appropriate. 3) Disaster: Vanquished Power- Mankind Any government Civilization Victorious Power- Mother Nature Atomic War Natural Disaster Pollution Anarchy Messenger- TV/Radio A neighbor A raiding party Setting the scene: Establish the setting, then add some foreshadowing, like an old man with a sign saying 'The End is Near' or something. Create a feeling of tension and suspense for the player. Hook: The unthinkable happens. The end really does come. Hell, even the old man is rather shocked. Earthquakes are a good, current topic for disaster games right now. Atomic war could be fun to write about too, but you'd have to steer clear of anything tying it to Trinity, and watch out for reviews comparing your game to it. Buildup: The survivors emerge from the rubble. Frenzied looting and killing begins. The player has to protect himself (and his family?) I think the game I'm describing here is going to need a warning label for Tipper Gore. Serious themes abound, maybe tempered with humor from a religious cult or crazy old coot. Anyway, the character's goal is either to save lives, or get himself and/or his family to a safe place. He should accomplish this during the buildup. After all, we have nastier things in store for the climax... Cliffhanger: The child is hanging from the edge of the cliff, with a slippery hold on an exposed root. The raiders are shooting at you. The car is teetering on the edge of the bridge. You get the idea. Plot Twist: An unexpected source of the disaster. Secret government experiments gone wrong. I would avoid any sort of dream sequence/ earthquake simulator in virtual reality endings. It cheapens what the player has accomplished. The disaster is real. It has to be. Other plot twists include follow-up disasters (germ warfare), foreign invaders, and betrayal by a friend. Climax: Well, admittedly, a disaster is hard to follow-up by definition. But still, there are ways to do it. Any earthquake sufficiently offshore can generate a tsunami. That would one-up it. An organized, well-armed group of raiders, perhaps military, can be a difficult challenge after the character has settled into a home. Whatever you do here, it should be exciting and fast-paced, with a time limit. Resolution: There are several ways to end a disaster adventure. Most of them involve finally settling down in their safe haven and starting over. Or the rescue team arrives, or the invaders are repulsed. Use your imagination. 4) Daring Enterprise: Bold Leader- The character. He can be: A spaceship captain A military leader A visionary inventor or investor A colonist An engineer Goal- Colonize the planet Get the settlers there alive Build your revolutionary invention Get elected Finish your engineering marvel Successfully complete your project or experiment Adversary- Saboteur The government A politician The elements An alien race Shortage of funds or materials or labor Setting the scene: Define the Daring Enterprise. What the hell is the player trying to do anyways? How can he possibly pull it off? Who is his adversary? Does he know all this? Where is the game taking place? Try to create a tone of excitement and breathless anticipation. The character is excited with his project or he wouldn't be a part of it. His head is filled with ambitious dreams and an idealistic outlook. Hook: Take great enjoyment in destroying his idealistic outlook. Something vital but fairly easily repairable goes wrong. Perhaps it claims the life of his spouse or a dear friend. Perhaps it was on purpose. The player would be rather interested to find that out. Buildup: More and more things start to go wrong with the Big Plan. People are becoming worried and many want to pull out. The player must unify them or all is lost. The player begins to follow a trail of clues that leads him towards the climax. Cliffhanger: His wife steps into an elevator. Suddenly it begins falling the forty storeys to the ground. He has only a few moments in which to save her by activating a backup system, shorting out the control box for the runaway elevator, or using some anti-gravity device or another. Other ideas can consist of delayed impending death caused by the things going wrong. Plot Twist: It isn't sabotage. The man who sold them their materials was pawning off shoddy goods that break easily. Climax: The player confronts the source of his difficulties. Justice is tinged with revenge here. Concentrate on fast-paced action. I can't stress this enough. The climax HAS to be the most exciting and stressful in order to make a successful game. Resolution: This should involve the completion of the project or invention. Mankind takes a giant step forward thanks to the daring and cleverness of the player. Do a little ego boosting. ;) 5) Madness: Madman- The player. Choose from a wide array of illnesses. Victim- Accidentally murdered person. The player. The madman. Madman's loved one. Setting the scene: You don't necessarily have to make mention of the madness, but you had better explain things if it's one of the big selling points of your game. I'd like to do a game about a comatose patient lost in his own mind or a fantasy world therein. I would replace the normal status line with and EEG graph like _/\_/\_/\_ that progresses to /\/\/\/\/\ then __________ or some erratic pattern as the patient's condition worsens. The goal would be to either escape your mind, or find a way to remain in the fantasy world permanently (and maybe physically). There are other ideas that could be used for a plot, hundreds actually. I can think of way too many to start listing them here. Again, use your imagination. This guide is only that, a guide. You have to come up with your own ideas. Good luck. Hook: After the player adjusts to his situation, it changes. His idyllic fantasy world becomes an ensnaring nightmare. The police arrive and arrest him for a murder he didn't commit, his other personality did. He finds a suicide note that his other personality wrote (if he's aware of the other personality) and has to figure out a way to prevent the personality from killing him. Something thrilling and exotic. Madness is something that is endlessly fascinating to us. We just can't make any sense of it, by definition. We study it in all its myriad forms, trying to cure these people who don't perceive reality in the same manner as us. I like to think that there's a madman somewhere looking for a cure for sanity. Your game has to show a reality different from ours, and do it quickly or the player will get bored and quit. Buildup: Reality and madness roll over him in succeeding waves. He is projected back and forth, torn between two worlds. The madness may either constitute a positive place, or a negative place that is worse than reality. The player must decide what to do to resolve the rift, because it will slowly destroy his mind, until nothing is left. Or perhaps it's a different type of madness, and events in the fantasy world reflect what is happening in reality, causing the player to commit terrible deeds by accident. Perhaps even a murder, then police pursuit could blend and mesh with images of hideous beings pursuing him, screaming for his soul. Like I said, a fun plot. Cliffhanger: Have the player cross between worlds at particularly stressful moments, leaving his fate in the other world in doubt. Plot Twist: His madness has been caused purposely by someone or something. In a perverse twist, his life has become better since he went mad. Climax: The two worlds come together in a clash. He must decide between the real world and his family or the fantasy world (and a love interest?). Maybe he has some climactic thing to do in each world before he can decide. In any event, if he doesn't manage it, something fatal happens. Resolution: The player's access to one world or the other is cut off, leaving him in the world of his choice. He is a hero wherever he stays, and his family/love interest is at his side. He lives happily ever after. @~More in Issue 41 - o -