Castle Paradox

[Artimus Bena]

___Questions:
___When you read eldardeen's synopsis (below), what kind of interesting scenes\scenarios\images pop into your head? Also, how do you see the story unfolding; what's the logical course of events?

___Why I'm asking these questions:
___Details make a better story. Many small scenes placed within the whole can do a lot to establish a character, and make the world more tangible mentally. Also, it's useful to have a better idea of how a given player expects the story to go. So I know what not to do.


In the heart of Eldardeen, the Island Fortress, King Bylom, a vile, child-like emperor who calls himself Enchantae after the hero in an old fable,
has begun to move his troops into position to take the last unconquered territory in the known world.

You are Wedonkind, a tall, dark-haired rogue who has ironically become the unofficial leader of a scattered resistance to Enchantae's totalitarian rule.

Eldan, a gifted Seerin Master, personal guard to Enchantae, has secretly broken his loyalty to the throne, by asking you to infiltrate Eldardeen, sneak into
Enchantae's highly guarded tower...

...and murder him.
_________________
SACRE BLEU!

|||Compositions!
|||Eldardeen Soundtrack!
|||Red Mercury!

[Bob the Hamster]

As a synopsis, it sounds fine, but a book's synopsis is the last part that ever gets written, and it is best written by someone other than the author.

At the early stages of planning, an outline, or even a disorganized collection of notes will server better than a synopsis.

Anyway. So we have three characters. Enchantae (villian), Wedonkind (hero), and Eldan (mentor)

So far the plot sounds pretty heavy on the cliches-- do you plan to emphasize that and go for a hightly traditional fantasy story, or do you plan on avoiding that and looking for ways to make the story unique?

[Artimus Bena]

Hmm, not sure if Eldan can be called a "mentor" per se. He's very much the character-you-didn't-expect. He's more like the orchestrator, the cause of action. TECHNICALLY Eldan's the hero, but the story will follow Wedonkind's actions. Wedonkind becomes the hero later in a part of the story that the game won't even touch upon.

[satyrisci]

I just played the tech demo... impressive. Will you have a zelda-esque combat system? The screen wipes and 4 frame animations look great, and the pixel movement is spot on.

As for story, while cliche it's always interesting when there's a "twist". The idea of killing a child emperor brings up all sorts of issues.

Edit: Oh, child-like

[Artimus Bena]

Yep. Child like. But now that you mention it...

Holy shit what a cool idea.


Oh and *sorta* on the zelda-like combat question. There will be no turn-based battling if that's what you mean. Generally, if you got into a fight, you did something wrong, and you will probably lose.
_________________
SACRE BLEU!

|||Compositions!
|||Eldardeen Soundtrack!
|||Red Mercury!

[Bob the Hamster]

Let's explore the emperor. Why is he described as child-like? Is he really totalitarian? Is he the real power, or is he a puppet for someone else? What is the source of this empire's authority, and why is it evil (or why is it considered evil to our protagonist?)

[Artimus Bena]

Well assuming I don't go with the child emporer idea (I'd probably make him a teenager or preteen), the emperor is described as child-like because of the simple pleasure he derives from being in charge, and he never thinks about others.

Vel Tares, that last unconquered territory, has a king, but things are largely settled by council, and the law enforcement is pretty fair. Enchantae's whole purpose is control, and like his personality, there will be no regard for others. In a way, this story comments on the problem of people sticking to tradition, instead of coming together and making change when the thing to do is obvious. This goes for the soon-to-be-conquered people as well. It took a bold move on Eldan's part to lift just a finger.

No there's not going to be some 'puppet' cliche. The real bad guy is every person who does nothing about this little punk, and even worse, carries out his orders. The bad guy is everybody.

Wedonkind's reasons are rather personal. His sister was the noble hero of the two; she died in one of the previous battles leading up to this. It pisses him off that the only good thing in his life was taken away from him by some child far away. He's also getting a lot of money. He's not concerned whether Enchantae is evil or not, really, he's basically just pissed off, and possibly rich. Maybe even an amnesty coming his way?

It's when he finally faces the idea that these freer people about to be conquered are just as stupid as the people conquering them, that he is prompted to action back home. At least they don't have a leader who kills people's sisters. He's basically good, he's just rather soaked in dark cynicism and anger.
_________________
SACRE BLEU!

|||Compositions!
|||Eldardeen Soundtrack!
|||Red Mercury!