How would YOU make this game?

[Jabberbox]

Okay, here's what happens given the location:

Average day, working at inn. guest checks in, room is given.

Next day, odd cracks appear in ground, investigation amongst townspeople, guest shows up in evening for second night.

Third day, while trimming grass near inn, small, translucent tendrils grabs nearby animal, who then mutates slightly and attacks. you kill it with grass scythe. run inside, explain situation, guest pays vague attention before leaving for the day. that night, a cracking noise is heard, sky has a faint, glowing cracked pattern in it (too faint to see during daytime.)

Fourth day: guest seen investigating around town, scattered reports of attacks in the forest, assumed to be highwaymen. tendril crazed person says something in an indecipherable language and passes out. recovers in hospital with horrible memories.

Fifth day: other people report odd sightings in forest, describing the same tendrils as before, guest drops odd object, looks futuristic. small siege of monsters at village gate cause emergency town meeting. guest sows up to meting as well.

Sixth day: cracks grow brighter and more numerous, guest seen speaking to himself in the middle of the night. monsters from deeper in the forest emerge in city.

Seventh day: after guest leaves room, you decide to take housekeeping duty in order to investigate the suspicious guest, suspecting he might be the cause. Empty sword hilt, bizarre looking knife, some futuristic looking gadgets found, and a map of the village is found, with a date written on it and an "x" over where the ground and sky cracks seem to converge. record of attacks found, as well as record of similar attacks from places you've never heard of. You put everything back where it was and go on to clean other rooms. that night, you return the gadget the guest dropped, who thanks you profusely for it, and leaves for his room.

Eighth day: Guest seen around the marked location on map with the returned object. You ask him what it is, but he dances around th question. other villagers are growing more suspicious of him as well. attacks from mountain creatures occur. at night, guest is seen with empty hilt near the same spot, while the cracks worsen. a strange creature appears of the same material as the tendrils. it attacks the guest, who attempts to use the empty hilt as a weapon. the creature inexplicably becomes sliced up and de-materializes. smaller enemy forms as guest walks away, jumps him, knocking sword hilt away. boss battle with otherworldly entity.

Ninth day: guest takes you aside, and explains partly what happened. it was a creature from another universe attempting to invade. bag of maps found near battle site. they all have vastly different buildings on them, but the terrain is the same as the town. more monster attacks, but the town's newly organized task force handles it well.

Tenth day: tendrils envelop a house, guest seen with knife slashing at the tendrils, you join in helping, and he hands you the hilt. You enter the house, help him rescue the inhabitants and have a boss battle with a large tentacle. you escape with occupants, house is crushed and lies under field of writhing pink. guest checks out of inn at evening.

Eleventh, and twelfth day are worsening cracks, investigation in town archives, and ever stronger monsters. records show nothing of any sort of event, but a somewhat rambling book describes similar circumstances. no sign of the guest.

Thirteenth night: sky breaks, gigantic pillar slams into ground, half of the town is decimated. winged warrior shows up with empty hilt, along with the guest and several other fighters. you still have the knife, which as mechanical parts in the blade running at full speed. you aid the mysterious warriors in battle. during battle with the pillar, you learn that it's from another type of universe, in which time works differently. it attacked the planet in the same spot, just at different points in history, which is where the other warriors are from. straight on boss first form, puzzle boss second, third is curbstomp battle (against you.) guest uses beam weapon as last ditch effort, it opens a weakness, but the gun overloads and explodes, killing guest. final form is a low hp match between the remaining party and pillar. after defeat, the pillar disappears, and is erased from the time line, reversing the damage. guest (never named.) is buried, and other warriors offer for you to join them. sequels take place in same town, just at different timeframes. (metropolis at one setting, just forest land in one, etc.)

[Archaon]

Sweet! BUT the link didn't work. I got the page not found error.

I'm curious to see it. I'm sorry you had to recreate that whole map.

Yeah, I somehow managed to put two "http"s in the URL.

Here.

NOTE: Should you lose a battle, be sure to hit Enter to dismiss the text boxes in the ensuing scene once you've read them; it's the only instance where you'll still be able to move while a message is showing. If you don't, you will not get the full experience.

[Archaon]

Only the tiniest iota of download activity. Come on, folks. I almost had to make an effort to create this in a single day. Don't make me create a new thread for it!

[Alexis]

Only the tiniest iota of download activity. Come on, folks. I almost had to make an effort to create this in a single day. Don't make me create a new thread for it!

I am so downloading this when I get home.

[Thalzon]

OK, I'd go all Mario 64 on this and make the game all about finding hidden dungeons all around the town that the player must puzzle out themselves.

That said, this is a BORING town design. There is no elevation changes, which makes it feel very sparse and flat. It's also pretty small, so I'd recommend making it much larger, especially if the game just takes place in this one town.

[Archaon]

That said, this is a BORING town design.

The RPG Maker XP tilesets are pretty limited. You're only allowed one set per map, and it gives you a fairly small variety of objects to work with. They took a step towards fixing this in RPG Maker VX, which allows you to use tiles from whatever sets you want...and then took a step back by only allowing a maximum of five sets.

It's also pretty small, so I'd recommend making it much larger, especially if the game just takes place in this one town.

But surely the whole point of the exercise is to see how much of a game you can pack into this small village.

[Thalzon]

The RPG Maker XP tilesets are pretty limited. You're only allowed one set per map, and it gives you a fairly small variety of objects to work with. They took a step towards fixing this in RPG Maker VX, which allows you to use tiles from whatever sets you want...and then took a step back by only allowing a maximum of five sets.

I've worked with RPG Makers in the past. XP lets you have the tileset be ANY size (length; width is fixed) you want, and it includes tiles to add in things like hills and cliffs. It's a bit of extra work but really fleshes out the maps.

[Archaon]

Well, it's been just over a week now. I'd hoped for at least one response, (although hoped != expected) but since there's been no further activity, I'm just going to go ahead and give the synopsis anyway. I didn't spend ten minutes typing it up to NOT post it, dammit.

SPOILERS (assuming you actually care, you callous brutes):

You are a foetus. The village is a womb. The game as a whole alludes to the subjects of childbirth and abortion.

Major themes throughout the game are those of helplessness and ignorance. When the game starts, you simply appear unceremoniously in a dark and confined space. You have no idea where you are or who you are, and no explanation is forthcoming.

When you enter a house (and you ultimately have no choice but to do so) you are presented with three doors, two of which lead to a maze. Shortly after you enter the maze, you receive an ominous message and tense, threatening music begins playing. You get the impression that you're in danger, but you don't know what (or where) the source is, so you have to simply start navigating the maze, hoping to find your way out.

The maze itself is unsolvable, although you don't know that. It is desperation and futility; you run all over the place, meeting dead end after dead end, to no avail. You might even come across a few spots that look like exits, but even they don't do you any good, and all the while the music keeps building, no doubt indicating that the threat is drawing nearer. There is something after you, but it's not something you can escape from.

In a short while, the music stops and you are faced with a monster, which will growl some justification for your death before attacking you. Regardless of your actions, you are swiftly and decisively defeated.

You are then transported to a narrow path. It appears to lead both up and down; back towards the village and away from it, respectively; but regardless of which direction you press, you invariably move down, slowly and agonizingly. You're not leaving; you're being forced out. As you descend further and further, what little light there is gradually drains away as you die, and the game ultimately ends.

The only way to prevent this outcome is to first enter the one door that doesn't lead to a maze. Should you do so, you encounter a mysterious figure that disappears abruptly when you try to interact with it. It doesn't seem to accomplish anything, however, and ultimately you still have to enter the maze.

This time, however, when the monster appears and speaks its line, the character that you encountered earlier materialises in front of you, shielding you and delivering a riposte. The monster then fades and takes on a more corporeal and decidedly less intimidating form, and you engage in a battle. This time, it's the intervening character (either Compassion, Justice, Logic or Truth) who fights in your stead, and you also learn the identity of the monster (either Indifference, Iniquity, Fallacy or Deception.)

When there is no-one to protect you, the four monsters are simply nameless horrors that you cannot possibly defend yourself against. However, with the monster's "opposite" present and ready to fight, it is revealed for what it is, and the ensuing battle can be won. There is little you can do to influence this, however; you don't know beforehand which doors will lead to mazes and which won't, so you just have to hope that the characters are there when you need them.

Once the four monsters are defeated, you must enter another house, whereupon you are immediately faced with a new enemy. Since you've already unlocked the four characters, however, they appear automatically to defend you once again.

This battle is a little different; here, you need to have been paying attention to what the earlier monsters have been saying. At the start of each turn, the enemy speaks a line corresponding to one of the monsters, and you must respond by attacking ONLY with the appropriate character. Compassion counters Indifference, Justice counters Iniquity, Logic counters Fallacy and Truth counters Deception. Neither brute force nor inactivity will win the fight for you; if you attack with the "wrong" character, or if you let a turn go by without attacking at all, you will always lose. If you get it right, however, the monster is defeated and you are transported back to the village.

The first thing you'll notice is that the atmosphere has changed. With all the monsters defeated, the danger has passed; where once you were constantly under threat, the village is now inviting and carefree.

This is the first time in the game where you have any real freedom. You are no longer "boxed in" by your limited awareness and are free to explore as you like. However, you'll soon realise that ultimately, there's nothing left for you here. While it's sad that you must leave just when you were beginning to appreciate how peaceful and safe this place is, it's time to face the world outside the village, whatever it may be.

Once you leave, and just before the credits roll, you are finally given a name.