Yeah, I did a brainstorm web for the words 'storm' and 'coming' on the first day, but I didn't come up with anything that interested me. Also I'm coming up with ideas where 'the coming storm' might be important to the whole game, but wouldn't logically be mentioned in the intro. :/ Oh well, I guess I just need to make myself pick something and develop it.

Quote:Original post by sunandshadow
Yeah, I did a brainstorm web for the words 'storm' and 'coming' on the first day, but I didn't come up with anything that interested me. Also I'm coming up with ideas where 'the coming storm' might be important to the whole game, but wouldn't logically be mentioned in the intro. :/ Oh well, I guess I just need to make myself pick something and develop it.

Don't forget you can be as metaphorical as you like with the concept of the coming storm. It doesn’t have to refer to weather at all. Or it could just as easily be the backdrop for another concept entirely.

If people are having trouble coming up with ideas then why not have a public brainstorming session right here in this thread?



Some random ideas off the top of my head
- An advancing horde/army threatens to destroy a country/planet
- A survival horror type game where you have to escape from someplace or thing before the storm to end all storms hits.

Well, of course I brainstormed metaphorical and punny meanings too. :P [wink] That's what concept webbing is for, to explore all the possible meanings and associations of a word.

Here's what I thought of:
- A person named Storm
- Taking the nation by storm
- Storming the castle walls
- Coming soon to theaters near you
- X-rated meaning of the word 'coming' (probably we shouldn't use this one) [wink]
- A new franchise of 'StoreM' coming soon to this location (wonder what that store sells?)
- Paranoiacally imagining a storm is coming to get you (and maybe hiding under the bed from it)
- Pessimistically thinking there's always another storm coming.
- Things people usually say during a storm, like: "A storm is brewing." "It was a dark and stormy night..." "Batten the hatches!" "Furl the sails." "Brace yourselves!" "Man overboard!" "The sky is falling!"
- Things you do with storms: racing them, riding them, weathering them, getting drenched or frozen or zapped by lightning, getting blown away, getting lost in them, facing into them, getting spun around by them
- A cute cartoony personified Storm monster


Anyway, don't worry about me, I picked something and I'll have it in before the deadline. Being the moderator, I'd be embarrassed if I couldn't come up with one little piece of game writing, lol.

Quote:Original post by Beige
Arr.

I have this whole big idea, but I can't fit it in 1500 words.

Or, if I do, it cuts out key foreshadowing and development.

Don't forget, this is only the part before the player actually starts playing. They might get bored if you want them to sit and watch/read too much exposition first. You want to catch their interest with a teasing taste, not explain things thoroughly.

Quote:Original post by Beige
I was kind of thinking the introduction and the initial gameplay would be simultaneous; do I have to seperate them? :(

Hmm, looking back over the thread I see that Technogoth said the intro could be, among other things, a game sequence, so I guess there's no reason you'd have to separate them. I was just trying to suggest a way for you to narrow your topic so it would be easier to keep it under 1,500 words, but if that suggestion doesn't work for what you want to do, then just ignore it. :)

Your entry could very well be a game sequence as long as intro sequence and not the first level. An example of a game with an intro sequence that comes to mind is Chrono Cross which starts off the game with the player and two party members nearly at the top of a tower. You activate a crystal and fight a couple of monsters before making to the door at the top of the tower. Then player is shown a cut scene of one of their allies named kid being stabbed and the player standing there with a bloody dagger.

The over all effect is that of leaving the player disoriented and wonder what was going on. The whole event takes maybe 5 minutes to play.

If you are having trouble with the length of your entry then consider what parts you need and what part you don't. There might very well be unessary descriptive parts to that could be removed or shortended but in the end working within a given length is all part of the challenges of writing.

Well, I did have this idea it was crap but I'll share it case someone decides they like part of the idea.

The Coming Storm

A Mix of Modern Reality Combat with Fantasy Creatures and Aliens.

Three groups of People suddenly kidnapped and *brought to an unknown planet.

The first group is modern day humans living in some part of the US, Europe, and China

The Second group is a bunch of Fantasy armies Elves, Centaurs, Chinese Dragons (or something like that)

The Third group is a bunch of fantasy alien creatures Klingons, Mon Calamaria, Kilraithi.

Each of these groups have been taken from their homes and their lives in the blink of an eye and stranded in remote unknown regions of some far off planet. They have no idea what happened to them all they know is they closed their eyes one minute and opened them the next and they were in this strange place with strange people around them. Many of these groups began to form into the communities structured the way they were used to, not realizing that in a few years they would soon discover that they were not alone in this bizzarre situation. Hence 'the coming storm' ooooooooo sends chills up your spin don't it :P

Anyway just thought I'd share that since I won't be using it.