I had an idea for a video game. Now, I'm not that well-versed on the horror game genre, but I'm 99% sure this hasn't been done before (if just because of potential controversy):
You play as Magdalene Martinez, a mentally unstable 14-year-old girl in the second half of eighth grade. You tend to have sudden emotional outbursts, difficulty distinguishing between fantasy and reality, an obsession with reading every last fantasy and science fiction book ever created, a tendency towards unknowing self-mutilation (both direct self-harm and also starvation; you feel a need to always be in pain), and a very poor grasp on what is or isn't socially appropriate (e.g. talking about peeling out bloody hangnails with total strangers). All this is known by your adoptive mother, the school system, and a psychiatric therapist and they all are trying to "fix" you much to your consternation.
One day, you're approached by a handsome young boy claiming to be an angel and saying you're destined to also become one as well in order to fight back the demon hordes. To do so requires actively seeking them out, killing them, and drinking their blood. The goal of the game is to ascend into angeldom with a pair of wings all your own.
You, the player, are presented the world exactly as Magdalene perceives it. There are no numbers or other progress indicators. You don't know your stats and the only thing the menu does is pause the game, tell you is how to perform abilities you have already learned, save at checkpoints (you can only quicksave to quit the game and it deletes when you start back up; no accidental saving in a dead end situation and losing a full game). At any time, you can press a button to get a glimpse of your inner monologue. For example, you can press the button while by books and you'll gush if they're science fiction or cringe if they're homework. A lot of what you think is nonsense, but with a certain structure that you have to embrace. There's also a disconnect between what you and others perceive. People sometimes comment on your appearance (e.g. calling you disheveled when you, the player, see her as clean) and news reports of accidents where demons attack often go against what you just saw. Some of the locations don't even appear to be damaged at all when you revisit them.
Overall, you have to gauge your health and abilities by your body language and perception. The game's art changes to reflect your physical and mental health. Speaking of which, a primary mechanic involves your mood. Your power, resources, and quests are tied into your "mood", which is raised by giving in to your self-destructive nature. Your mood rises by keeping yourself in pain, reading speculative fiction (anything else lowers your mood), acting up in class, creeping people out, publishing YouTube video logs detailing your angelic progress (under the mistaken assumption all you need is a fake name to be anonymous), self-harm, building your arsenal, killing demons, drinking their blood, and finishing quests given by your angelic comrades. Anything that counteracts these behaviors lowers your mood and once you reach certain thresholds, you go into depression, have panic attacks, and upon hitting rock-bottom, have a black-out that can result in anything from forcing your way into a library to murdering an actual human being.
Of course, your actions have consequences from the authority figures around you. You're already under supervision in a special education program and there's always the looming threat of being put on medication, having your freedoms restricted, and/or getting institutionalized altogether. Such restrictions impede your ability to hunt demons and if you go too long without drinking their blood, you eventually go catatonic (which, canonically, doesn't necessarily kill you but it's game over regardless). Thus, you have to balance between indulging your sickness, hiding evidence of your activities, and presenting just enough of a mask of sanity to keep the teachers, psychiastrists, and police off your back. As you get further to your goal of ascending, the needs of both demon blood and your psychological compulsions escalates as well, making it harder to appease the authorities while also forcing you to hunt stronger demons. Within this framework, you have to become more and more clever within this particular framework, essentially sharing in Magdalene's sickness.
The demon-hunting part of the game pits you at a huge disadvantage. Demons are found in huge swarms and you never stand much of a chance of killing them all. Your tactics have to revolve around singling them out, killing as fast as possible, collecting enough blood to sustain yourself, and getting away before the rest of the swarm can react. It is near impossible to not end up seriously wounded and after each fight, you have to decide how much treatment you'll give your injuries. Remember, you're addicted to pain and counteracting it weighs on your mood. You could decide to exercise and eat muscle-building foods, but these lower your mood as well. In fact, most things that can help that aren't drinking blood or practicing your demon-slaying technique have to be balanced lest you drive yourself into depression.
Everything builds towards a confrontation in a chemical plant. While I can envision this game having multiple endings, the canonical one is, of course, death by a ruptured chemical tank. It's the only one to have credits roll afterward. All other endings and game overs mention what happens, with the survival ending saying "...but is that what really happened?" or something. One particular game over could happen if you choose not to join the angel. "And so, Magdalene declined to become an angel. She would go on to grow up and get old, always wondering in the back of her mind what being an angel might have been like. After all, isn't that just like so many of her favorite books?"
Even without ultra-realistic HD graphics, this game would probably cost in the realm of 5-15 million and take a couple years of development due to the extensive programming and testing just for the relational database alone. Because of that, it runs into the problem of investors demanding it play certain things safe. At least the success of the incredibly violent Hunger Games series dulls my initial concern about protests over a young girl placed in such a bleak situation.
One day, you're approached by a handsome young boy claiming to be an angel and saying you're destined to also become one as well in order to fight back the demon hordes. To do so requires actively seeking them out, killing them, and drinking their blood. The goal of the game is to ascend into angeldom with a pair of wings all your own.
You, the player, are presented the world exactly as Magdalene perceives it. There are no numbers or other progress indicators. You don't know your stats and the only thing the menu does is pause the game, tell you is how to perform abilities you have already learned, save at checkpoints (you can only quicksave to quit the game and it deletes when you start back up; no accidental saving in a dead end situation and losing a full game). At any time, you can press a button to get a glimpse of your inner monologue. For example, you can press the button while by books and you'll gush if they're science fiction or cringe if they're homework. A lot of what you think is nonsense, but with a certain structure that you have to embrace. There's also a disconnect between what you and others perceive. People sometimes comment on your appearance (e.g. calling you disheveled when you, the player, see her as clean) and news reports of accidents where demons attack often go against what you just saw. Some of the locations don't even appear to be damaged at all when you revisit them.
Overall, you have to gauge your health and abilities by your body language and perception. The game's art changes to reflect your physical and mental health. Speaking of which, a primary mechanic involves your mood. Your power, resources, and quests are tied into your "mood", which is raised by giving in to your self-destructive nature. Your mood rises by keeping yourself in pain, reading speculative fiction (anything else lowers your mood), acting up in class, creeping people out, publishing YouTube video logs detailing your angelic progress (under the mistaken assumption all you need is a fake name to be anonymous), self-harm, building your arsenal, killing demons, drinking their blood, and finishing quests given by your angelic comrades. Anything that counteracts these behaviors lowers your mood and once you reach certain thresholds, you go into depression, have panic attacks, and upon hitting rock-bottom, have a black-out that can result in anything from forcing your way into a library to murdering an actual human being.
Of course, your actions have consequences from the authority figures around you. You're already under supervision in a special education program and there's always the looming threat of being put on medication, having your freedoms restricted, and/or getting institutionalized altogether. Such restrictions impede your ability to hunt demons and if you go too long without drinking their blood, you eventually go catatonic (which, canonically, doesn't necessarily kill you but it's game over regardless). Thus, you have to balance between indulging your sickness, hiding evidence of your activities, and presenting just enough of a mask of sanity to keep the teachers, psychiastrists, and police off your back. As you get further to your goal of ascending, the needs of both demon blood and your psychological compulsions escalates as well, making it harder to appease the authorities while also forcing you to hunt stronger demons. Within this framework, you have to become more and more clever within this particular framework, essentially sharing in Magdalene's sickness.
The demon-hunting part of the game pits you at a huge disadvantage. Demons are found in huge swarms and you never stand much of a chance of killing them all. Your tactics have to revolve around singling them out, killing as fast as possible, collecting enough blood to sustain yourself, and getting away before the rest of the swarm can react. It is near impossible to not end up seriously wounded and after each fight, you have to decide how much treatment you'll give your injuries. Remember, you're addicted to pain and counteracting it weighs on your mood. You could decide to exercise and eat muscle-building foods, but these lower your mood as well. In fact, most things that can help that aren't drinking blood or practicing your demon-slaying technique have to be balanced lest you drive yourself into depression.
Everything builds towards a confrontation in a chemical plant. While I can envision this game having multiple endings, the canonical one is, of course, death by a ruptured chemical tank. It's the only one to have credits roll afterward. All other endings and game overs mention what happens, with the survival ending saying "...but is that what really happened?" or something. One particular game over could happen if you choose not to join the angel. "And so, Magdalene declined to become an angel. She would go on to grow up and get old, always wondering in the back of her mind what being an angel might have been like. After all, isn't that just like so many of her favorite books?"
Even without ultra-realistic HD graphics, this game would probably cost in the realm of 5-15 million and take a couple years of development due to the extensive programming and testing just for the relational database alone. Because of that, it runs into the problem of investors demanding it play certain things safe. At least the success of the incredibly violent Hunger Games series dulls my initial concern about protests over a young girl placed in such a bleak situation.
You play as Magdalene (aka YouTube user demoncleaner97, aka Scratchy-chan, aka the Devourer), a mentally unstable 14-year-old girl that has sudden emotional outbursts, difficulty distinguishing between fantasy and reality, an obsession with indiscriminately reading fantasy and science fiction books, a tendency towards unknowing self-mutilation (both direct self-harm and also starvation), and a very poor grasp of what is or isn't socially appropriate (e.g. talking about peeling out bloody hangnails in front of a another kid's parents). One day, you're approached by an attractive young boy claiming to be an angel and saying you're destined to also become one as well in order to fight back the demon hordes. To do so requires actively seeking them out, killing them, and drinking their blood. The goal of the game is to ascend into angeldom with a pair of wings all your own.
You, the player, are presented the world exactly as she perceives it and the game requires you to play into her sickness. Your power, resources, and the quests you can undertake are tied into your "mood" (this game would have no numerical stats available; everything is shown through your appearance as well as your verbal and body language), which is raised by actions such as reading books (anything not speculative fiction is a negative and that includes your homework), acting up in class, creeping people out, recording YouTube video logs detailing your progress (under the mistaken assumption a fake name is all you need to be anonymous), self-harm, collecting weaponry, killing demons, and drinking their blood. Anything that counteracts those behaviors decreases your mood and once you reach certain thresholds, you go into depression, have panic attacks, and upon hitting rock-bottom, have a black-out that can result in anything from forcing your way into a library to murdering an actual human being.
Of course, your actions have consequences from the authority figures around you. You're already under supervision in a special education program and there's always the looming threat of being put on medication, having your freedoms restricted, and/or getting institutionalized altogether. Such restrictions impede your ability to hunt demons and if you go too long without drinking their blood, you eventually go catatonic and die. Thus, you have to balance between indulging your sickness, hide evidence of your activities, and present just enough of a mask of sanity to keep the teachers, psychiastrists, and police off your back. As you get further to your goal of ascending, the needs of both demon blood and your psychological compulsions escalates as well, making it harder to appease the authorities while also forcing you to hunt stronger demons.
What does everyone think? Would you play it? Has it been done before? Think it would piss off the moral protesters?
You, the player, are presented the world exactly as she perceives it and the game requires you to play into her sickness. Your power, resources, and the quests you can undertake are tied into your "mood" (this game would have no numerical stats available; everything is shown through your appearance as well as your verbal and body language), which is raised by actions such as reading books (anything not speculative fiction is a negative and that includes your homework), acting up in class, creeping people out, recording YouTube video logs detailing your progress (under the mistaken assumption a fake name is all you need to be anonymous), self-harm, collecting weaponry, killing demons, and drinking their blood. Anything that counteracts those behaviors decreases your mood and once you reach certain thresholds, you go into depression, have panic attacks, and upon hitting rock-bottom, have a black-out that can result in anything from forcing your way into a library to murdering an actual human being.
Of course, your actions have consequences from the authority figures around you. You're already under supervision in a special education program and there's always the looming threat of being put on medication, having your freedoms restricted, and/or getting institutionalized altogether. Such restrictions impede your ability to hunt demons and if you go too long without drinking their blood, you eventually go catatonic and die. Thus, you have to balance between indulging your sickness, hide evidence of your activities, and present just enough of a mask of sanity to keep the teachers, psychiastrists, and police off your back. As you get further to your goal of ascending, the needs of both demon blood and your psychological compulsions escalates as well, making it harder to appease the authorities while also forcing you to hunt stronger demons.
What does everyone think? Would you play it? Has it been done before? Think it would piss off the moral protesters?
