Ideas for a Storyline (We will make a poll after there are several stories being nominated)

First topic message reminder :

For the past few days, Allen, Neo, and I have argued about what would be a ideal storyline for the game.


My idea: So, we as a group of people were walking down the street from a party.
Along the way, we encouter a single zombie on the outskirts of the city.
Tristain (I don't think he's ever on), being the dumbass that he is, goes up to it and gets kidnapped. We run like scared rabbits into a military shop and stock up.
(Story to develop later)


Edited by allenallenallen333
Fixed title

"Game, not a movie?"
Neo, don't pull that shit.
Pasts can be shown through attitude, dialogue, basically how the character thinks and acts. Pasts can also be shown through flashbacks, yes, but a more dramatic and/or better connection with the character can be established through dialogue and implied background.
For example, FFVIII said straight off that Squall was an orphan. But when he comes into contact with Kiros, Ward, and Laguna, the player gets a sense of nostalgia. Kiros mentions that Squall

Spoiler:

I did not know that you discussed the ending, and was simply throwing in my two cents.
Many things have not been pointed out to me, so I bridged the gaps. Don't blame me.

But I don't like the idea of a 'simply evil' antagonist. It's hard to grasp. There has to be some backstory to a character. Sure, he can be viewed as 'simply evil' by characters, but there is some truth and resoning behind this enemy, and it should be fleshed out. He could even hint to it before the final battle commences.

EDIT: rated down twice. Wonderful.
I need spoiler tags.

i understand and the ending thing and since u mentioned that i was thinking of something like that while the final battle was going on zero would tell his story. but im not going to tell everyones past story because i belive in a game people want to play the game not watch everyons past go by everytime we meet someone new. i understand the dialouge thing but i think the main focus of the game should be on finding zero and defeating him. if u want i could make like a whole different thing . i wouldnt want to put it in the game but it could be a side thing for people to read like a Characters Bio's thing. its just all about time and work(load). the more animation i have to do. the longer it will take to take the game and i dont have very much time to work while school is going on.

Neo, short excerpts are what I'm talking about. Small things that hint to a big picture. For a character with a lot of pain and a bloody past, a mental breakdown would be the high point of their story and the resolution would be encouragement from friends on the way to the final battle (or smaller battle, whatever). If the encouragement worked, the character could feel empowered ("I've come to far to die now,") or wanting to repay them. The character could then be sacrificed with honor.
But don't cut apart the story just because it 'lightens the workload' because then it feels rushed and skimpy. (I.E. The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon)
A game has the same potential as a movie in story.

Edit:
I love how I was rated up on one post then rated down immediately after. Thanks guys.

Basic pasts have been used far too much, in fact pretty much by every game I know; and I'm a bit sick of it. Don't you think what should come from a character should not be what's already happened but instead, what is happening now? What I am trying to say is, sure a past is important; but how about we make this happen so its personality matches even more to the character? Lets do something different.
Also, I deny the idea of a main villain. Sure; there can be mini bosses who are imbecile and believe they can control the zombies and use them for world domination; but I believe the outbreak of the Zombie diseases should come merely unexpectedly as any disease. There should be no main cause to it; but because there must a main boss at the end; I guess a group of the best evil geeks should team up or something; explaining their theory for how it all happened. But in the end; it should never be exactly found out; spreading out too far and wide for any hope. Giving it a twist that is different and not so much a movie.

I actually believe that games are much better ways to tell a story than movies, since they can be longer than two hours and the player can scope out and theorize about the story and characters. It stops just short of books.
Pasts are important in some situations. This is a serious game, so I thought that some character(s) could have a mindset or past that could make them go insane in an apocalyptic situation.

And I may be going off on this, but I only mentioned the backstory thing because of FFVIII and Left 4 Dead.
(The latter is because of an artist on dA who created fan characters to explain some special infected. The comics this artist later created made me mourn the characters' fate as zombies.)

I'm okay with main villains as long as there's a reason behind their evil.
It's not okay to create a villain and sit there saying "Oh, he did this because he was simply evil from the beginning." That is one of the laziest things you can do to a character.

Ok, I've been afk for awhile thank to qwest, and holy shit on a bagel of jewness, we're heading straight into a trainwreck with this.

Hurray on the PTSD insanity idea
Hurray on the fact we can finally agree on something.


But I detest the fact there is poll open on things NOT ESTABLISHED.
Neo, with all this non-deterred democracy, we might as well stop calling this a game and start calling it a country.

I think I'm going to close the poll because three solid versions of the storyline have not been established.



*sigh*

At least it didn't go terribly off-topic like some posts on this forum.






I vote for Jesus if this becomes a country.

I just re-read this whole thread.
And realized.

Pretty much nowhere does anyone say we're going with Neo's story.
I have no idea where that same from tbh.

*cough* self-righteous *cough*

So the story IS still in the air. I personally request that the people with idea for a story open a new thread, giving the story by itself in complete detail, so as to not to cause confusion.

This thread was started with the idea that we would pitch in our two cents and come out with a whole dollar, but that isn't how it's working.

Put anyway, this is what I'm grasping so far.

1) H1N1 vaccine released by Zero. It contains Solanum.
2) Zombie tyme
3) Zero goes insane from guilt (We don't know this....?)
4) Our little retard get captured.
5) We go 'recon' for other survivors.
6) Encounter group one.
7-10) Series of events involving the first boss fight, group 2, and group 3.
11) Begin search for base.
12) Find base.
13) Sum stuuuuf
14) Second boss fight.
15) Moar stuuuf
16) Third boss fight.
17) Even moar carnage and wrecking thorugh base/lab
18) Fourth boss fight
19) Tear way to Zero
20) Zero's story + Final fight
21) We kill Zero
22) Some twisted and NOT HAPPY ENDING

Sorry about the double-posting but my computer doesn't let me see my own posts.
Uh, I forgot to comment on this, but earlier, when you made a villain backstory comment about the Joker, it infuriated me.
If you've ever played a good PA game, you'd know some backstory is a must.
Resident Evil five, L4D, CoD, and pretty much every GOOD game has backstory on it's important characters and villians. Hell, even SSE on Brawl had some backstory!!

AND!
How can you compare a game to a movie when just before that you said, "...Game, not movie." Come one man.
You seriously need to sit down and actually game.

you know what im done wth making a damn storyline because all of u dont like it so forget it. u make up ur storylin becasuse apparantly im not appreciated with my ideas so somebody else do it. and im taking all my ideas back so no one can use any of my ideas from the past.

Get your panties and shove them back down into your shorts you guys. You're getting hyped over a freakin' game.
Neo, we appreciate your input on the story. But you don't have to get pissy (you too, Near) and 'take back all your ideas'.
If there's anyone who's not appreciated enough, it's truly me.

Now let's clean up this shit and get on with it. Jesus.

^ TBH

Ok...
So which one are we using again?

Hasn't been decided, allen. We haven't pitched in our proper two cents to come out with a whole dollar.
Erhm.

Well, this is not an emergency so you guys can take all the time you want.

Stop posting, allen.
You invade the forums with these posts.

NOW IF ONLY PEOPLE WOULD CONTRIBUTE SO I CAN ARGUE/AGREE.

*sigh*
Let's go ahead and establish the stories and etc.
I really, really don't want to type up that many words right now, I'll post up later.

So basically, I just want a villain who is driven insane by the guilt of the deaths caused by his 'cure' to an unestablished (?) sickness, a storybook-esque opening sequence (it can even become darker as the 'pages' turn to unfold the backstory of the game), and everything else I said was pretty much nothing.

ALSO IS IT JUST ME, OR ARE WE DROPPING THIS STORY?
NO ONE EVER TALKS ABOUT IT OR ANYTHING.

I don't think so lol
Honestly, here's what I think we should go with.

H1N1 "Vaccine" released. (I'm scared, the actually have started the distribution of said Vaccine)
It's a horrible zombie makin' desease! :O
*fighting escape from city run amok*
*Decide we need to get to the center of this*
*Do so, encountering others*
*ADVENTUREEEEE*
*Encounter whosa witz*
*Final boss fight*
*UN-happy ending*

I'M UP FOR SOME ADVENTUREEE.
But would it include leaving the city, or would we just go insane because they're shooting people on the border or something.

No, man. We goin' out of the city. Cuz I want a jungle seen. JUNGLE SEEEEEN. (Scene*)

Yes.
Zombie stealth time.
Incorporate more than one city with different environments, though. I like cities.

Cities = Ideal zombie fest