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[Supermikhail]

So, I've got four characters: three male and one female

who without much provocation set out on a quest to steal a legendary armour from a remote city, but find the citizens turned into zombies.
That's about how far I got on my previous attempt which was a novel. And now, it's summer, but I haven't got time to write any novels. Why not try to design a game instead?
Note: not program a game. I'm no programmer. But there are other sides to making videogames, and I'd like to try myself at them. A small complication is that I haven't done anything like that, except mentally in my lazy hours. That's why this thread - I hope you can share some useful advice, maybe even help, guys.
I'm mostly interested in such things as character design, story, gameplay and dialogue. That's what I'm going to devote around next 20 days of my life to.

First thing, the previous thread. There's about 30 printed pages of writing of different quality, which boil down to the main characters meet at an abandoned shrine of an ancient demon who was killed a millennium ago by a warrior who then proceeded to make an armour out of the demon's hide. There is a note on the shrine's wall about where the warrior went with the armour. Then the main characters set out to the city where he went. They arrive at its walls, and the city seems abandoned. They go inside.

Spoiler: That's where the thread stopped and that's where kind of spoilers start (click to show/hide)

They are supposed to go underground and get separated while avoiding traps. One of the characters gets trapped in a cage and is visited by the main baddy, and learns that the baddy made the citizens into zombies. But the trapped character is rescued by his companions and they happily proceed to find the armour and steal it. But then the baddy appears and they fight, the main characters utilizing magic powers of the armour. The baddie isn't defeated completely, of course, to make the road for a sequel.

I need to make this plot into something useful, entertaining, and usable for a game.

Then, the characters are in the beginning of the post. They aren't very interesting, I think, and I intend to work on their appearance.

Their dialogue suffers from their lacking motivations for the quest they are on. They aren't the types to throw themselves randomly into an adventure only for the money. I intend to make them have intrinsic interests in the armour itself.

Their backstories aren't very well developed, although I've written a draft for a screenplay about one character's backstory for the ScriptFrenzy a couple of months ago, and in make-believe way I'm including it as a material for a movie tie-in with the game. The backstories come later, but I need to work on them, too. Speaking of tie-ins, I've written a short story about the main baddie, and there is a link to it.

Finally, the gameplay. For me the personalities of the characters are the most important aspect, so I am not sure. But the game is supposed to contain fighting, too. And exploration, and possibly puzzle solving. So, I've been thinking about a modification of Resident Evil formula. I'd like to leave the final decision on this matter for the end of this project.

I feel that my idea could have been clearer, but that's the best I can do now. Ah, the characters from left to right:
Vígúlfr Sveinnson, human male. His name is alright.
Amlemth Duran, human male. His name I don't like. It's kind of unpronounceable. On the other hand, it's really dwarfy.
Will Flynn, halfling male. His name I would like to change, too. It's too non-fantasy.
Fithgnliry, kobold female. Her name is okay.

Now, I haven't spoken about everything. The setting. There is a problem, I've got characters from different settings. Vigulfr is very realistic, medieval scandinavian. Amlemth is from DwarfFortress. Will Flynn has clearly come from Middle-Earth. Fithgnliru is from DwarfFortress. They need to be united. While I don't mind making a tribute to DwarfFortress, I wouldn't like to change the races, and besides, I've got some ideas for the cultures in the setting that aren't in DwarfFortress (for one, strange elven tree-houses). I need to work on it, too.

Eeh, work, work. Tomorrow. I feel this post contains enough words for now.

[Armok]

Other than being a kobold thief Fithgnliry isn't that DF-y at all.

[Supermikhail]

I guess, she's a native Bay12 dweller. Or where have cutebolds originated.
Anyway, edited the title of the thread to hopefully attract more attention.
Lacking real inspiration, laid on paper my ideas how the city would look.

click on the image to view a larger version

[Supermikhail]

So, I've googled for game design, and written something... I don't know, a beginning of a design document.

What's this game:

I guess this game is intended to be a nice roleplaying experience where you don't try to live in the world as yourself but try to play a predefined character and find out about him/her and the world.
On the other hand it could be a medieval tactical shooter fighter.
In the worst case, it could turn into an adventure.

Game world:

A medieval low fantasy world where the age of monsters and giants has passed, and the world is a bland and simple place with fading legends and withering great cities of old. Dwarves, halflings and men live there in peace, but without much affection for each other. The age of elves is over and
One of such cities is Romistra. Once a center of trade routes from all over the world, governed by great and wise kings, it is now diminished to a remote tourist attraction, as a last home of Kerfa Godsfate, a hero of a war that raged on the continent a thousand years ago, in which all the monsters united to annihilate and enslave the free people. Myths say that in that war Kerfa defeated the archdemon Uzotnahet, and made an armor out of its hide.

Who the player controls:

The player chooses to control one of four characters with very different ways of playing. One of them is a battle hardened fighter rooted in tribal culture. Second is a blacksmith and mechanic second to none, using his various mechanical contraptions as effectively in battle as for solving physical problems occurring on the way. Third is a rogue utilizing many tricks in combat instead of confronting his opponent directly. Fourth is a master of stealth, making a silent kill before retreating into darkness.
When the player chooses his character, the remaining three back him up working as a team.

How:

Control is possible from 3rd of 1st person view, using mouse and keyboard with a regular FPS control scheme with modifications.

What the player aims to achieve:

The player is put into the city of Romistra in a free exploration environment, and presented with several tasks - to find the demonic armor, to find out why the citizens have become zombies, as little sidequests the player can solves problems of the zombies who are harmless until a certain time.

Spoiler: And More (click to show/hide)

Game World

The world is low fantasy so no sparkly magic missiles. I guess it would be close to Tolkien's (I find real culture very fascinating, and Tolkien's creations were rooted in real folklore, so). They have curses and omens, but these aren't related to gameplay.

World cultures and architecture

The fantasy races in this world are supposed to have naturally interacted and co-existed, and took something from each other into their cultures, but kept their uniqueness. In the city of Romistra this is especially notable as houses of different races can be seen side by side - tree homes of elves, halfling burrows, rock dwellings of dwarves, and houses of humans.

Physical world

To this point I've thought about several locations, but there need to be more.

1) Aboveground Romistra. A city bordering on a river on one side, and on the other side going into rocky hills. Among notable locations is a castle, a forge, a megalithical circle - a place of religion. There is a variety of shops that need to be elaborated on.

2) Underground Romistra. A system of tunnels and halls (possibly a-la Moria). And plump helmets.

3) Woods leading to Romistra. Basically serving for a smoother transition.

4) The shrine of Uzotnahet. Or other place where the story starts.

Travel

Possible means of transportation are horses. But not sure. Main means of transition between locations are cutscenes.

Day and night

The game should probably start at daytime. This way everything is more or less peaceful in the beginning. When the heroes arrive at Romistra, it's dusk. When they escape Romistra, it's, quite appropriately, dawn.

Time

Time will pass, basically, as it suits the story. So no looking at the watch. And the heroes don't have watches anyway. Although, seeing as one is a mechanic, I might reconsider this point.

Game Engine

AI

Most of the effort must be concentrated on the party, the teamwork, and smooth pathfinding. Most of the enemies are going to be zombies, and will do well with "the homing missile with IR-vision" mode. However, if the story is to be taken further, the engine could use an AI director as the main baddie directs his minions wherever he wants. On the other hand, in the beginning, zombies are going to be in a peaceful mode, so they need peaceful routines programmed in, like something that they used to do when they were alive.

Renderer

I'm of the opinion that a game should be fun to look at, so I think this game should have somewhat cartoony look, bright colours and such.

[Armok]

Why do you want to make a game out of this? It's a great story but it REALLY dosn't lend itself to being made into a game. I'd absolutely recommend concentrating your efforts and forgetting the game part.

[Supermikhail]

The thing is it doesn't lend itself well to a story, either. If you remember, I was trying to make it into an interactive experience from the start. But to be honest, the time wasn't perfect, as I've already said. And the time isn't going to be perfect again, as at the start of August I'm going to go away and not have access to a computer, and after that I'll have to start solving problems with the university.
It's a very good bet that I'm not going to have much spare time for the whole year, that is my last university year. And for this whole year I'm going to have this story in the back of my mind. Then, when I finish university, I'll have a completely useless "major", that, if I try to follow it up with a job (even though it's unlikely that anyone is going to take me, because the major is concerned with communication, and I'm especially bad at that), it'll take me miles away from what I want to be.
So, I hope you wouldn't mind if I try to gain something like a useful skill, the best way I see possible, in the short time I've got left.
That's my story, with little hysterical overtones.

On more calm notes, I'm of a mind that nothing becomes anything without a little tenacity. To tell you a secret, the story in its form in the previous thread wasn't going anywhere much. I didn't have any idea about what to fill the necessary space with for each new update, and each new update was getting more of a miracle, as the time went on.
In the beginning I only knew where I was starting from and where I needed to get to. And these connected in a city where Othor the Necromancer lived. Now I know little more. I'm of a mind that if I concern myself with gameplay, I'm at least going to feel a little more complete at the end of the summer.
Of course, if you've got any better ideas, feel free to tell me.
Ah, I thought I could turn it into a short story. But I'm not sure that it'll fit into the time limit, as I have to make up so much again. There are other concerns, like I'll have published it on the Internet, I won't be able to send it anywhere serious. And then, I live in Russia and write stories in English. Who needs them in Russia? Especially when they are set in an obscure videogame.
And to end on a higher note, yes, I've been to a psychologist. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to return to my idle musings.

[Supermikhail]

Under the watchful eyes of Nliru the party resumed its movement and quickly arrived at the circle. The stones were placed in what appeared to be a market square. The circle was completely surrounded by shabby little stalls, save for the exits into four streets, and some space right in front of it, protected by the sanctity of the structure. The stalls seemed to have been abandoned in a hurry, although it wasn't very clear – food was mostly gone, only bits and pieces, and garbage left in its place, while such inedible goods as raw grain, leather and cutlery lay unattended. The adventurers didn't notice any town residents, living or dead, here at first. After initial observation was made, most of their attention became centered on the stone circle.
The outer blocks reached twice the height of Vig, who was the tallest one in the party. They were plain, cut from rock without much subtlety, raw, unpolished, but emanating some wholesome, primal energy. Inside the outer circle was an elevation of earth, and on it, smaller stones arranged in a shape of table. They were given much more care than the rest, their sides smoothed to the point of gleaming in the moonlight, and beside that they bore intricate engravings. Most were strange runic symbols, and in the middle of the  top were several circles, decreasing in size, placed inside one another. However, that was hard to make out as the top was stained with a thick layer of baked blood.
Will moved to the stone table immediately, intrigued by the engravings. Vig started, too, but paused to ask cautiously, “Will, do you know what exactly these stones are?”
“You've never seen anything like 'em?” said the halfling. “Well, local folk usually use them to call to gods, that sort of thing. I'd say they used this one to make sacrifices.”
“Oh,” said Vig. Glancing back, Will noticed the Northerner clutching something on his chest with his right hand. He smiled.
“Don't bother. I bet the gods of these people are long dead. Or they wouldn't let them disappear, right?”
“Who knows,” said Vig keeping hold of the amulet. His words infected Amlemth, who stayed away from the circle, while Nliru wasn't anxious to get down from her advantageous position, either.
Will crouched by the table, his eyes gleaming in anticipation of a good test of his skills. But all he had to say was a low “Wait, it's a... fellows!”
“What is it?” exclaimed Amlemth.
Retreating from the table, Will pointed towards one of the stones of the outer circle with his hand. Vig and Amlemth had to take a few wary steps to the side to see what he was pointing at. There was a silhouette of a human figure that appeared to be seated behind the stone.
Readying his axe, Vig said loudly, “Show yourself, elf!”
He was answered by silence, and a little baffled looks of Will and Amlemth. Neither one of them spoke, though.
Quietly, the Northerner directed his two companions to advance on the stranger from two sides. About ten man-steps away they stopped. Vig raised his weapon menacingly.
“Your magic won't aid you!”
Again he received no answer. The figure remained seated, its legs stretched on the ground self-assuredly. Just when Vig was about to rush the enemy, a voice chirped from above.
“But he's dead!”
The three companions looked up to find Nliru on the roof of a building a bit ahead. She moved by tops and now had a more or less open view of the stranger. The fact that he had done nothing to stop her was in favour of  her conclusion. She quickly got down to the ground, and together with the rest of the party surrounded the body.
It was a man, killed brutally. His head had been turned into a featureless mass of gore with a terrible blow of some heavy blunt weapon and stuck to the surface of the stone. His clothes, soaked in blood, were of a civilian, although there lay a large dagger near his hand.
“I...,” said Amlemth in a constrained voice and turned away. He wasn't the only one to find this surprise rather unsavoury – Will squinted into the distance over the corpse. However, Nliru didn't seem to have any problems of such sort and approached it without as much as a wry muzzle. She carefully opened pockets, sticky with blood, on the corpse's jacket and felt around in each one, bringing out a wallet and a keyring. The wallet looked quite heavy and sounded it, and on the ring there were two iron keys. Nliru lifted the finds in her hands, so that the rest of the party could see them.
Will suddenly grew tense and looked at the kobold warily, but didn't say anything. Vig and Amlemth were interested, however.
“So, whoever killed him wasn't after the money,” said Amlemth.
“He wasn't after the money himself”, said Vig.
“Why?” asked Amlemth.
“Because if he stole they would take it back, or dump body.” Vig frowned and looked around suspiciously. “Except... What do you see on roofs, Nliru?”
“Mostly nothing. Well, inside some trees there I noticed a little shvakrus, as if people were stumbling through in a hurry,” Nliru paused. “But from the roofs I saw... no one.”
The rest of the company observed her for a moment.
“So, what do you make of it, Vig?” said Amlemth.
Vig scratched his chin.
“I thought they made trap and him as warning. But they couldn't hide everyone. It's too empty.”
“And they ain't too hasty with springing the trap,” said Will. “So what are we going to do? It seems dangerous to stay, but it's too puzzling to leave!”

OK. I decided to give it a shot. On the first day I felt like getting into a familiar routine with writing out the landscape. On the second day I wrote about 200 words. On the third day I wrote a little less, and felt depressed. My point is, I'm not going to be able to finish it in any foreseeable future. With how the things went with my previous project, I expected output of a thousand words a day, and the whole Othor II would be finished by the end of the month. I doesn't work. There are too many characters, my plot doesn't work, and the inconsistencies in the DwarfFortress universe do not help. Especially them. How do zombies friggin work? It was such a headache figuring it out. Are they just dead people that get up from their graves on a random chance? If so, my plot doesn't work with it. Plus, this whole forums thing, where people post their stories and not a single person replies. And then somebody replies, and you get dependent on regular pats on the back. It's pain.
Anyway, that's a wrap-up episode, as far as I'm concerned. Nevermind the party being left on the crossroads. In an alternate universe they stayed at home anyway.
One more thing. To relieve the constant feedback addiction problem, I think I won't post any writing on the forums, but rather in a blog, where it's neatly collected, and as far as I know no one's reading anything. There, I might get back to the characters in the party. Maybe on their own they'll work out. Well, as long as the authors don't object.
Oh, one more one more thing.

The End

[Armok]

No! Don't give up! We love you and this is awesome! You are greatly exaggerating problems, and the only fault you're making is being to perfectionist!

[Tellemurius]

hmm a party system will be needed...... engine001?