That could work.

Just doing some brain storming here.

The game takes place within the Holy Worlds forum correct? Since that is the case then it might make sense for there to be like a higher realm (like maybe the library pictures I saw). The higher realm would represent the forum, and there could be a bunch of different doors which lead to sub-forums and the like.
INTRODUCE CONFLICT
There is an enemy who has caused tears to occur throughout this large library, leaving it in a huge mess and in chaos. Pieces of posts and stories are leaking into the higher realm and even down into other places in which they do not belong. Among all the chaos the enemy breaks into some vault or something and steals something valuable or important.
Maybe s/he steals a portal to the real world so all of the members who were logged in at the time of the accident cannot leave, and no aid can come to them from the outside world. Meanwhile, they have to clean things up and try and stop the bad guy from escaping to the real world where s/he could erase the library (HW) from existence taking all who are trapped there along with it.
You could also (with permission) call on the various characters that have been created in HW. I wouldn't mind if my characters got pulled into this adventure and I could make up a bunch more if I needed to. In fact, Thanguis has been wanting to get out of his world for some time, so this could be an interesting opportunity for him.

I like Andorin's idea. (And I think if that wouldn't work for the game, we might be able to use it for the HW Story for Jay.)

Thanks NotThat!
As always, I am available for more brain storming and general creative ideas. Just let me know. I would love to start filling in a frame work with some bad guys, creatures, quests, and other general ideas. I would love to see this project finished.

Because the Hugely Wuthering Creepy Snake is eating their souls.


This? This is brilliant. I'll have to talk to Arien of course, but I think we might have just gotten our plot basics.

Sounds good.

Shall we start a new thread to flesh out plot details and other such things?

I volunteer as tribute! Er.... or to get eaten/trapped, I mean, depending on what y'all do.

Me too!

Maybe the rifts tearing through everything also release the Hugely Wuthering Creepy Snake, so they have to deal with that as well as whoever caused the tears...


Possibly. I'm a little hesitant to create more threads for something that's basically a side project for a handful of members, though...

Why? I don’t think it would be that big of a deal.

If we aren’t starting a new thread, then I could use a bit more information. First of all, what sort of game-play will this be? Is it something that several players can all play at once, or is it a solo epic where you play as the protagonist?
Either of these types of play will drastically affect what sort of story we develop. I could start browsing through the forum to look for some more ideas. It mostly just helps me to type through things and hear other people’s input. I just need a place to start from and then I will set sail and plot out a tentative course for the overall plot.

I might just be being more cautious than needed. *shrug*

As to gameplay, it'd be solo. You could have a party of characters, but that really only matters for battles, and only one person is controlling the game. We don't have the knowledge/skills/equipment to make a multi-player game (more's the pity, 'cause that would be awesome).

Alright! A place to start.
So we have a small band of warriors that you can take with you, and possibly meet along the way. Is there a limit to the number, or maybe just a limit to the number you can have in a single battle?

So building off of the Rift idea, we would then have a main bad guy, and we have our hero. The hero is whatever the player calls them I guess, so that doesn't really matter. I will just refer to the playable character as "Hero" from now on, and the villain as "Villain".

So here is my idea of an opening scene. Some stock characters are chatting in a library setting; Hero is among them. Suddenly a Rift opens up between the people in conversation. They jump back as creatures come pouring out of the Rift, but a great many other things leak out of the Rift as well. Among the things is a shining weapon (I'm thinking it would look like a pen/sword). Hero takes the weapon and the first battle is to defeat a few of the creatures.
After the battle there is still a bit of confusion as one of the other characters is on the other side of the Rift. S/he is calling for help, but there appears to be no way to cross the Rift. The weapon starts glowing (or something) when Hero gets close to the edge of the Rift. Hero swings the weapon in a blinding light and the Rift is fixed. Hero goes to help the other person.
A third character comes running into the scene screaming about how the portal is missing. They realize that this means they are stuck there. They run to the portal room where several other characters are gathered (this would be a good place to put in some funny dialogue; maybe some people are crying, some are mumbling about how they didn't eat lunch yet, some are saying they will be late for school, or whatever). While everyone is gathered, a leader type character states the obvious and says they have to do something about it. The other character who was with Hero when the weapon fixed the rift speaks up. S/he describes what s/he saw, and the leader character says they have to use this weapon to fix Holy Worlds, retrieve the portal, and stop the Villain.

That's mostly what I'm thinking at the moment. The rest would be pretty straight forward. The Villain is trying to destroy Holy Worlds so that he can escape to the real world, but for some reason the portal isn't working. He is trying to figure out why as well as reek as much havoc as possible. He would try and get as many other bad characters on his side who would fight for him. He also has his original ability to create Rifts which could hold innumerable goodies as far as the adventure goes. Maybe Hero and his/her band could fall into one at one point in the story and they have to "create" (maybe use the weapon in some new way) a way out. The weapon could be like a tool that can shape Holy Worlds; a thing which can normally only be done from the outside world. Maybe only Hero can wield the weapon. If the world of the game is basically the Forum, and there are doors which lead to posts and the like, then maybe the Villain is looking for more information about the portal.
I'm still brain storming a little. People who are more familiar with the Forum might have some ideas that I could build off of. Please post even the smallest idea that comes to mind. A little comment can go a long way in brainstorming.

Well, since so many people already volunteered to be rescued, maybe I should give tips on how to rescue them instead.

You must be sure to include penguins and George the Dragon and cupcakes.

Are there links to discussions about these things? If there are inside jokes about them, then I am on the outside.


Please do. Any ideas would be great.

I just had an, "Oh yeah!/Duh/Facepalm" moment. Maybe others have already had this thought and it wasn't as cool for them as it was for me.
Anyway, here it is:
There are five main Categories in the Holy Worlds Fantasy forum: The Citadel, the Scholar's Hall, The Village, the Courtyard, and the Vault. I just realized that these could be actual areas in the game. The look and feel of each could resemble their names, and it would help define the world of the game a little bit. The tricky part would be actually designing these areas with all of the features that would be included in the game. It would also provide the proper staging areas for battles, quests, and the like.

When I was playing around with mapping earlier, I did try to use some of that, but they were only small maps and having each of those actually be a large area would be pretty cool. The Courtyard might be the hardest to design in some ways, but I can probably manage something...*ponders*


Heh. Penguins and George might be hard to do, since we don't have sprites for them. Cupcakes can probably be worked in somehow, though.
(Andorin, I'm not sure if there are links for them exactly, but the penguins and George often show up in introduction threads to welcome people, and cupcakes...probably a link somewhere, at least in terms of their ability to cure splatitis, but I don't have time to hunt links right now.)


Go right ahead, and we might be able to use some of those for quests.


And Andorin, I'll reply to your post with plot thoughts when I have more time. I also want to give Arien a chance to reply (and Arien, if you've been reading and not replying, please come up with some sort of reply).

One useful part about the portal to the real world being gone is that we then have the perfect explanation for why we have the HW people we have and no others.

Also: cupcakes to cure splatitis... Guess what I just realized? We need to replace the silence condition with splatitis. And then there can be cupcakes to cure them. Maybe other things as well, but at least that.

And the rifts can release all sorts of absurd things, too. Most of the enemies could be from those, but potentially stuff from stories or whatever, and of course anyone working for Big Bad.

The exact method of the rifts showing up and being taken care of, I'm not sure. Possibly it could involve writing, or just some item/weapon/thingy, or just killing/breaking something.

And combat... Do we want it to be writing based, or more like actual weapons? Could potentially do both like we were talking about, but it might not work so well for this. But if we do use weapons and such, they could be written into existence.

I was sort of thinking about this too. I'm not sure what sort of things you guys would be able to do, but since writing would include limitless possibilities it seems like it would be hard to incorporate it into a video game. Perhaps there would be certain characters who could have some sort of writer ability; almost like having like a magical power or something. They could 'write' certain things into existence in a battle; like a summons. Since Holy Worlds is fractured then the things written can only last for a little while.

The rifts could also produce useful items every now and then.
Other random ideas I'm having for items:
-A laptop that can only access the chat room. It could be a way for the band of heroes to keep in contact with the Citadel or something.
-A blank note book. This could be extremely important for some reason. I was thinking it could be the way the heroes use their writing powers. You would have to gather more paper in order to use your more powerful abilities. Maybe the rift fixing item can make things come to life on the page, but the page is used up once that happens.

Also, Cupcakes and Splatitis sound really interesting. I would love to hear/read more if you will point me in the right direction.

I have some ideas for the Courtyard. They are based on the sub forums (or whatever they are called).
-Introductions and Celebrations
This could be a stage like area where people would normally gather around to hear anyone willing to introduce themselves. A "staging area", if you will, for people to introduce themselves as well as a place for a band to get up and perform in the case of a party or celebration. Maybe there are a few tables scattered around where people could place birthday cakes and party stuff. It could look something like this or be as simple as this.
-General Discussion
At first I was thinking this could be like a small amphitheater (Here are two examples: One, and Two) I just like the idea of a slightly smaller space for discussions, and it would be cool if it was somehow lower than the other areas because I think of discussions as digging deeper.
-Writing Discussion
I don't really have a good idea for this area except to maybe set it apart from the main area by pillars or something. There could be like scribe tables scattered around or something.
-Arts Guild
This could be like a mirror image of the writing discussion area, but it would have canvases and statues scattered about instead of scribe tables. I'm just thinking of these two areas as like little wings on the courtyard. They might be partially indoors or under some sort of cover.
-Signing On, Signing Off
I am imagining this as like a little port with docked ships. There could be people getting on and off of the ships.

Those are just a few ideas. Let me know if those help. I'm also imagining like a centerpiece of some kind. I like fountains. Position these various things around the fountain, but I would put the Signing On/Off port somewhere more out of the way.

Sorry to post so much. My head is swimming with ideas and I need to get them out.

So here is my idea for the Big Bad. It could be a character who was created by a made up Holy Worlds member. The made up member (I’ll just pretend it will be a male) didn’t know that his creation would wreak such havoc. Basically what happened was that the previously mentioned member gave his character an intense discontent for his own world. He wanted out. It seemed unfair to the member to give his character this desire to leave his world but then not give him any means of escape. So the member gave his character the rift-making-thing so that he could free himself from the bonds of his world. The member did it all in creative innocents, but when some sort of potion or something fell on the page he was working on, it all became real.

I don’t think the Hero would need to know all of this at the beginning, but it could be part of the mystery which is revealed as the game goes on. The member could come clean at some point and tell how it all happened in a flashback scene. The potion could also have fallen on his quill pen that he was using at the time of the big accident. That could be where the special weapon came from – the pen is mightier than the sword as they say. Part of the mystery of the story could be finding pages from the Big Bad's original story here and there after the battle. At first it would seem like just some random story that was scattered in the first rift, but it would slowly start to piece together as the game progressed.

Cool!

I've had a couple small ideas. Recently there was topic on the OYAN forum titled "For the love of plot bunnies," Maybe the phrase could be used in dialogue or something.
Also, maybe for a quest a members plot bunnies escaped and are attacking other members plot bunnies?

Also, to add some conflict there could be a disagreement between the league of Notebook wielders and the League of Extraordinary Word Processors or something along those lines.

On a side note, if you guys use my name, can I have glasses? I love my glasses.

Yeah, I was thinking that too.






Mhm. Possibly even parts of scrapped ideas, depending.


Maybe it could depend on the situation a bit. Or it could be essentially the same; do you kill the bad guy defending the rift and that makes it disappear, or is that what allows you to easily and peacefully remove it through writing?


I like the summon-ish idea. It would help keep writing from being able to instantly and easily solve everything and give some really cool skills.


Definitely things to think about. I like the laptop in particular; you might be able to get new quests that way. Maybe you can only reach a few areas at the beginning of the game because the rifts are cutting you off, and at first the laptop is the only way to communicate with everyone else.


I can't seem to find the post that first stated that cupcakes cure splatitis (which is easy enough to explain; it's when you can't speak and can only do things in actions, like *can't speak* *eats a cupcake*) If you do a search for "splatitis" you'll find a few threads where it's mentioned, mostly in introductions.

Thanks for the Courtyard thoughts, that'll help when I get around to mapping again. Meanwhile, I have to go again...

The quest to find plot bunnies. This is happening.

Perhaps even some party members could be from each, with different sorts of writing skills because of it...

And as long as we remember, yes, you can have glasses. If we forget, just yell at us and we'll fix it.

Andorin, google splatitis and see if you come up with the same first result as I did. If you don't, I'll give you the link anyway...it should point you in the right direction.

* giggles *

*Laughs uproariously* Thanks for the tip, Kidh. *Thinks he understands splatitis now, but could very likely have a sort of strange, overly descriptive version of splatitis in which he says more in a single instance of 'splating' then could ever be fixed by a cupcake.*

This. Is. Awesome. I really want to play this now. I'd love it if you would use my name.

Okay, did another set of faces today. I think I'm almost caught up to having everyone.

Top row! Captain V (Vivace Kondrael), Varon, NotThatShort Mimetes, and Lady Elanor.
Bottom row! Andorin, Lieutenant Mopa, Ophelia, and RedWing the Purple.

Ideally, Varon and ShortStuff will end up with purple hair, but that requires a bit of editing on my part and I'm not in the mood right now having spent too long on all of these. XD

Hope you guys like them, and feel free to request a change if there's something you dislike. I can't promise to be able to do it, but I'll do my best.

That is awesome.

I am awesome. Even awesomer than I look in real life.

Ooh! I like me! Could I have glasses like I do IRL?

Ooooh can you use my name? I prefer, in this case, to be called Eve and I want to be evil.....ooh ooh and I'd like to carry around a giant earth worm.... Bwahahaha!!!

*strokes slimy worm* Don't worry baby...no one will throw salt at you. I promise.

Heh...I can't promise to be able to make you carry around a giant earthworm, since I don't have the capability to draw sprites and accessories like that generally aren't options. But we can probably use your name and make you one of the bad guys.

And we can mention the earthworm, at least.

I really like it, but is there a reason I am the only one with my mouth open? Have I been talking too much? Am I going to be talking a lot in the game?

Can I be the character who tells you way more than you need to know about everything? That is sort of what I'm like in real life. And the whole mouth-open avatar has really sparked something in me. The character Andorin could work in like some sort of research department, or just in the library in general, and he could always have these somewhat annoying, but also helpful, prolonged shpeels that go on and on. You would have to keep clicking and clicking in order to get out of a conversation with him. It could make for a few gags here and there at least. All that to say that I love the avatar and look forward to seeing more game related stuff.

Has anyone done much thinking on the general plot or is it pretty much where I last left it? I would love to do some more detailed story plotting if people don't mind. I was thinking about working out a sort of missions map or something of the sort. Not sure how I will do that, but I think it could be a great frame work to build off of later. Right now I only really have an idea of the beginning, but if I just sit down and write a story then I'm sure I could come up with some more. Do we have any names figured out? Can I just pick one that could be replaced later if you don't like it? Why am I asking all of the questions when I could just be working on the thing?

ttyl

Wait! P.S. Why would salt hurt an earthworm? I thought it only was a problem for slugs.

We could nickname you Kaepora.

PFFFFTTTT. Zelda. WHY? Please. Please let him be Kaepora in the game. Maybe you could even have his theme play when Andorin talks to you.

Come to think of it, how is the audio going to be implemented?



... *gags* I'll tell you this much. Keep my character away from your worm!

The theme is probably copyrighted.

*catches up on thread* ARGH! It's gonna be AWESOME!! I love the screenshots, and the faces suit everyone so well! Although I was mildly surprised at my purple hair and eyes.

Varon and Sui's particularly suit them epicly. And Rin's. And Elly's. And Elanor's. And Renna's. AH. All of them! I so can't wait till you guys get this going!

Aw... Oh well. But... I shall call Andorin by the name of Kaepora from henceforth! AHAHAHAHAHA- *is smacked with skillet*

Aah I love me! Well, you know what I mean! Great work, guys! And you've put me with blonde hair and green eyes, which I have, and I love the colour green and I'm dressed in green. Perfect! *Happy*

*sigh* I guess you can't win 'em all.

Thanks though, I look forward to seeing how the game comes out!




Nope, putting salt on a worm will make it melt/dissolve/die.

If you should want to make a character out of such a pathetic personage as myself, you should use my old Aniese of Learsi username. This is a very cool idea.

*looks around for a pathetic personage* *fails to find one* Well, I'm not sure about that, but we can certainly include you in this. *is glad Aniese likes this idea*

Thanks. Both for adding another name to our list and for posting in this topic at all which reminds me that we kinda need to work on this a bit more... Leandra, did we ever figure out what we're doing for the party members?

Nooo...I don't believe we did. We should probably arrange a time to chat or something and figure some things out, because the plot's still pretty hazy and sketchy, too.

*raises hands* I think that it's cool! Uh... just a suggestion, do you think you could put a sword behind my back I like swords. Well, just a suggestion.

Unfortunately, that would require me attempting to draw a good looking sword hilt. If a sword hilt was one of the options the program had, I probably would have already used it on half the faces already. XD

"Might hurt"?