Announcements 8

Um... life's a bitch and then you chute it?

Ohhh, so bad it ain't even funny.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MUTT!



(praiz teh low-tek skillz)

Every dog has 'is day, you cur! :D

Aaaaaaaaaargh. Thank you. XD

*quietly murrs and saves it in a safe place*

Happy B'day!!!

I'm literally crushed with disappointment

The boards are fully backed up as of 16:36 me-time.

I got my nifty CGI script working.

incoherent squeals of jubilation (more info)

Hurrah!

*throws a mini parade*

Woot!

Does this mean we all get XP and a kewl sword?

Do you want another +4 Bishyblade, Snoggest?

Some things are automatically cooler in pairs. Plus-fours are; maybe bishies are too. Hmm. Should we take a vote on that?

Of course. Hack n' slash is never nice unless you can dual wield that nasty cutter.

*dies!*

*bweg*

You guys, I'm in desperate need of some advice/guidance/help!

I've been asked to write an RPG story by the creative team at Warwick VGDS and I'm not really sure how these things work. I've been given the characters and a general sort of plot already, but there doesn't seem to be much of a point to the quest and they want me to write the whole thing!

The only thing I have to go on is that it was designed to be a non-stereotypical RPG, for example, the main hero is a reluctant one instead of these courageous brave warrior types. The only problem is, I've never played an RPG in my life so I wouldn't know stereotypical if I ex-oh-squared it.

Not that I've played (to completion) many RPG video games myself, but I'll give you all the help I can when I see ya tonight.

A couple of questions you could think about/ask them before then.

• Were there any general themes, plot points, morals etc they wanted to get in?
• Is it fantasy, sci-fi, western etc, or can you decide that too?
• Is there one main character or does he/she/it pick up more party members during the game?
• Any clues as to what it'll look like? (Chrono Trigger or Breath of Fire sort of thing - pixellated console style?) Not vital info but I'm curious. I love a bit of spriting.

If any of them have played The Bard's Tale (recent, PS2, a very humorous tongue-in-cheek thing set on the isle of Orkney), I would of course advise something in that sort of tone. Long live sly humour!

And immortal dogs that follow you round, wagging (squee).

The main character is Herratio (yes, spelt like that), our reluctant hero. He comes across, uh, the girl... the love interest... whassername... well she's being hassled by guards. then he picks up Chen escaping from the martial arts school where all the martial masters are being slain by the guards. They pick up Charlotte at some point too. She's the thief who hates stealing. I'm quite interested in her actually. I'm pondering about the idea of her having been brought up as a baptist but being naturally light fingered. I might have her confessing under her breath after every theft.

Sorry, spelt Horratio.

Ooh mea. I hate it when people want you to come up with a meaning to the plot.

Speaking as someone who gets terribly upset by the 2Dness of some games, I'd say you really ought to look into character motivations. Oh and ask them if you can alter some of the plot.

Julia, that sounds like a very cool assignment and I envy you!

If your hero's are of the reluctant sort, then I'd definitely go for a lighter, tongue-in-cheek tone like Mutt suggested. They can be tough to write sometimes, but sooooo much fun to play!

Good luck!

I'd take some deep breaths before suggesting racial or species motivations, but that sort of theme can instantly crystallise some things like "why's he leaving home", "why are the guards beating this particular girl up" and so on.

Race hatred, or race metaphor, is clichéd as peaches and cream though, and can get patronising. And throwing in a religious war or two can be risky, except if you go with made-up religions, which are often boring. Political war could work, depending what your scope is for showing how wide-ranging it is.

So if it's not war, maybe it's peace and fellowship. What if there's a month-long carnival or festival of some kind going on? The chaos and free-flowing booze could have the guards on edge, especially if they don't get to join in. And against the party background, something darker could be going on. Could someone be plotting to kill the heads of state when they turn up at the height of the celebrations? What if the festival is celebrating some kind of astronomical event (planetary alignment, eclipse, all that rubbish) and there's a small group of astrologers who are convinced the world is going to end and have formed a doomsday cult?

If it's not war or free luv, perhaps it's science and nature. Maybe a super-invention has been made that would cure world hunger, and not everyone in power wants world hunger cured. Maybe something viral and contagious is happening to the wildlife - where's it coming from? Is it biological warfare? Can it spread to humans? Is there a cure? Or, perhaps an entire species of domesticated animal has disappeared overnight, and nobody knows why. (So long and thanks for all the... sugar cubes...)

Beyond all that silliness...

Things tend to work better if the characters have some connection with each other beyond the immediate - why are they staying together and risking danger with each other? Maybe they've known each other from childhood. Or what else could work?