(2:36:00 PM) Tobi: so
(2:36:04 PM) Tobi: I had an idea for a game
(2:36:13 PM) Tobi: that I don't think has ever been done before
(2:36:18 PM) Tobi: do you wanna hear it
(2:37:39 PM) sam: yes
(2:41:22 PM) Tobi: ok so
(2:41:47 PM) Tobi: basically the western rpg sensibilities of player choice and that style of branching conversation applied to the japanese visual novel
(2:42:26 PM) Tobi: you select a gender, race, and background and you just moved to a small town in the canadian wilderness, and the branching story is driven by your interactions with a cast of fleshed-out complicated npcs
(2:42:37 PM) Tobi: no combat or save-the-world stakes
(2:42:43 PM) Tobi: basically like an interactive soap opera
(2:43:35 PM) sam: that sounds cool
(2:43:42 PM) sam: ive heard of games that sound like that but not quite that far
(2:43:59 PM) sam: i think they always have to put in combat and high stakes or people won't "buy" it
(2:44:07 PM) sam: at least thats what the publishers think
(2:44:42 PM) Tobi: yeah but this would be able to be done by a two or three person indie team
(2:44:47 PM) Tobi: write, programmer, still artist
(2:44:53 PM) Tobi: *writer
(2:44:55 PM) sam: would it be like
(2:44:58 PM) sam: stills
(2:45:04 PM) Tobi: yeah
(2:45:07 PM) Tobi: layered
(2:45:21 PM) sam: i was picturing it with like
(2:45:25 PM) sam: a fully fleshed out 3d world
(2:45:52 PM) Tobi: like you'd see a first-person view of three other characters sitting around with you and it all blends as like a still digital painting, but because it's layered the people change facial expressions and positions
(2:46:04 PM) Tobi: I was picturing it as being digital painting
(2:46:09 PM) sam: that sounds cool too
(2:46:14 PM) sam: what would it be about
(2:46:22 PM) sam: you're basically describing like
(2:46:24 PM) sam: a new genre
(2:46:27 PM) Tobi: yeah
(2:46:31 PM) Tobi: it is basically like
(2:46:41 PM) sam: could you have different genre stories
(2:46:54 PM) sam: like sci fi and fantasy
(2:47:00 PM) Tobi: there's no universal overarching story, but everyone else in town has their problems and subplots that you get involved in if you make friends with them
(2:47:03 PM) Tobi: yeah definitely
(2:47:05 PM) sam: as well as just real world drama
(2:47:05 PM) sam: just stick to the no combat, low stakes rule
(2:47:09 PM) sam: thats awesome
(2:47:35 PM) Tobi: like for fantasy, a drama based in and around a roadside inn run by a family
(2:48:31 PM) Tobi: for sci-fi, workplace drama between armored armed guards at a megacorporation, but there's no shootouts, it just humanizes the random dudes you'd be killing in Deus Ex or whatever
(2:48:58 PM) sam: thats cool
(2:49:14 PM) sam: i pictured a horror thing reading your description
(2:50:01 PM) sam: like a haunted house type story
(2:50:06 PM) sam: you could really do anything
(2:50:10 PM) sam: please make a game like this
(2:52:42 PM) Tobi: (2:44:40 PM) Noser: what are endings
(2:44:57 PM) Noser: http://www.colouredundies.com.au/
(2:49:37 PM) Psy: noser: I think there'd be three "acts" to the game, each covering a few days at different points during the year, and the ending is based on how people feel about you and how the various personal subplots were resolved by the end
(2:49:52 PM) Noser: can you be more concrete
(2:49:59 PM) Psy: in terms of a primary/main plot, it's completely different depending on the background you pick because it decides why you came to the town
(2:50:34 PM) Psy: like maybe you're coming home because your elderly parents are sick after living for a decade in a big city
(2:50:35 PM) Noser: t sounds like you need to flesh out your ideas about the story more before I can understand what you're going for
(2:50:44 PM) Psy: and you have to resolve your lingering issues with your parents
(2:50:49 PM) DocRanger: Northern Exposure
(2:50:55 PM) DocRanger: rather than Twin Peaks
(2:51:10 PM) Psy: and basically like a good ending is you make peace with your dad before he dies of his terminal illness
(2:51:44 PM) Noser: hm. sounds like it'd maybe need a writing team with different people focusing on different subplots and characters
(2:51:56 PM) Noser: since if it's branching meaningfully it could get huge easily
(2:52:11 PM) Psy: yeah exactly
(2:52:24 PM) Psy: I think if I was gonna make a proof of concept I'd focus first on a preset main character
(2:56:26 PM) sam: you should try a really small one that could made by two or three people first
(2:56:52 PM) sam: just like a basic relatively small game
(2:57:05 PM) sam: relatively simple i mean
(2:57:11 PM) Tobi: (2:53:43 PM) Noser: why canadian?
(2:53:44 PM) Psy: also one of the backgrounds/main plots would address First Nations issues
(2:54:09 PM) Psy: noser: because of the wide-ass expanses of snowy nothing
(2:54:35 PM) Psy: I want the town to be like an island basically
(2:54:38 PM) Noser: ah
(2:54:46 PM) Psy: but also culturally northern/snowy/plaid/logging
(2:54:53 PM) Psy: lots of blue collar stuff
(2:55:19 PM) Psy: a subplot for the background with the sick parents might be a brother who stayed and works at a logging camp and resents you leaving
(2:55:46 PM) Psy: and drama as fuck because before you left you were in a relationship with his present wife and she still loves you
(2:56:17 PM) Psy: and that relationship is depicted in a no-right-answer way
(2:56:32 PM) Psy: like their marriage isn't the best but they do care for each other and the brother is trying desperately to fix things
(2:58:16 PM) sam: i like that youre not focusing on a genre
(2:58:22 PM) sam: have you seen winters bone
(2:58:26 PM) Tobi: no
(2:58:26 PM) sam: that would be an AWESOME tone and atmosphere for a video game
(2:58:29 PM) sam: and no one will ever make it
(2:58:31 PM) Tobi: what do you mean focusing on a genre
(2:58:38 PM) sam: like its not a genre game
(2:58:42 PM) sam: the way youd have a genre film or book
(2:58:45 PM) sam: its not a high concept
(2:58:47 PM) Tobi: oh
(2:58:49 PM) sam: its just a good story
(2:58:53 PM) Tobi: yeah I kind of
(2:59:00 PM) Tobi: I want it to be like a crossover thing
(2:59:20 PM) Tobi: like the kind of normal non-gamer women and men who would watch this as a tv show could play the game and get that experience
(3:00:32 PM) Tobi: I basically want to demonstrate that videogames can be a unique storytelling medium that can do things no other medium can
(3:01:07 PM) sam: thats something that needs to be continuously demonstrated again and again until people notice
(3:01:13 PM) Tobi: yeah
(3:01:26 PM) Tobi: noser and the rest of irc are also encouraging me to take trial steps for this
(3:01:38 PM) Tobi: and noser said I probably already have the coding ability to make this
(3:01:43 PM) Tobi: (he's right)
(3:02:23 PM) sam: what were you thinking of in terms of art
(3:02:37 PM) Tobi: well for my trial run I'm gonna be text only
(3:02:47 PM) Tobi: but lemme find on deviantart a sample of the style I'm thinking of
(3:03:34 PM) sam: id offer if i had a tablet and thought i had the time/ability to do something like this
(3:03:56 PM) sam: itd be cool if they were like
(3:04:03 PM) sam: still images with simple looping animations
(3:04:13 PM) sam: like rain falling in a window
(3:04:23 PM) sam: someone chopping an onion in the background
(3:04:28 PM) sam: blinking of course
(3:04:28 PM) sam: but mostly still
(3:04:54 PM) Tobi: http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/188/6/6/study_of_maligne_lake__alberta_by_aspeckofdust-d3lbx0e.jpg
(3:04:58 PM) sam: im picturing it being drawn like a phoenix wright game so you better show me an example quick
(3:05:07 PM) Tobi: like that