(The story for) VCG (Very Cool Gun): A Roguelike Shooter with Only One Gun

[treeese]

No, this game does not exist. Rather, this was a project from dramatic writing class in which we had to write a story for a video game, so we had to come up with a protag and cast of characters, a world, items, a gameplay style and how the story fed into that, etc. In this case, VCG is a roguelike shooter with a Hades-like approach to storytelling, featuring an over-arching beginning-to-end story and a cast of (hopefully) interesting characters that the player repeatedly interacts with within a hub world between runs. 

Uh, as for any kind of mature content warnings, the main ones would be some profane language (shit, damn, etc. No fucks, well, except for here, obviously) and some sexual themes, though nothing too explicit. Jumping on the bed does occur in VCG’s story, but it’s never explicitly described in this document, the worst it gets is a girl talking about dildos in French. (These things are subject to change) Oh, also! I wanted to take a crack at writing some LGBT characters for this one, just to branch out a bit and try new things. Problem is, I live in a small, middle-of-nowhere, sub-10k population town in Georgia. I have never closely known an LGBT person and am not very well-versed in a lot of the intricacies of that stuff, so if anything in this comes off as disingenuous or insensitive, please let me know! Please know that it is not out of deliberate hated or bigotry, I’m totally fine with LGBT stuff and think they’re pretty rad, rather it is out of ignorance. 

Since the original document is too long to fit into even a newspost, I've decided I will share all 38 pages of what I have written by progressively updating this thread with chunks of the original document. Once that's done, I will post a link to the Google Doc where you can read it all in one piece (plus that one might be different than what will be posted here due to the lack of forum post editing). Maybe after that, I might add new stuff like short stories or even entirely new characters, who knows?

For now, I'll be starting off with the game's "logline" (basically those one-sentence summaries of movies/shows you see on Netflix) and a description of the game's overarching universe. It will mention some things that aren't explained until later like character names and some mechanics (a result of how little time we originally had to do this project), I've since reordered/rewritten a lot of stuff to help with the issue, but it's still there.

If you have any feedback, whether on the structure of this posting format, the quality of the writing or the characters, or anything else, please, let me know! I really quite like this idea and would love to see other people's input on it, maybe even some artists' attempts to visualize what things in the story (characters, items, locations, etc.) could look like!

Thanks!

[treeese]

As promised, here is the game's logline, as well as a description of the overarching universe the game takes place in.

Logline

In order to prevent the apocalyptically powerful “Very Cool Gun” from falling into the hands of an intergalactic empire of malicious conquerors, a group of rebels repeatedly send their premiere fighter to venture down into the depths of a confusing, ever-changing planet in an attempt to permanently destroy the weapon by throwing it into the planet’s core.

VCG’s Universe

VCG’s plot takes place on "Sheol," a strange planet hidden in the depths of space, ominously named after the Jewish underworld for reasons long forgotten. Sheol is a barren, rocky, and desolate planet with an oxygen atmosphere, having once been the home of an advanced alien species who have long since largely died off, though their few remaining members still live deep within the planet’s depths. The planet has an extremely unique geological structure, it’s comprised of a multitude of extremely porous layers that all rotate in separate directions, forming vast interconnecting cave systems that constantly change layouts as a result. The layers are all extremely diverse from each other, some are rocky caverns, others verdant underground forests, others icy caverns, others still being ruins of the original inhabitants' civilization, sporting strange, angular, and metallic architecture, as well as seemingly endless monuments to some deity simply called the “Guardian,” a godlike creature residing at the very center of the planet that keeps guard over its true core, a black hole. It’s not known how Sheol even exists as it does, almost everything about it should be scientifically impossible, though it’s theorized that the inhabitants “built” the planet to be the way that it is, perhaps with the Guardian’s help.

Aside from Sheol, VCG’s overarching universe takes place within an interplanetary human society. Humans by now are significantly advanced, having FTL-capable travel and long-established societies across many planets. Each planet was largely settled by a single country or group of countries from Earth, so as a result they’re all self-governed and the people from each planet largely share ethnicities and name schemes, though they’ve all mostly adopted English as a universal language. (Here's where the to-be-explained stuff starts coming in) For example, Yuko’s planet (Kōmyō) was settled by the Japanese, Kalista’s (Drugomir) by the Russians and Scandinavians, Forrest’s (Santiago) by the South Americans, Booker’s (Melius) by the United States, etc. This society is in the middle of a losing battle with an unfeeling, cruel empire of alien conquerors simply called the “Out,” who want nothing more than the complete subjugation and eventual extinction of the human race. In a last-ditch effort to defeat the Out, the Red Letters, the most powerful and coordinated group of rebels fighting against them, unearth what is codenamed as the "Very Cool Gun," an ancient superweapon of long-since-lost origin that can change its form into almost anything, provided it’s given the right easily-manufactured modification. The Out possess a mod that gives the VCG the ability to, among many things, destroy entire planets in a single shot, though they still need the gun itself. The Red Letters hastily assemble a team to take the VCG to Sheol and destroy it by throwing it into the planet’s core (Sheol being the only known safe planet with an easily accessible core), using Kalista’s “rewind” technology to allow for repeated attempts due to Sheol's extremely hostile insides. However, the Red Letters didn’t spend very much time checking who they picked, so the team they assembled is a hodge-podge of complete strangers from totally different places and backgrounds, many of them marred with personal trauma, whether it be from invasions by the Out, the squalid conditions of their home planet (like Kalista’s, which has a communist government in place that is slowly falling apart), or their service with the Red Letters.

And there's that! Sorry for bombarding you with all those names and that "rewind" stuff, that has yet to come. Next should be everything pertaining to the main character, Yuko Matsumoto (including a prototype sketch for her character design!) I hope you stay tuned!

[treeese]

At 6/4/21 07:41 PM, treeese wrote:And there's that! Sorry for bombarding you with all those names and that "rewind" stuff, that has yet to come. Next should be everything pertaining to the main character, Yuko Matsumoto (including a prototype sketch for her character design!) I hope you stay tuned!

I've decided to restructure the document and describe some of the main items ahead of establishing characters since the characters refer to these things more than the items do to them. Don't worry, the stuff about Yuko will still be shorty posted afterward.

Item Flavour Text

Very Cool Gun (VCG)

Yuko’s weapon, and the reason we’re all here. A (potentially) cataclysmically powerful superweapon forged from an Elytrum alloy by an eons-dead civilization of what were effectively gods that can take nearly a nearly infinite number of forms when given the right modifications. Resembles an old model of handgun called a “Desert Eagle” when unmodified. It's not all that impressive in this state, its stopping power is unremarkable and it doesn't fire very quickly, though it can quite easily become the nightmarish instrument of raw destruction that legends propose it to be when properly modified. Supposedly “very cool,” though I'd have to see it in action to verify if these claims are indeed true.

-Kalista Sokolov

Grandfather Glove

A gauntlet-shaped localized time manipulation device of Kalista’s creation that allows the wearer to “rewind” themselves back to a preset location and state of existence while keeping their memories, the environment, and certain Elytrum-made items intact, making the wearer essentially unkillable. So it’s kinda like time travel, but only for your body. It also allows Yuko to withstand the power of the VCG by, and I quote, "...siphoning the physical strength of alternate timeline versions of herself...," which I think roughly translates from Kalista-science-mumbo-jumbo-ese to, “one ripped arm, lotsa dead Yukos.” We use the Glove to let Yuko take repeated stabs at getting the VCG to Sheol’s core, as no one could ever make it in a single shot. Whenever she dies, we just yank her back, safe and sound, though unfortunately that means she has to start over from square one each time, since Sheol’s insides are constantly changing and my mods for the VCG don’t tend to play nice with the rewinding process.

-Forrest Abarca

Elytrum

A temporally unstable and nearly unbreakable metal that was a key ingredient in the construction of the Grandfather Glove and the VCG. One of the few things that can be brought back with the Grandfather Glove’s time rewinding. Yuko can trade it in at the shop to fund prints for new VCG mods. For some inexplicable reason, it smells like flowers and has a strangely sweet taste when licked. Might have to look into this more.

-Kalista Sokolov

VCG Mods

Specialized Elytrum gadgets and gizmos I’ve designed to interface with the VCG and give it new functionalities like different modes of fire, additional movement maneuvers, general increases in weapon attributes like fire rate and stopping power, etc. They’re actually surprisingly easy to manufacture once I’ve got the prints and enough Elytrum is collected. They then get wrapped in these neat little capsules that get launched down into Sheol’s cave systems for Yuko to (hopefully) find. Despite being made from Elytrum, they never survive the rewinding process for reasons I still have yet to work the kinks out of, so that means Yuko always has to go down there with a clean slate. We'd ideally send her down there fully decked out, but the VCG just isn't receptive to mods when it isn't underground, I think the Out have some kind of dampening field surrounding the planet's surface, nothing we've tried has been able to fix this issue.

-Forrest Abarca

[treeese]

Ah yes, it's finally here. The part in which I describe the main character, Yuko Matsumoto. The assignment dictated that we pick about 10 different character traits from a pool of ~20 and describe them, alongside a part that describes their motivations and obstacles preventing them from reaching their goals, as well as a general summary of their arc throughout the game.

The Protagonist, Yuko Matsumoto

Yuko’s Attributes

1. Age/Appearance: Yuko is a young, fit adult, age 23, with a faintly Asian appearance. She has a pretty average height, is decently built, and most notably, her right arm is significantly more muscular than her left, courtesy of the Grandfather Glove’s influence. (To the right is a drawing for a prototype character design for Yuko)
2. Relationship status: Yuko has the option to build a romantic relationship with either Kalista or Forrest over the course of the game depending on who she talks to and how she talks to them, though she starts the game single.
3. Family background (parents, previous marriages, etc.): Yuko is the only remaining member of her family, her parents and four siblings were all killed when the Out attacked Kōmyō. 
4. Friendships: Yuko gradually builds pretty good friendships with the entirety of the crew over the course of the game, with even her staunchest adversaries eventually becoming at the very least someone she can reliably count on and trust. Her strongest friendships are with Kalista, Forrest, Maya, and Booker, though depending on the player’s actions one of the first two can be promoted to a romantic relationship and Yuko’s relationship with Booker has more of a parent-child/mentor quality to it.
5. Job: Yuko’s role within the Red Letters’ ranks is a soldier, she’s a talented fighter and can think quickly on her feet. When Yuko and her compatriots land on Sheol, she takes up the job of destroying the VCG by throwing it into the core, being the only one fit for the job as the only other person suited for such a task, being Yared Banner, had him arm broken shortly after landing on Sheol.
6. Sense of humor: Yuko has a somewhat crude, tomboyish sense of humor, she delights in jokes that make people uncomfortable/embarrassed; she’ll jokingly compliment people in ways they don’t expect/would find embarrassing, she’ll make crude remarks about herself and others that one wouldn’t expect from someone with her appearance, etc.
7. Temperament: Yuko is generally pretty relaxed, she has a laid-back, casual attitude, which is necessary to endure the repeated stress of her journeys into the planet’s core. However, her patience is more easily strained by her crewmates like Yared or Booker, with whom she’ll occasionally snap and angrily confront, sometimes physically.
8. Consideration for others: Yuko is largely indifferent to her crewmates for the beginning portion of the game, the team was assembled very hastily and none of them have met each other before the events of the game, so she initially only cares about them in the way a soldier cares about a scientist he’s escorting: it’s just part of the job. As the game goes along she cares for some characters more and others less as she forms a rivalry or two. By the end, though, she comes to deeply care for the entire crew, a true sense of camaraderie has formed and they feel like a big family. She respects her rivals as friends, and depending on who the player talks to, she has a deep romantic bond with a select crewmate.
9. How other people see him/her: Yuko gives a vastly different impression to everyone who meets her, some immediately hit it off and find her charming and funny, others detest her and find her egotistical and rude, and others are attracted to her carefree demeanor and unflinching bravery, both social and physical.
10. Opinion of him/herself: Yuko, despite her confident exterior, is deeply conflicted with herself. She blames herself for the death of her family and worries that she isn’t adequate enough to complete her current mission. Her gradual progression, both with the game and with the relationships she forms with her crewmates, eventually becomes a sign to her that she is good enough, whether it be to destroy the VCG or to have a family, a role the crew takes on for her.

This drawing is supposed to be a sort of "prototype character design" for Yuko to at least establish a general visual identity for her. Not part of the assignment, just something I wanted to do for fun.

Link to Art Post with this drawing: https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/treeese/yuko-matsumoto

Describing the Main Character's Motivations and Obstacles

On a surface level, Yuko is a loyal member of the Red Letters, she wants to destroy the VCG to stop it from falling into the hands of the Out, to save humanity from their tyranny, etc. But on a more personal level, what Yuko truly wants is a group of people to fill in for the family she lost, a role she hopes the crew can take on for her. She has obstacles obstructing her path to both of these goals, in the former case being the unpredictable and dangerous environment of Sheol and in the latter case being the struggle of having to form strong relationships with an eclectic group of strangers. Both goals both share a common theme: Yuko has to make use of/cooperate/coexist with her obstacles and learn from them in order to solve them. She has to use the VCG and the gradual improvement it gives her to destroy it, and she has to learn to work with, trust, and love her fellow crewmates in order to build that bond she so desperately wants. 

Yuko’s Arc

Yuko begins the game overconfident and indifferent to her crewmates, eager to finish her mission so she can leave and get back to her old life, despite how little it would end up having to offer for her. She's convinced Sheol is no match for her combat prowess, the power of the VCG, and the functional immortality the Grandfather Glove gives her and mostly writes the crew off as assistants and technicians to help her mission. However, she quickly starts to realize that Sheol is much more perilous than she initially thought, and accepts that she's going to be there for a while. She tempers her arrogance and starts taking the crew more seriously and treats them with more respect. She begins to form friendships with them, the two strongest being with Kalista and Forrest, with either one of these characters becoming a romantic partner as the story progresses depending on who the player speaks to more/in the right way. There's also a member of the group that greatly detests Yuko, named Yared, but as the game progresses the two settle their differences and eventually become trusting friends. By the end of the game, she realizes that she doesn't want to go to her old home anymore, that that desire was a manifestation of her grief and self-blame for the death of her family, whose role has now been fulfilled by the crew and (potentially) her new partner, who she plans to go home with. 

Ok, there's the protag out of the way. Next up we'll be getting into side characters, which are some of my favorite parts of this whole document. I'll be doing them one at a time, and luckily the first one is probably my favorite character in the whole story, so that'll be fun.

[treeese]

I'm finally back! I apologize for the long gap in between posts, I've been pretty consistently busy around the time of day I have my alarming telling me to post more VCG stuff set (3 p.m. EST).

Anyways, as said earlier, this is the first of quite a few character profiles describing the game's side characters, with this one being dedicated to one of my favorite characters, Kalista Sokolov. Let's get into it.

Kalista Sokolov (Shrinking Violet/Cutie) (we had to include what kind of literary trope they fell into)

Physical Appearance

Kalista, age 25, is quite short (4’ 11”), relatively flat-chested, and sports strong Scandinavian features: ghostly white skin, vibrant blond hair which she keeps in a neat bun, ocean blue eyes, and a small, round face adorned with large glasses. She has a very soft but rich voice with a slight Russian accent and is incredibly talented at singing if she can be convinced to do it. She is also fluent in Russian, the native language of Vostozemlya, the part of Drugomir that she’s from (the other being the Scandinavian-settled Annavarld which is an entirely separate political entity), and often incorporates it into her English. This is because Vostozemlya slowly isolated itself from Annavarld and the other planets and as a result, stopped enforcing the use of English as a universal language. 

Role within the game/story

Kalista Sokolov is the scientist that invented and operates the Grandfather Glove, she's the one who pulls Yuko back from death and to Home when a run ends, whether through victory or defeat. She is one of the characters the player will speak to the most frequently, as she's the one who gives Yuko her equipment before she is sent down to the surface at the start of every run, in addition to radio dialogue during runs and conversations throughout Home like all of the other characters. 

Kalista is also one of the game's two romantic options, though her placement right before the start of each run makes her the more "subliminally encouraged" option for the player due to the inherently higher dramatic power of her sending Yuko off. 

Personality/History

Kalista is tremendously shy/socially awkward, an issue not helped by the initial unfamiliarity between the crew. This timid behavior is a result of her conditions as a child, her family consisted of former Annavarldans living near the border between the two regions, though the place they lived in was captured and annexed by Vostozemlya during a conflict between the two nations. Her family was absolutely massive and, as a result of their already subpar socioeconomic status in combination with Vostozemlya's dysfunctional communist government, were tremendously poor, cramming 10+ members into a single tiny house. Kalista was her mother’s 11th and final child, as her mother died during the birth. Her father soon killed himself after, overwhelmed by the loss of his wife and the burden of having to take care of so many children alone. The kids lived by themselves, the oldest ones taking up the roles of “parents” and thus bearing a massive amount of stress. Being incredibly intelligent from a very young age, Kalista read the room and tried to be as little of a nuisance as possible, so she subsequently got drowned out amidst her other siblings and learned to be quiet and stay quiet. The “parents," recognizing Kalista’s incredible talent and intellect, saved up and sent her away to a prestigious boarding school to pursue proper education so she could live her life to the fullest and contribute to society instead of wallowing in poverty like the rest of her siblings. 

Kalista is and always has been lesbian, ever since she was young she was attracted to other girls. This was quite the problem back in Vostozemlya, whose oppressive communist regime strictly outlawed homosexuality, forcing her to heavily hide it. This need to conceal her sexuality also contributed to her meekness as an adult and is one of the main reasons Kalista left Drugomir to join the Red Letters despite the fear associated with leaving her home and family behind to join an unregulated group of rebels and soldiers as a defenseless little scientist. 

Their Arc Throughout the Game

Kallista gravitates towards and opens up to Yuko more than anyone else as she's enraptured by Yuko's confidence and bravado, qualities she desperately wants herself. They go through an arc where Kalista’s influence helps temper Yuko’s arrogance while Yuko teaches Kalista to be more confident, which in turn gives Kalista the courage to get progressively more intimate with Yuko. At some point, Kalista tells Yuko about her past, which Yuko can somewhat relate to as she was a middle child in a family of 5, though for Yuko her siblings were a competition that taught her to be as bold and unflinching as she is. They continue to grow closer until Kalista eventually takes Yuko aside before a run and confesses her love for her. The story changes depending on whether or not the player accepts Kalista's proposal. 

• If the player says yes, Yuko and Kalista become a couple and grow even closer together, forming a very cute and wholesome bond with each other. Kalista sheds off her "Shrinking Violet" personality and becomes a more "Cutie"-like character, now finally receiving the love and attention she was denied for most of her life, while Yuko is surprised by but content with this new aspect of her own sexuality that she wasn't previously aware of and appreciates that Kalista gives her a person to talk to without her tomboyish persona. Their relationship grows stronger and more intimate over the course of the game, culminating in a few particularly "passionate" moments at major plot points and a decision to stay together after they leave Sheol, Kalista eager to introduce Yuko to her family who has since emigrated to the much nicer Annavarld.
• If the player rejects Kalista, she's disheartened, but not as utterly devastated as she thought she would be, courtesy of Yuko's teachings about self-confidence. She tries a few more times, still following Yuko's model of bravery and not giving up, essentially giving the player a few extra chances. After enough rejections, she realizes that Yuko just isn't interested in her in that way and resolves to just being good friends, though she can never really look at Yuko the same way.

And that's all I've got for Kalista! We'll see her more, don't you worry. For now though, next up will sort of be Kalista's male analog (though nowhere near as interesting or well written due to my strange weakness for writing male characters), the other romance option, Forrest Abarca. See you then!

(hopefully it won't be in several weeks like last time lol)

[thestupidmeddy]

At 6/4/21 07:41 PM, treeese wrote:As promised, here is the game's logline, as well as a description of the overarching universe the game takes place in.

Logline
In order to prevent the apocalyptically powerful “Very Cool Gun” from falling into the hands of an intergalactic empire of malicious conquerors, a group of rebels repeatedly send their premiere fighter to venture down into the depths of a confusing, ever-changing planet in an attempt to permanently destroy the weapon by throwing it into the planet’s core.

VCG’s Universe
VCG’s plot takes place on "Sheol," a strange planet hidden in the depths of space, ominously named after the Jewish underworld for reasons long forgotten. Sheol is a barren, rocky, and desolate planet with an oxygen atmosphere, having once been the home of an advanced alien species who have long since largely died off, though their few remaining members still live deep within the planet’s depths. The planet has an extremely unique geological structure, it’s comprised of a multitude of extremely porous layers that all rotate in separate directions, forming vast interconnecting cave systems that constantly change layouts as a result. The layers are all extremely diverse from each other, some are rocky caverns, others verdant underground forests, others icy caverns, others still being ruins of the original inhabitants' civilization, sporting strange, angular, and metallic architecture, as well as seemingly endless monuments to some deity simply called the “Guardian,” a godlike creature residing at the very center of the planet that keeps guard over its true core, a black hole. It’s not known how Sheol even exists as it does, almost everything about it should be scientifically impossible, though it’s theorized that the inhabitants “built” the planet to be the way that it is, perhaps with the Guardian’s help.

Aside from Sheol, VCG’s overarching universe takes place within an interplanetary human society. Humans by now are significantly advanced, having FTL-capable travel and long-established societies across many planets. Each planet was largely settled by a single country or group of countries from Earth, so as a result they’re all self-governed and the people from each planet largely share ethnicities and name schemes, though they’ve all mostly adopted English as a universal language. (Here's where the to-be-explained stuff starts coming in) For example, Yuko’s planet (Kōmyō) was settled by the Japanese, Kalista’s (Drugomir) by the Russians and Scandinavians, Forrest’s (Santiago) by the South Americans, Booker’s (Melius) by the United States, etc. This society is in the middle of a losing battle with an unfeeling, cruel empire of alien conquerors simply called the “Out,” who want nothing more than the complete subjugation and eventual extinction of the human race. In a last-ditch effort to defeat the Out, the Red Letters, the most powerful and coordinated group of rebels fighting against them, unearth what is codenamed as the "Very Cool Gun," an ancient superweapon of long-since-lost origin that can change its form into almost anything, provided it’s given the right easily-manufactured modification. The Out possess a mod that gives the VCG the ability to, among many things, destroy entire planets in a single shot, though they still need the gun itself. The Red Letters hastily assemble a team to take the VCG to Sheol and destroy it by throwing it into the planet’s core (Sheol being the only known safe planet with an easily accessible core), using Kalista’s “rewind” technology to allow for repeated attempts due to Sheol's extremely hostile insides. However, the Red Letters didn’t spend very much time checking who they picked, so the team they assembled is a hodge-podge of complete strangers from totally different places and backgrounds, many of them marred with personal trauma, whether it be from invasions by the Out, the squalid conditions of their home planet (like Kalista’s, which has a communist government in place that is slowly falling apart), or their service with the Red Letters.

And there's that! Sorry for bombarding you with all those names and that "rewind" stuff, that has yet to come. Next should be everything pertaining to the main character, Yuko Matsumoto (including a prototype sketch for her character design!) I hope you stay tuned!

Well this easily can be turned into a cool series of novels. I like the premise. It feels a bit cliche in some places but there is enough originality to balance it. I love the idea of different planets being populated each by a ethnicity.

[thestupidmeddy]

At 6/6/21 01:40 PM, treeese wrote:

At 6/4/21 07:41 PM, treeese wrote:And there's that! Sorry for bombarding you with all those names and that "rewind" stuff, that has yet to come. Next should be everything pertaining to the main character, Yuko Matsumoto (including a prototype sketch for her character design!) I hope you stay tuned!

I've decided to restructure the document and describe some of the main items ahead of establishing characters since the characters refer to these things more than the items do to them. Don't worry, the stuff about Yuko will still be shorty posted afterward.

Item Flavour Text

Very Cool Gun (VCG)
Yuko’s weapon, and the reason we’re all here. A (potentially) cataclysmically powerful superweapon forged from an Elytrum alloy by an eons-dead civilization of what were effectively gods that can take nearly a nearly infinite number of forms when given the right modifications. Resembles an old model of handgun called a “Desert Eagle” when unmodified. It's not all that impressive in this state, its stopping power is unremarkable and it doesn't fire very quickly, though it can quite easily become the nightmarish instrument of raw destruction that legends propose it to be when properly modified. Supposedly “very cool,” though I'd have to see it in action to verify if these claims are indeed true.
-Kalista Sokolov

Grandfather Glove
A gauntlet-shaped localized time manipulation device of Kalista’s creation that allows the wearer to “rewind” themselves back to a preset location and state of existence while keeping their memories, the environment, and certain Elytrum-made items intact, making the wearer essentially unkillable. So it’s kinda like time travel, but only for your body. It also allows Yuko to withstand the power of the VCG by, and I quote, "...siphoning the physical strength of alternate timeline versions of herself...," which I think roughly translates from Kalista-science-mumbo-jumbo-ese to, “one ripped arm, lotsa dead Yukos.” We use the Glove to let Yuko take repeated stabs at getting the VCG to Sheol’s core, as no one could ever make it in a single shot. Whenever she dies, we just yank her back, safe and sound, though unfortunately that means she has to start over from square one each time, since Sheol’s insides are constantly changing and my mods for the VCG don’t tend to play nice with the rewinding process.
-Forrest Abarca

Elytrum
A temporally unstable and nearly unbreakable metal that was a key ingredient in the construction of the Grandfather Glove and the VCG. One of the few things that can be brought back with the Grandfather Glove’s time rewinding. Yuko can trade it in at the shop to fund prints for new VCG mods. For some inexplicable reason, it smells like flowers and has a strangely sweet taste when licked. Might have to look into this more.
-Kalista Sokolov

VCG Mods
Specialized Elytrum gadgets and gizmos I’ve designed to interface with the VCG and give it new functionalities like different modes of fire, additional movement maneuvers, general increases in weapon attributes like fire rate and stopping power, etc. They’re actually surprisingly easy to manufacture once I’ve got the prints and enough Elytrum is collected. They then get wrapped in these neat little capsules that get launched down into Sheol’s cave systems for Yuko to (hopefully) find. Despite being made from Elytrum, they never survive the rewinding process for reasons I still have yet to work the kinks out of, so that means Yuko always has to go down there with a clean slate. We'd ideally send her down there fully decked out, but the VCG just isn't receptive to mods when it isn't underground, I think the Out have some kind of dampening field surrounding the planet's surface, nothing we've tried has been able to fix this issue.
-Forrest Abarca

Interesting flavour text for the weapons. Though it feels weird having different characters talking about the weapons in third person. It could have been in first person by Yuko having some sort of diary notes on the equipment or in the second person(refering in you and your) by some robot assistant or just only one of the characters.

[treeese]

At 6/26/21 10:30 AM, Meddyboi2000 wrote:

At 6/4/21 07:41 PM, treeese wrote:As promised, here is the game's logline, as well as a description of the overarching universe the game takes place in.

Logline
In order to prevent the apocalyptically powerful “Very Cool Gun” from falling into the hands of an intergalactic empire of malicious conquerors, a group of rebels repeatedly send their premiere fighter to venture down into the depths of a confusing, ever-changing planet in an attempt to permanently destroy the weapon by throwing it into the planet’s core.

VCG’s Universe
VCG’s plot takes place on "Sheol," a strange planet hidden in the depths of space, ominously named after the Jewish underworld for reasons long forgotten. Sheol is a barren, rocky, and desolate planet with an oxygen atmosphere, having once been the home of an advanced alien species who have long since largely died off, though their few remaining members still live deep within the planet’s depths. The planet has an extremely unique geological structure, it’s comprised of a multitude of extremely porous layers that all rotate in separate directions, forming vast interconnecting cave systems that constantly change layouts as a result. The layers are all extremely diverse from each other, some are rocky caverns, others verdant underground forests, others icy caverns, others still being ruins of the original inhabitants' civilization, sporting strange, angular, and metallic architecture, as well as seemingly endless monuments to some deity simply called the “Guardian,” a godlike creature residing at the very center of the planet that keeps guard over its true core, a black hole. It’s not known how Sheol even exists as it does, almost everything about it should be scientifically impossible, though it’s theorized that the inhabitants “built” the planet to be the way that it is, perhaps with the Guardian’s help.

Aside from Sheol, VCG’s overarching universe takes place within an interplanetary human society. Humans by now are significantly advanced, having FTL-capable travel and long-established societies across many planets. Each planet was largely settled by a single country or group of countries from Earth, so as a result they’re all self-governed and the people from each planet largely share ethnicities and name schemes, though they’ve all mostly adopted English as a universal language. (Here's where the to-be-explained stuff starts coming in) For example, Yuko’s planet (Kōmyō) was settled by the Japanese, Kalista’s (Drugomir) by the Russians and Scandinavians, Forrest’s (Santiago) by the South Americans, Booker’s (Melius) by the United States, etc. This society is in the middle of a losing battle with an unfeeling, cruel empire of alien conquerors simply called the “Out,” who want nothing more than the complete subjugation and eventual extinction of the human race. In a last-ditch effort to defeat the Out, the Red Letters, the most powerful and coordinated group of rebels fighting against them, unearth what is codenamed as the "Very Cool Gun," an ancient superweapon of long-since-lost origin that can change its form into almost anything, provided it’s given the right easily-manufactured modification. The Out possess a mod that gives the VCG the ability to, among many things, destroy entire planets in a single shot, though they still need the gun itself. The Red Letters hastily assemble a team to take the VCG to Sheol and destroy it by throwing it into the planet’s core (Sheol being the only known safe planet with an easily accessible core), using Kalista’s “rewind” technology to allow for repeated attempts due to Sheol's extremely hostile insides. However, the Red Letters didn’t spend very much time checking who they picked, so the team they assembled is a hodge-podge of complete strangers from totally different places and backgrounds, many of them marred with personal trauma, whether it be from invasions by the Out, the squalid conditions of their home planet (like Kalista’s, which has a communist government in place that is slowly falling apart), or their service with the Red Letters.

And there's that! Sorry for bombarding you with all those names and that "rewind" stuff, that has yet to come. Next should be everything pertaining to the main character, Yuko Matsumoto (including a prototype sketch for her character design!) I hope you stay tuned!

Well this easily can be turned into a cool series of novels. I like the premise. It feels a bit cliche in some places but there is enough originality to balance it. I love the idea of different planets being populated each by a ethnicity.

I'm not suprised by the cliche aspect of it, most of it was written in just 3 days of 90 minute class periods as it was kind of a "bonus" project before the school year ended, and while I did spend quite a bit of time adding to and refining it, some of that rushed quality is still present.

I'm glad you like the planet thing! I think I originally just wanted an excuse to justify the sort of band of eclectic strangers who are all fairly different from each other, but when I was refining it I decided to flesh the planets out more and give them their own histories and political situations (or at least some of them). I think it'd be cool to establish within the lore that by the time people were leaving Earth to colonize other planets conflicts have broken apart most international alliances, so they all establish their own societies on separate planets. The individual planets do get more development further on in the document within the side character profiles, but it's nothing super crazy.

[treeese]

At 6/26/21 10:44 AM, Meddyboi2000 wrote:

At 6/6/21 01:40 PM, treeese wrote:

At 6/4/21 07:41 PM, treeese wrote:And there's that! Sorry for bombarding you with all those names and that "rewind" stuff, that has yet to come. Next should be everything pertaining to the main character, Yuko Matsumoto (including a prototype sketch for her character design!) I hope you stay tuned!

I've decided to restructure the document and describe some of the main items ahead of establishing characters since the characters refer to these things more than the items do to them. Don't worry, the stuff about Yuko will still be shorty posted afterward.

Item Flavour Text

Very Cool Gun (VCG)
Yuko’s weapon, and the reason we’re all here. A (potentially) cataclysmically powerful superweapon forged from an Elytrum alloy by an eons-dead civilization of what were effectively gods that can take nearly a nearly infinite number of forms when given the right modifications. Resembles an old model of handgun called a “Desert Eagle” when unmodified. It's not all that impressive in this state, its stopping power is unremarkable and it doesn't fire very quickly, though it can quite easily become the nightmarish instrument of raw destruction that legends propose it to be when properly modified. Supposedly “very cool,” though I'd have to see it in action to verify if these claims are indeed true.
-Kalista Sokolov

Grandfather Glove
A gauntlet-shaped localized time manipulation device of Kalista’s creation that allows the wearer to “rewind” themselves back to a preset location and state of existence while keeping their memories, the environment, and certain Elytrum-made items intact, making the wearer essentially unkillable. So it’s kinda like time travel, but only for your body. It also allows Yuko to withstand the power of the VCG by, and I quote, "...siphoning the physical strength of alternate timeline versions of herself...," which I think roughly translates from Kalista-science-mumbo-jumbo-ese to, “one ripped arm, lotsa dead Yukos.” We use the Glove to let Yuko take repeated stabs at getting the VCG to Sheol’s core, as no one could ever make it in a single shot. Whenever she dies, we just yank her back, safe and sound, though unfortunately that means she has to start over from square one each time, since Sheol’s insides are constantly changing and my mods for the VCG don’t tend to play nice with the rewinding process.
-Forrest Abarca

Elytrum
A temporally unstable and nearly unbreakable metal that was a key ingredient in the construction of the Grandfather Glove and the VCG. One of the few things that can be brought back with the Grandfather Glove’s time rewinding. Yuko can trade it in at the shop to fund prints for new VCG mods. For some inexplicable reason, it smells like flowers and has a strangely sweet taste when licked. Might have to look into this more.
-Kalista Sokolov

VCG Mods
Specialized Elytrum gadgets and gizmos I’ve designed to interface with the VCG and give it new functionalities like different modes of fire, additional movement maneuvers, general increases in weapon attributes like fire rate and stopping power, etc. They’re actually surprisingly easy to manufacture once I’ve got the prints and enough Elytrum is collected. They then get wrapped in these neat little capsules that get launched down into Sheol’s cave systems for Yuko to (hopefully) find. Despite being made from Elytrum, they never survive the rewinding process for reasons I still have yet to work the kinks out of, so that means Yuko always has to go down there with a clean slate. We'd ideally send her down there fully decked out, but the VCG just isn't receptive to mods when it isn't underground, I think the Out have some kind of dampening field surrounding the planet's surface, nothing we've tried has been able to fix this issue.
-Forrest Abarca

Interesting flavour text for the weapons. Though it feels weird having different characters talking about the weapons in third person. It could have been in first person by Yuko having some sort of diary notes on the equipment or in the second person(refering in you and your) by some robot assistant or just only one of the characters.

Huh, I guess I never thought about it like that. Now that I think about it, it IS a little weird to have side characters write these logs or whatever about Yuko's equipment. I guess it's is just a manifestation of me being much better at/enjoying writing side characters more than protagonists. I just find it much easier/more fun to write side characters, this issue is also prominent in the other mega document about a story idea we had to do for this class, which I might share eventually.

Thanks for the criticism though, I legitimately never noticed that inconsistency.

[treeese]

Fuck it, it's been like a month and I'm tired of the whole gradual release strategy, here's the whole document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18QeMCCS6ZJ7h1VF6aWwUqAYIUBbqKDUVLRrltITW40w/edit

[DTstrick9AtakCAT]

At 7/16/21 09:15 PM, treeese wrote:Fuck it, it's been like a month and I'm tired of the whole gradual release strategy, here's the whole document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18QeMCCS6ZJ7h1VF6aWwUqAYIUBbqKDUVLRrltITW40w/edit

Keep me posted

[treeese]

At 7/17/21 12:57 PM, DTstrick9AtakCAT wrote:

At 7/16/21 09:15 PM, treeese wrote:Fuck it, it's been like a month and I'm tired of the whole gradual release strategy, here's the whole document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18QeMCCS6ZJ7h1VF6aWwUqAYIUBbqKDUVLRrltITW40w/edit

Keep me posted

What do you mean? I said I'm not updating this anymore, and that I was releasing the whole document, which I did. Were you unable to access it?

[DTstrick9AtakCAT]

At 7/17/21 02:23 PM, treeese wrote:

At 7/17/21 12:57 PM, DTstrick9AtakCAT wrote:

At 7/16/21 09:15 PM, treeese wrote:Fuck it, it's been like a month and I'm tired of the whole gradual release strategy, here's the whole document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18QeMCCS6ZJ7h1VF6aWwUqAYIUBbqKDUVLRrltITW40w/edit

Keep me posted

What do you mean? I said I'm not updating this anymore, and that I was releasing the whole document, which I did. Were you unable to access it?

I just liked the topic this is the first time I saw it... ps I prefer short and sweet over long and dramatic.

[treeese]

At 7/18/21 01:47 PM, DTstrick9AtakCAT wrote:

At 7/17/21 02:23 PM, treeese wrote:

At 7/17/21 12:57 PM, DTstrick9AtakCAT wrote:

At 7/16/21 09:15 PM, treeese wrote:Fuck it, it's been like a month and I'm tired of the whole gradual release strategy, here's the whole document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18QeMCCS6ZJ7h1VF6aWwUqAYIUBbqKDUVLRrltITW40w/edit

Keep me posted

What do you mean? I said I'm not updating this anymore, and that I was releasing the whole document, which I did. Were you unable to access it?

I just liked the topic this is the first time I saw it... ps I prefer short and sweet over long and dramatic.

Oh! Sorry about that, I guess I didn't consider that this could've been your first time seeing this.

Anyways, I'm basically done with this project, which was a sort of "description" of a game's story that we had to come up with in dramatic writing class, so as a result it's really long.