cs156175 wrote:

cheese-duck wrote:

cs156175 wrote:

cheese-duck wrote:

cs156175 wrote:

Oh man. You guys know that trope where a character is knocked out and they wake up in an unfamiliar room and are told they were in a coma by people who look sorta like the ones from their life? Okay.

So there’s a guy in some kind of fantasy world. I don’t know what kind but let’s say it’s a space travel universe. He gets knocked out and wakes up as a human (assuming he wasn’t before) or without any prosthetic body parts. He’s told he was in a coma and he goes around doing stuff. He finds out that his name is different than it is back home. Soon enough he gets knocked out accidentally again, and wakes up back at home, having been out for a day or two. One more time he gets knocked out and goes back to the human world. So he realizes that he has the power to switch between worlds when he’s knocked out. He realizes that every action has its counterpart (like, if a girl on one side gets a job as a spaceship mechanic, the girl on the other will have gotten a job as a regular mechanic) and uses that as proof. Someone gets curious enough to try to switch over as well and it works when he switches sides and knocks both of them out with a delay. Things go on like this and the news takes notice. Things get hectic on both sides. Then, one day, the guy finds out it doesn’t work anymore. When he passes out in one, he doesn’t wake up in the other anymore. He asks someone else to go through and eventually they line it up right. He wakes up in the other world, but still can’t go through again. The people there tell him that ‘he’ woke up and didn’t know what everything involving the other world was about. He realizes that his counterpart, who he’s been using the body of, woke up from his coma. Cut to the other world, where the human guy has woken up in his body. Hijinks ensue. At some point they finally switch back and the original switcher starts wearing a helmet all the time. The end.

…what

Let me try to make it simpler. The standard ‘guy wakes up from a coma in another world that’s implied to be the real one after getting knocked out’ plot, but he goes back to the original world after getting knocked out again. Eventually it turns out that he can switch between his original body and his counterpart’s body as long as both of them are passed out. Because his counterpart is in a coma (remember the plot this is a parody of) he can switch at any time, and he finds out that anyone else can as well, but there’s never been an appropriate situation.
Because all of the people from one world resemble the people from the other (think wizard of oz), he realizes that all of his scenarios correspond to scenarios in the other world, so he can go into one, see what’s happened, and then predict what’s happened in the other world when he wakes up there.
He tells the others about this and the worlds start to correspond. Then his counterpart wakes up, so he can’t switch over anymore. So he sends someone else over and manages to get back into his counterpart’s body to tell them what’s going on. Only now he can’t switch back because they’ve swapped places and his counterpart is living out the plot.
The rest of the story is them trying to switch back. When they eventually do, the guy who switched originally begins wearing a helmet so he never passes out again and never goes back, because he doesn’t want to get stuck again.

Ah ok. That would make for a pretty cool sci-fi-comedy kinda thing
Also hmm… what happens when they die?

I don’t know. Either it makes it impossible to switch or whoever lives longer can come back as an undead person until they die in their own world.

Huh, since they're connected I thought they'd die at the same time, but I guess not
And if they're both dead… well they're dead and they can't do anything
eh

cheese-duck wrote:

cs156175 wrote:

cheese-duck wrote:

cs156175 wrote:

cheese-duck wrote:

cs156175 wrote:

Oh man. You guys know that trope where a character is knocked out and they wake up in an unfamiliar room and are told they were in a coma by people who look sorta like the ones from their life? Okay.

So there’s a guy in some kind of fantasy world. I don’t know what kind but let’s say it’s a space travel universe. He gets knocked out and wakes up as a human (assuming he wasn’t before) or without any prosthetic body parts. He’s told he was in a coma and he goes around doing stuff. He finds out that his name is different than it is back home. Soon enough he gets knocked out accidentally again, and wakes up back at home, having been out for a day or two. One more time he gets knocked out and goes back to the human world. So he realizes that he has the power to switch between worlds when he’s knocked out. He realizes that every action has its counterpart (like, if a girl on one side gets a job as a spaceship mechanic, the girl on the other will have gotten a job as a regular mechanic) and uses that as proof. Someone gets curious enough to try to switch over as well and it works when he switches sides and knocks both of them out with a delay. Things go on like this and the news takes notice. Things get hectic on both sides. Then, one day, the guy finds out it doesn’t work anymore. When he passes out in one, he doesn’t wake up in the other anymore. He asks someone else to go through and eventually they line it up right. He wakes up in the other world, but still can’t go through again. The people there tell him that ‘he’ woke up and didn’t know what everything involving the other world was about. He realizes that his counterpart, who he’s been using the body of, woke up from his coma. Cut to the other world, where the human guy has woken up in his body. Hijinks ensue. At some point they finally switch back and the original switcher starts wearing a helmet all the time. The end.

…what

Let me try to make it simpler. The standard ‘guy wakes up from a coma in another world that’s implied to be the real one after getting knocked out’ plot, but he goes back to the original world after getting knocked out again. Eventually it turns out that he can switch between his original body and his counterpart’s body as long as both of them are passed out. Because his counterpart is in a coma (remember the plot this is a parody of) he can switch at any time, and he finds out that anyone else can as well, but there’s never been an appropriate situation.
Because all of the people from one world resemble the people from the other (think wizard of oz), he realizes that all of his scenarios correspond to scenarios in the other world, so he can go into one, see what’s happened, and then predict what’s happened in the other world when he wakes up there.
He tells the others about this and the worlds start to correspond. Then his counterpart wakes up, so he can’t switch over anymore. So he sends someone else over and manages to get back into his counterpart’s body to tell them what’s going on. Only now he can’t switch back because they’ve swapped places and his counterpart is living out the plot.
The rest of the story is them trying to switch back. When they eventually do, the guy who switched originally begins wearing a helmet so he never passes out again and never goes back, because he doesn’t want to get stuck again.

Ah ok. That would make for a pretty cool sci-fi-comedy kinda thing
Also hmm… what happens when they die?

I don’t know. Either it makes it impossible to switch or whoever lives longer can come back as an undead person until they die in their own world.

Huh, since they're connected I thought they'd die at the same time, but I guess not
And if they're both dead… well they're dead and they can't do anything
eh

I mean, they aren’t exactly connected because for the plot to happen one of them has to be in a coma for a long time while the other is awake. I guess the same plot could happen but more simple (both of them pass out and swap worlds, everyone thinks they’ve lost their memories from getting hit on the head)

cs156175 wrote:

cheese-duck wrote:

cs156175 wrote:

cheese-duck wrote:

cs156175 wrote:

cheese-duck wrote:

cs156175 wrote:

Oh man. You guys know that trope where a character is knocked out and they wake up in an unfamiliar room and are told they were in a coma by people who look sorta like the ones from their life? Okay.

So there’s a guy in some kind of fantasy world. I don’t know what kind but let’s say it’s a space travel universe. He gets knocked out and wakes up as a human (assuming he wasn’t before) or without any prosthetic body parts. He’s told he was in a coma and he goes around doing stuff. He finds out that his name is different than it is back home. Soon enough he gets knocked out accidentally again, and wakes up back at home, having been out for a day or two. One more time he gets knocked out and goes back to the human world. So he realizes that he has the power to switch between worlds when he’s knocked out. He realizes that every action has its counterpart (like, if a girl on one side gets a job as a spaceship mechanic, the girl on the other will have gotten a job as a regular mechanic) and uses that as proof. Someone gets curious enough to try to switch over as well and it works when he switches sides and knocks both of them out with a delay. Things go on like this and the news takes notice. Things get hectic on both sides. Then, one day, the guy finds out it doesn’t work anymore. When he passes out in one, he doesn’t wake up in the other anymore. He asks someone else to go through and eventually they line it up right. He wakes up in the other world, but still can’t go through again. The people there tell him that ‘he’ woke up and didn’t know what everything involving the other world was about. He realizes that his counterpart, who he’s been using the body of, woke up from his coma. Cut to the other world, where the human guy has woken up in his body. Hijinks ensue. At some point they finally switch back and the original switcher starts wearing a helmet all the time. The end.

…what

Let me try to make it simpler. The standard ‘guy wakes up from a coma in another world that’s implied to be the real one after getting knocked out’ plot, but he goes back to the original world after getting knocked out again. Eventually it turns out that he can switch between his original body and his counterpart’s body as long as both of them are passed out. Because his counterpart is in a coma (remember the plot this is a parody of) he can switch at any time, and he finds out that anyone else can as well, but there’s never been an appropriate situation.
Because all of the people from one world resemble the people from the other (think wizard of oz), he realizes that all of his scenarios correspond to scenarios in the other world, so he can go into one, see what’s happened, and then predict what’s happened in the other world when he wakes up there.
He tells the others about this and the worlds start to correspond. Then his counterpart wakes up, so he can’t switch over anymore. So he sends someone else over and manages to get back into his counterpart’s body to tell them what’s going on. Only now he can’t switch back because they’ve swapped places and his counterpart is living out the plot.
The rest of the story is them trying to switch back. When they eventually do, the guy who switched originally begins wearing a helmet so he never passes out again and never goes back, because he doesn’t want to get stuck again.

Ah ok. That would make for a pretty cool sci-fi-comedy kinda thing
Also hmm… what happens when they die?

I don’t know. Either it makes it impossible to switch or whoever lives longer can come back as an undead person until they die in their own world.

Huh, since they're connected I thought they'd die at the same time, but I guess not
And if they're both dead… well they're dead and they can't do anything
eh

I mean, they aren’t exactly connected because for the plot to happen one of them has to be in a coma for a long time while the other is awake. I guess the same plot could happen but more simple (both of them pass out and swap worlds, everyone thinks they’ve lost their memories from getting hit on the head)

Maybe they are just semi connected but with some differences.

I wrote a couplet

Oh goodness mine
On thee I dine

-ShadowOfTheFuture- wrote:

Warning: the following story is a little dark. (Nothing inappropriate for Scratch, though)

This isn't even really a story, it's more like a disjointed fragment/character backstory that I came up with in the space of about 30 minutes.

They tell me that I'm special. That I'm unique. Gifted. That there is nobody else in the world like me.

They say I should be grateful. That I should rejoice at how special I am. That I should be happy, satisfied with the gift that the world chose to give me. The power that the world chose me to carry.

They don't know how I truly feel.

The don't know what it's like to constantly live in the shadow of fear. They don't know what it's like to come home and find another family member gone. They don't know what it's like to feel the guilt, the pain of knowing that all of it, all of it was because of me, because of the power I was gifted with since birth.

A power that people kill for.

Not a gift.

A curse. A curse cloaked in angelic garb.

A curse that gives promises of happiness, yet delivers only promises of pain. A curse that rips away all that you hold dear, all the ones you love and the ones that love you. A curse that saddles its bearer with the knowledge that nothing they do can change the fate that looms in the horizon, dark in a twilight sky.

They don't know. They can't know. And even if they knew, they'd never understand.

All my life, I've been running. Running from pursuers everywhere. Running, even from the ones who try to help. Running from my fate. Running from the inevitable.

But you can't run if you have no strength left in your legs.

It's time for me to stop running.

It's time for me to fight.

hmmwhat
i need answers

cheese-duck wrote:

-ShadowOfTheFuture- wrote:

Warning: the following story is a little dark. (Nothing inappropriate for Scratch, though)

This isn't even really a story, it's more like a disjointed fragment/character backstory that I came up with in the space of about 30 minutes.

They tell me that I'm special. That I'm unique. Gifted. That there is nobody else in the world like me.

They say I should be grateful. That I should rejoice at how special I am. That I should be happy, satisfied with the gift that the world chose to give me. The power that the world chose me to carry.

They don't know how I truly feel.

The don't know what it's like to constantly live in the shadow of fear. They don't know what it's like to come home and find another family member gone. They don't know what it's like to feel the guilt, the pain of knowing that all of it, all of it was because of me, because of the power I was gifted with since birth.

A power that people kill for.

Not a gift.

A curse. A curse cloaked in angelic garb.

A curse that gives promises of happiness, yet delivers only promises of pain. A curse that rips away all that you hold dear, all the ones you love and the ones that love you. A curse that saddles its bearer with the knowledge that nothing they do can change the fate that looms in the horizon, dark in a twilight sky.

They don't know. They can't know. And even if they knew, they'd never understand.

All my life, I've been running. Running from pursuers everywhere. Running, even from the ones who try to help. Running from my fate. Running from the inevitable.

But you can't run if you have no strength left in your legs.

It's time for me to stop running.

It's time for me to fight.

hmmwhat
i need answers

Use your imagination!

██       ██  ██            ██  ██       ██
██       ██  ██            ██  ██       ██
██       ██  ██     ██     ██  ██       ██
██       ██  ██     ██     ██  ██       ██
███     ███   ██   ████   ██   ███     ███
 █████████     █████  █████     █████████

Hey everyone.
A while ago I said I’d be doing a sequel to Austin Pancern. Now, I don’t think I will. Or, at least, now before I rewrite the entire story and make more options.
The rewrite has a few changes planned.
Austin’s name is now Austin Theodore Paullsen, Austin Paullsen being the new title.
Austin gets the job not because of work merits, but because he’s friends with a former chemist turned supervisor, Sarah Wilkins.
Austin’s personality is made clear. Think Truman Burbank but somehow even happier. He’s the guy whose spirits can’t be broken.
Austin (the real one) falls into a depressive episode after cloning himself and quits his job, becoming a shut-in and staunchly anti-government. He likes talking about how some things shouldn’t be messed with.
Initially, people your player character meets are suprised that ‘Austin’ seems to have gotten his chipper personality partially back.
The tattoo on the shoulder of the player character says CIAG5630 instead of a number with a symbol.
You can, at one point, interact with Austin’s ‘Work buddies’ who are mentioned eating with him at Henry’s Burgers.
I want it to be more open, with way more options as to what you can do.
So… what choices would you like to see? Mini-games? Features? Ideas for how memories are gained back?
Some ideas:
Maybe you can go to the high school, college, or both. Being in a specific room could give your player character a memory of his daughter’s graduation.
Alternatively, a park that gives your player character a memory of getting married.
A specific item on the Henry’s menu that brings back a memory of eating with the boys the night before he got the information on exactly what his promotion was?

ShadowOfTheFuture wrote:

-snip-

The beginning sounds more like a villain's monologue but the ending sounds like a hero's. Interesting

Okay so I'm struggling with two different ideas for a supporting character's power so I want to know which one you guys would think would be more interesting.

1. Sensing other's life energy and finding out what their abilities and skills are as well as how healthy they are
2. Bringing inanimate objects to life (I know this one has already been done but I may do it differently)

Need somewhere to put this, so here it goes!
The CS guide to finding the original source of an image!
First Line Of Defense: SOURCE
Where have you found this image?
If it’s on google search, try going to the link provided, even if it isn’t the original artist. A lot of sites have source links.
-Pinterest has links back to the original page, usually.
-Know Your Meme has a source link option to the right of the image, if that’s where you found it.
-Youtubers often put credit in the description of the video.
-Imgur is connected to Reddit, so if you need to find something from there with no uploaded, search for the caption on Reddit. This will lead you to the original.
If you’re on mobile, try switching to desktop mode- there are usually easier ways to find the source in the main layout.
Second Line Of Defense: SIGNATURE
A lot of art has a signature somewhere. If it’s legible, look up the signature and see if it matches anything that seems reasonable. This doesn’t apply to all art, but it can cut the journey in half if you do have it. This is a relatively short section, and the only tip I have is that if you can find another piece with the same signature and find the source of one, you’ve also found the source of the other.
Third Line Of Defense: GOOGLE
Right-click (or hold down on) the image and press ‘Search google for this image’. Find a source that’s reasonable (Deviantart, Tumblr, Reddit, Twitter, etc) and try that before anything else. DO NOT click on all the sources. A lot of these are malware-harboring sites that collect images so they show up in the results when you look for one. If you’ve never heard of a site it’s a pretty good indicator that you shouldn’t click on it in the results.
When you’ve found a source, look though to make sure it isn’t stolen.
Fourth Line Of Defense: TINEYE
Tineye is an image search that uses image recognition software to look over many pages and find image sources. It’s worked when no other method has, though it isn’t infallible. It can also find edited versions of the image, though this sometimes causes it to find similar images. It’s the main non-google reverse image search site.
Fifth Line Of Defense: IMAGERAIDER
Image Raider is another reverse search site. There’s a chance that it’ll work. There are lots of other reverse-image-search sites that could work (and many lists of them). If none of these work and there are no results, there’s one more thing you can do.
Sixth Line Of Defense: URL
Every image host has its own url. Reddit has I.redd.it, Tumblr has 78.media.tumblr. , Wikia has vignette.wikia.nocookie (followed by the name of the wiki it’s on, which is helpful). Find out where the image was uploaded, go there, and search for it using the caption that appears in your tab. I’ve found one image this way that had 0 results on any of the past methods used. If anyone needs an image source found, I guess I’m up.
——
I didn’t know where else to post this, sorry.

Ryasis wrote:

Okay so I'm struggling with two different ideas for a supporting character's power so I want to know which one you guys would think would be more interesting.

1. Sensing other's life energy and finding out what their abilities and skills are as well as how healthy they are
2. Bringing inanimate objects to life (I know this one has already been done but I may do it differently)

Hmm I like the first one more, it seems more unique. Though maybe the second fits with their personality more?? idk

cs156175 wrote:

Hey everyone.
A while ago I said I’d be doing a sequel to Austin Pancern. Now, I don’t think I will. Or, at least, now before I rewrite the entire story and make more options.
The rewrite has a few changes planned.
Austin’s name is now Austin Theodore Paullsen, Austin Paullsen being the new title.
Austin gets the job not because of work merits, but because he’s friends with a former chemist turned supervisor, Sarah Wilkins.
Austin’s personality is made clear. Think Truman Burbank but somehow even happier. He’s the guy whose spirits can’t be broken.
Austin (the real one) falls into a depressive episode after cloning himself and quits his job, becoming a shut-in and staunchly anti-government. He likes talking about how some things shouldn’t be messed with.
Initially, people your player character meets are suprised that ‘Austin’ seems to have gotten his chipper personality partially back.
The tattoo on the shoulder of the player character says CIAG5630 instead of a number with a symbol.
You can, at one point, interact with Austin’s ‘Work buddies’ who are mentioned eating with him at Henry’s Burgers.
I want it to be more open, with way more options as to what you can do.
So… what choices would you like to see? Mini-games? Features? Ideas for how memories are gained back?
Some ideas:
Maybe you can go to the high school, college, or both. Being in a specific room could give your player character a memory of his daughter’s graduation.
Alternatively, a park that gives your player character a memory of getting married.
A specific item on the Henry’s menu that brings back a memory of eating with the boys the night before he got the information on exactly what his promotion was?

Hmm mini-games would be cool but I feel like they might take too much time.
This would work well as a game complete with graphics ‘n’ music ‘n’ stuff.
I'd like to see all those memory ideas ‘n’ stuff

cheese-duck wrote:

Ryasis wrote:

Okay so I'm struggling with two different ideas for a supporting character's power so I want to know which one you guys would think would be more interesting.

1. Sensing other's life energy and finding out what their abilities and skills are as well as how healthy they are
2. Bringing inanimate objects to life (I know this one has already been done but I may do it differently)

Hmm I like the first one more, it seems more unique. Though maybe the second fits with their personality more?? idk

cs156175 wrote:

Hey everyone.
A while ago I said I’d be doing a sequel to Austin Pancern. Now, I don’t think I will. Or, at least, now before I rewrite the entire story and make more options.
The rewrite has a few changes planned.
Austin’s name is now Austin Theodore Paullsen, Austin Paullsen being the new title.
Austin gets the job not because of work merits, but because he’s friends with a former chemist turned supervisor, Sarah Wilkins.
Austin’s personality is made clear. Think Truman Burbank but somehow even happier. He’s the guy whose spirits can’t be broken.
Austin (the real one) falls into a depressive episode after cloning himself and quits his job, becoming a shut-in and staunchly anti-government. He likes talking about how some things shouldn’t be messed with.
Initially, people your player character meets are suprised that ‘Austin’ seems to have gotten his chipper personality partially back.
The tattoo on the shoulder of the player character says CIAG5630 instead of a number with a symbol.
You can, at one point, interact with Austin’s ‘Work buddies’ who are mentioned eating with him at Henry’s Burgers.
I want it to be more open, with way more options as to what you can do.
So… what choices would you like to see? Mini-games? Features? Ideas for how memories are gained back?
Some ideas:
Maybe you can go to the high school, college, or both. Being in a specific room could give your player character a memory of his daughter’s graduation.
Alternatively, a park that gives your player character a memory of getting married.
A specific item on the Henry’s menu that brings back a memory of eating with the boys the night before he got the information on exactly what his promotion was?

Hmm mini-games would be cool but I feel like they might take too much time.
This would work well as a game complete with graphics ‘n’ music ‘n’ stuff.
I'd like to see all those memory ideas ‘n’ stuff

By Mini-games I mean… sidequest type stuff. Like you have to collect some stuff for your neighbor and if you return them all you get some money you can use to do stuff later, like bribe someone to not give away information or just buy something. Also, suggestions for Easter eggs? I was thinking that if you encounter a bookshelf and read some books, they’re obvious parodies of regular books (For example, of you pick up a book labeled ‘1894’, it’ll be a rip-off of the 1984 opening, and it’ll end with something like ‘and then the thought police broke into Smith’s house and killed him, the end’ after only a few pages.) or just bad stories (Once upon a time there was a princess, but she was so confronted with the enormous responsibilities of being an heir to the kingdom that she ran away and faked her own death.)

cs156175 wrote:

cheese-duck wrote:

Ryasis wrote:

Okay so I'm struggling with two different ideas for a supporting character's power so I want to know which one you guys would think would be more interesting.

1. Sensing other's life energy and finding out what their abilities and skills are as well as how healthy they are
2. Bringing inanimate objects to life (I know this one has already been done but I may do it differently)

Hmm I like the first one more, it seems more unique. Though maybe the second fits with their personality more?? idk

cs156175 wrote:

Hey everyone.
A while ago I said I’d be doing a sequel to Austin Pancern. Now, I don’t think I will. Or, at least, now before I rewrite the entire story and make more options.
The rewrite has a few changes planned.
Austin’s name is now Austin Theodore Paullsen, Austin Paullsen being the new title.
Austin gets the job not because of work merits, but because he’s friends with a former chemist turned supervisor, Sarah Wilkins.
Austin’s personality is made clear. Think Truman Burbank but somehow even happier. He’s the guy whose spirits can’t be broken.
Austin (the real one) falls into a depressive episode after cloning himself and quits his job, becoming a shut-in and staunchly anti-government. He likes talking about how some things shouldn’t be messed with.
Initially, people your player character meets are suprised that ‘Austin’ seems to have gotten his chipper personality partially back.
The tattoo on the shoulder of the player character says CIAG5630 instead of a number with a symbol.
You can, at one point, interact with Austin’s ‘Work buddies’ who are mentioned eating with him at Henry’s Burgers.
I want it to be more open, with way more options as to what you can do.
So… what choices would you like to see? Mini-games? Features? Ideas for how memories are gained back?
Some ideas:
Maybe you can go to the high school, college, or both. Being in a specific room could give your player character a memory of his daughter’s graduation.
Alternatively, a park that gives your player character a memory of getting married.
A specific item on the Henry’s menu that brings back a memory of eating with the boys the night before he got the information on exactly what his promotion was?

Hmm mini-games would be cool but I feel like they might take too much time.
This would work well as a game complete with graphics ‘n’ music ‘n’ stuff.
I'd like to see all those memory ideas ‘n’ stuff

By Mini-games I mean… sidequest type stuff. Like you have to collect some stuff for your neighbor and if you return them all you get some money you can use to do stuff later, like bribe someone to not give away information or just buy something. Also, suggestions for Easter eggs? I was thinking that if you encounter a bookshelf and read some books, they’re obvious parodies of regular books (For example, of you pick up a book labeled ‘1894’, it’ll be a rip-off of the 1984 opening, and it’ll end with something like ‘and then the thought police broke into Smith’s house and killed him, the end’ after only a few pages.) or just bad stories (Once upon a time there was a princess, but she was so confronted with the enormous responsibilities of being an heir to the kingdom that she ran away and faked her own death.)

Suggestion: a literal easter egg.

cheese-duck wrote:

Ryasis wrote:

Okay so I'm struggling with two different ideas for a supporting character's power so I want to know which one you guys would think would be more interesting.

1. Sensing other's life energy and finding out what their abilities and skills are as well as how healthy they are
2. Bringing inanimate objects to life (I know this one has already been done but I may do it differently)

Hmm I like the first one more, it seems more unique. Though maybe the second fits with their personality more?? idk

Well I hadnt worked out a personality yet so

Ryasis wrote:

cs156175 wrote:

cheese-duck wrote:

Ryasis wrote:

Okay so I'm struggling with two different ideas for a supporting character's power so I want to know which one you guys would think would be more interesting.

1. Sensing other's life energy and finding out what their abilities and skills are as well as how healthy they are
2. Bringing inanimate objects to life (I know this one has already been done but I may do it differently)

Hmm I like the first one more, it seems more unique. Though maybe the second fits with their personality more?? idk

cs156175 wrote:

Hey everyone.
A while ago I said I’d be doing a sequel to Austin Pancern. Now, I don’t think I will. Or, at least, now before I rewrite the entire story and make more options.
The rewrite has a few changes planned.
Austin’s name is now Austin Theodore Paullsen, Austin Paullsen being the new title.
Austin gets the job not because of work merits, but because he’s friends with a former chemist turned supervisor, Sarah Wilkins.
Austin’s personality is made clear. Think Truman Burbank but somehow even happier. He’s the guy whose spirits can’t be broken.
Austin (the real one) falls into a depressive episode after cloning himself and quits his job, becoming a shut-in and staunchly anti-government. He likes talking about how some things shouldn’t be messed with.
Initially, people your player character meets are suprised that ‘Austin’ seems to have gotten his chipper personality partially back.
The tattoo on the shoulder of the player character says CIAG5630 instead of a number with a symbol.
You can, at one point, interact with Austin’s ‘Work buddies’ who are mentioned eating with him at Henry’s Burgers.
I want it to be more open, with way more options as to what you can do.
So… what choices would you like to see? Mini-games? Features? Ideas for how memories are gained back?
Some ideas:
Maybe you can go to the high school, college, or both. Being in a specific room could give your player character a memory of his daughter’s graduation.
Alternatively, a park that gives your player character a memory of getting married.
A specific item on the Henry’s menu that brings back a memory of eating with the boys the night before he got the information on exactly what his promotion was?

Hmm mini-games would be cool but I feel like they might take too much time.
This would work well as a game complete with graphics ‘n’ music ‘n’ stuff.
I'd like to see all those memory ideas ‘n’ stuff

By Mini-games I mean… sidequest type stuff. Like you have to collect some stuff for your neighbor and if you return them all you get some money you can use to do stuff later, like bribe someone to not give away information or just buy something. Also, suggestions for Easter eggs? I was thinking that if you encounter a bookshelf and read some books, they’re obvious parodies of regular books (For example, of you pick up a book labeled ‘1894’, it’ll be a rip-off of the 1984 opening, and it’ll end with something like ‘and then the thought police broke into Smith’s house and killed him, the end’ after only a few pages.) or just bad stories (Once upon a time there was a princess, but she was so confronted with the enormous responsibilities of being an heir to the kingdom that she ran away and faked her own death.)

Suggestion: a literal easter egg.

You don’t know what exactly compelled you to look behind the bushes in the park. Maybe it was curiosity, or maybe something more. You couldn’tve known that there would be something behind here. What if it’s yet another memory from before, interfering with your instincts? Still, there’s no doubt that somehow you made the right action to discover this. It’s a small object, fading from peach to purple and decorated with dots of black permanent marker. It’s an egg, and since the grass is green and the day is warm, you can safely assume it’s springtime, which means that this egg was probably put there at…
It’s another spark.
You see yourself in this very park. A basket of dyed eggs hangs at your side. There are food trucks and awareness stands and a fold-up booth with a park ranger manning it. Kids run, laughing and playing. One kid knocks another into the mud. In the distance, a person in a large, fluffy rabbit costume hands out chocolate to kids and takes photos with them. A banner is strung across a few trees: ‘Annual Ritten Park Easter Egg Palooza.’ Another flash happens. You have the egg in one hand, and the bush in the other. You put the egg down and the bush snaps back. You look upwards, but the memory is over…
It looks like this egg managed to escape the watchful eyes of the egg hunters on Easter. You pride yourself for hiding it well.

cs156175 wrote:

Ryasis wrote:

cs156175 wrote:

cheese-duck wrote:

Ryasis wrote:

Okay so I'm struggling with two different ideas for a supporting character's power so I want to know which one you guys would think would be more interesting.

1. Sensing other's life energy and finding out what their abilities and skills are as well as how healthy they are
2. Bringing inanimate objects to life (I know this one has already been done but I may do it differently)

Hmm I like the first one more, it seems more unique. Though maybe the second fits with their personality more?? idk

cs156175 wrote:

Hey everyone.
A while ago I said I’d be doing a sequel to Austin Pancern. Now, I don’t think I will. Or, at least, now before I rewrite the entire story and make more options.
The rewrite has a few changes planned.
Austin’s name is now Austin Theodore Paullsen, Austin Paullsen being the new title.
Austin gets the job not because of work merits, but because he’s friends with a former chemist turned supervisor, Sarah Wilkins.
Austin’s personality is made clear. Think Truman Burbank but somehow even happier. He’s the guy whose spirits can’t be broken.
Austin (the real one) falls into a depressive episode after cloning himself and quits his job, becoming a shut-in and staunchly anti-government. He likes talking about how some things shouldn’t be messed with.
Initially, people your player character meets are suprised that ‘Austin’ seems to have gotten his chipper personality partially back.
The tattoo on the shoulder of the player character says CIAG5630 instead of a number with a symbol.
You can, at one point, interact with Austin’s ‘Work buddies’ who are mentioned eating with him at Henry’s Burgers.
I want it to be more open, with way more options as to what you can do.
So… what choices would you like to see? Mini-games? Features? Ideas for how memories are gained back?
Some ideas:
Maybe you can go to the high school, college, or both. Being in a specific room could give your player character a memory of his daughter’s graduation.
Alternatively, a park that gives your player character a memory of getting married.
A specific item on the Henry’s menu that brings back a memory of eating with the boys the night before he got the information on exactly what his promotion was?

Hmm mini-games would be cool but I feel like they might take too much time.
This would work well as a game complete with graphics ‘n’ music ‘n’ stuff.
I'd like to see all those memory ideas ‘n’ stuff

By Mini-games I mean… sidequest type stuff. Like you have to collect some stuff for your neighbor and if you return them all you get some money you can use to do stuff later, like bribe someone to not give away information or just buy something. Also, suggestions for Easter eggs? I was thinking that if you encounter a bookshelf and read some books, they’re obvious parodies of regular books (For example, of you pick up a book labeled ‘1894’, it’ll be a rip-off of the 1984 opening, and it’ll end with something like ‘and then the thought police broke into Smith’s house and killed him, the end’ after only a few pages.) or just bad stories (Once upon a time there was a princess, but she was so confronted with the enormous responsibilities of being an heir to the kingdom that she ran away and faked her own death.)

Suggestion: a literal easter egg.

You don’t know what exactly compelled you to look behind the bushes in the park. Maybe it was curiosity, or maybe something more. You couldn’tve known that there would be something behind here. What if it’s yet another memory from before, interfering with your instincts? Still, there’s no doubt that somehow you made the right action to discover this. It’s a small object, fading from peach to purple and decorated with dots of black permanent marker. It’s an egg, and since the grass is green and the day is warm, you can safely assume it’s springtime, which means that this egg was probably put there at…
It’s another spark.
You see yourself in this very park. A basket of dyed eggs hangs at your side. There are food trucks and awareness stands and a fold-up booth with a park ranger manning it. Kids run, laughing and playing. One kid knocks another into the mud. In the distance, a person in a large, fluffy rabbit costume hands out chocolate to kids and takes photos with them. A banner is strung across a few trees: ‘Annual Ritten Park Easter Egg Palooza.’ Another flash happens. You have the egg in one hand, and the bush in the other. You put the egg down and the bush snaps back. You look upwards, but the memory is over…
It looks like this egg managed to escape the watchful eyes of the egg hunters on Easter. You pride yourself for hiding it well.

Ee noice. Part of the plot but also a literal easter egg.
As for the minigames that would be cool

Ryasis wrote:

Okay so I'm struggling with two different ideas for a supporting character's power so I want to know which one you guys would think would be more interesting.

1. Sensing other's life energy and finding out what their abilities and skills are as well as how healthy they are
2. Bringing inanimate objects to life (I know this one has already been done but I may do it differently)

The first skill seems somewhat unique and is pretty suited to a supporting character however I feel it could be a bit too supporting as the ability can only really be used to help, and that help is likely going to be for the main protagonist- it might give the impression that your character only exists to give the protagonist useful information.
The second skill doesn't have this problem and despite it's common usage it can be quite a charming ability and there's always new ways to think of applying it. My main concern would be that unless you're willing to write hard rules for how this power works and consider how it could be used in every situation it might cause more plot holes than it's worth (e.g: why didn't Dave just bring the key on the desk to life to break them out of the cell?)
I think you should consider what your skills and weaknesses are as a writer then pick the ability that is best suited.

There are horror games disguised as basically every genre. Dating sim, educational, rpg, old… cartoon… game? Time management game? But there’s a genre I haven’t seen.
What about a game disguised as a horror game? One that may actually be horror, but a different type? Apologies if this sounds too cliche.
There’s a ghost in your house and you’re desperately trying to run away from it, but you can’t break out. Your wife/husband says that they have to say something to the daughter/son, but they vanish. The ghosts initially have lines that are very vague like ‘Stop evading’ and ‘Can’t leave the perimeter’. When you reach a final boss ghost with projectiles, if you kill them, it seems like the game is over because a key is dropped for the door. When you try to unlock it, though, it doesn’t work and you enter a second level where the ghosts have changed color. These ones have lines like ‘begone’ and ‘leave here!’ I should mention that you have a health bar in the bottom corner, which is decreasing. Anyways, the goal of the game seems to be to get to a locked door and open it. Nothing works. Finally, you encounter another jumpscare ghost, but this one decides to talk to you. It flickers and becomes the shape of a human child holding a candle. There’s some dialogue and it refers to you as ‘dad’ or ‘mom’. Then it snuffs the candle and becomes darkness again. When you encounter the other ghosts, they’re more humanoid too- the initial ones wear police hats and the new ones wear all white. When you go back to the door, which was initially covered in shadow, it’s now covered with police tape. A white ghost comes up behind you and damages your health so far that it goes out completely.
But you don’t die. Your character laments about why they aren’t dead. You pound on the door, but it isn’t successful. Then a voice comes from behind you. It’s the child ghost from earlier. He or she tells you that you shouldn’t try to unlock it. That’s all. Now when you try to walk forward, you go through the door.
There’s a body on the floor, with an outline around it. I know this sounds really cliche, but it’s yours. You realize that everyone else in the house is human- you’re the only ghost there.
The initial ghosts are police investigating the murder, the second round are people trying to get rid of your ghost, and the child is yours trying to get in contact with you. Now in a new light, you’re able to see them as human. They’re trying to figure out how you died. One of them mentions how it’s so soon after ‘his wife’ (or her husband, or something else) died. They suggest a suicide. There’s an empty bottle next to the body,
Now it’s a flashback. The wife or husband talking to the player character, them talking and the daughter/son talking to the player character about how the y’re afraid the other parent will not be ok. The other parent falls ill. Time skip, and your player character is driving to the hospital to have the child talk to the parent. When they arrive, they find out that the parent is gone already, without the chance to say goodbye. A montage of your player character drinking until they pass out. They wake up in the basement, drink one more, and fade to black.
Back in the present, the player character encounters their wife/husband again, who says that they aren’t actually here but are able to contact you. They ask your player character to say goodbye and once you do, you find that you can leave the house.
Get this: the game is called Unfinished Business.

cs156175 wrote:

There are horror games disguised as basically every genre. Dating sim, educational, rpg, old… cartoon… game? Time management game? But there’s a genre I haven’t seen.
What about a game disguised as a horror game? One that may actually be horror, but a different type? Apologies if this sounds too cliche.
There’s a ghost in your house and you’re desperately trying to run away from it, but you can’t break out. Your wife/husband says that they have to say something to the daughter/son, but they vanish. The ghosts initially have lines that are very vague like ‘Stop evading’ and ‘Can’t leave the perimeter’. When you reach a final boss ghost with projectiles, if you kill them, it seems like the game is over because a key is dropped for the door. When you try to unlock it, though, it doesn’t work and you enter a second level where the ghosts have changed color. These ones have lines like ‘begone’ and ‘leave here!’ I should mention that you have a health bar in the bottom corner, which is decreasing. Anyways, the goal of the game seems to be to get to a locked door and open it. Nothing works. Finally, you encounter another jumpscare ghost, but this one decides to talk to you. It flickers and becomes the shape of a human child holding a candle. There’s some dialogue and it refers to you as ‘dad’ or ‘mom’. Then it snuffs the candle and becomes darkness again. When you encounter the other ghosts, they’re more humanoid too- the initial ones wear police hats and the new ones wear all white. When you go back to the door, which was initially covered in shadow, it’s now covered with police tape. A white ghost comes up behind you and damages your health so far that it goes out completely.
But you don’t die. Your character laments about why they aren’t dead. You pound on the door, but it isn’t successful. Then a voice comes from behind you. It’s the child ghost from earlier. He or she tells you that you shouldn’t try to unlock it. That’s all. Now when you try to walk forward, you go through the door.
There’s a body on the floor, with an outline around it. I know this sounds really cliche, but it’s yours. You realize that everyone else in the house is human- you’re the only ghost there.
The initial ghosts are police investigating the murder, the second round are people trying to get rid of your ghost, and the child is yours trying to get in contact with you. Now in a new light, you’re able to see them as human. They’re trying to figure out how you died. One of them mentions how it’s so soon after ‘his wife’ (or her husband, or something else) died. They suggest a suicide. There’s an empty bottle next to the body,
Now it’s a flashback. The wife or husband talking to the player character, them talking and the daughter/son talking to the player character about how the y’re afraid the other parent will not be ok. The other parent falls ill. Time skip, and your player character is driving to the hospital to have the child talk to the parent. When they arrive, they find out that the parent is gone already, without the chance to say goodbye. A montage of your player character drinking until they pass out. They wake up in the basement, drink one more, and fade to black.
Back in the present, the player character encounters their wife/husband again, who says that they aren’t actually here but are able to contact you. They ask your player character to say goodbye and once you do, you find that you can leave the house.
Get this: the game is called Unfinished Business.

So. An existential crisis disguised as a horror game.
that's sad…