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American Hare

Chefe

Erudite
Joined
Feb 26, 2005
Messages
4,731
American Hare is dead.

Final Post said:
72vzeu.gif


Everything about American Hare can now be found here:
http://americanhare.wordpress.com/

Third post said:
The Ultimate Game of Choices and Consequences!

You play as a humanoid black-tailed jackrabbit, waking up in the small Mexican town of Santa Rosalía, in Baja California. You don't know who you are, what you are, why you are here, and how you came to be. Travel through Central American and discover the mystery behind your own creation.

American Hare is an alternative style RPG I've had swimming around in my head for a while. I plan on it being an intuitive text-based RPG with a slick interface and hand-drawn sprite cutscenes and backgrounds. This isn't a swords and magic fantasy game, it's not a futuristic game, and it's not a post-apocalyptic game either. I'm getting tired of these. The year is 2287 C.E., and things are realitively similar to now, except for the obvious technical advances and some geography changes. You play as a rabbit who wakes up in Santa Rosalía, on the peninsula of Baja California. You start in a room that is almost completely empty. It turns out that you are in the house of a family that discovered you. They're extremely religious, and think you're a demon. Your first mission is to escape.

It's a classic amnesia tale, only this time you don't even know your name, and the only thing you do know is that you're not human. Your quest is to discover why you are a talking rabbit. You'll traverse large parts of Central America, mingle with the locals, get work in various fields, and make connections that will link you to the source of how you came into existence.

I plan on a wide range of paths you can take. In good RPG style, none of these paths are set in stone. They will twist and turn as you progress through the story. Here are several eventual paths I have thought up that I believe are interesting.

- For the people who like to play goody-two shoes, watch out. Picking the good option will not always be easy. You might find yourself turning into a religious fanatic or a psychopathic vigilante of justice before you realize it. You could be so good that people come to hate you for your better-than-everyone ego.

- For the people who like to play pure evil, you're not safe either. Death is permanant, and you can find yourself in situations that it is impossible to get out of without restarting the game. If you do want to be evil, and go out of your way to make the meanest possible choices, you will find yourself coming face to face with the moral choice being the most beneficial.

- It will be very easy to become a lunatic in this game. You are a talking rabbit, after all.

The dialog class system assigns you points for most dialog choices in either the good, bad, or crazy territories. These determine what kind of character you are and drastically shape the way you can interact with the game world.

Combat and death will not be handled lightly. There are no turning random corners to find yourself face to face with a hostile gang who wants to battle right there in the streets for no apparent reason. There are no random battles or monsters, or anything like that.

You choose your skills at the start of a new game. That's it. What about your name? Well, because of the amnesia, you don't know it. You will obtain different names throughout the game based on what people call you. You could go around calling yourself El Diablo or Fluffy, to name a few.

Skill system
Your skills determine what you can accomplish. You are given four points, and each skill can have either one, two, or no points in it.
The available skills are Mind (Intelligence), Body (Strength), and Focus (Skillfulness).

Job system
Each job or career provides connections and a way to travel around the world, which is very important as you cannot simply walk from city to city (you'd die in the desert).
The available jobs are migrant farming, missionary work, and drug trafficking.

Evil
This will be the first RPG to give you true evil choices. Being bad isn't just about random killings and demanding rewards anymore. If some paths are so incredibly amoral that no one can bring themselves to actually travel them, then my job was a success.

Locations
The story will be centered around the countries of Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.

Second post said:
You play as a humanoid black-tailed jackrabbit, waking up in the small Mexican town of Santa Rosalía, in Baja California. You don't know who you are, what you are, why you are here, and how you came to be. Travel through Central American and discover the mystery behind your own creation.

The assisted skill paradigm means that skill work in tandem with each other. Body and Speech give you the power of physical intimidation, for example. Mind, Body, Focus, Speech, and Tech are your available skills.

The dialog class system assigns you points for most dialog choices in either the good, bad, or crazy territories. These determine what kind of character you are and drastically shape the way you can interact with the game world. Your greedy bandito might discover that the most beneficial way is the most moral, or your do-good samaritan could become a religious extremist before you realize it. There is no turning back, and no last minute morality changes. This is a game of extremes.

Where to visit while traversing the region?
USA
- Arizona
- Nevada
- Texas
- Florida
Mexico
Guatemala
Honduras
Belize
San Salvadore
Panama
Cayman Islands

What about jobs? You can find work as a Humanitarian, Migrant Farmer, Archeologist, Agent, and Circus Performer.

Input, criticisms, praise, suggestions, and pictures of Carrie Underwood are welcome.

Original post said:
This is an alternative style RPG I've had swimming around in my head for a while. I plan on it being an intuitive text-based RPG with a slick interface and hand-drawn sprite cutscenes and backgrounds. The problem is, I have no experience with programming, so anyone out there who can give me some tips on where I should start would be great. I figure it would be not that difficult for me to learn how to program a text based game.

This isn't a swords and magic fantasy game, it's not a futuristic game, and it's not a post-apocalyptic game either. I'm getting tired of these. The year is 2287 C.E., and things are realitively similar to now, except for the obvious technical advances and some geography changes. The game will take place in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and eventually Arizona. You play as a rabbit who wakes up in Santa Rosalía, on the peninsula of Baja California. You start in a room that is almost completely empty. It turns out that you are in the house of a family that discovered you. They're extremely religious, and think you're a demon. Your first mission is to escape.

It's a classic amnesia tale, only this time you don't even know your name, and the only thing you do know is that you're not human. Your quest is to discover why you are a talking rabbit. You'll traverse large parts of Central America, mingle with the locals, get work in various fields including drug trafficing and migrant farming, and make connections that will link you to the source of how you came into existence.

I plan on a wide range of paths you can take. In good RPG style, none of these paths are set in stone. They will twist and turn as you progress through the story. Here are several eventual paths I have thought up that I believe are interesting.
- For the people who like to play goody-two shoes, watch out. Picking the good option will not always be easy. You might find yourself turning into a religious fanatic or a psychopathic vigilante of justice before you realize it. You could be so good that people come to hate you for your better-than-everyone ego.
- For the people who like to play pure evil, you're not safe either. Prison and death are permanant, and you can find yourself in situations that it is impossible to get out of without restarting the game. If you do want to be evil, and go out of your way to make the meanest possible choices, you will find yourself coming face to face with the moral choice being the most beneficial. You might turn into a Robin Hood type figure.
- For the people who like to play pure neutral, you're in the wrong game.
- It will be very easy to become a lunatic in this game. You are a talking rabbit, after all.

Combat and death will not be handled lightly. There are no turning random corners to find yourself face to face with a hostile gang who wants to battle right there in the streets for no apparent reason. There are no random battles or monsters, or anything like that.

It is probably a good time to describe stats. The stats are static, and while there are secret ways to obtain an extra point or two (similar to Fallout), they will, for the most part, not change. They also build on top of each other. The stats are Brain, Persuasion, Guile, Science, Tech, Muscle, Survival, and Weapons.

Brains
This affects your overall intelligence level. That's it. Max this out if you want to be an idiot savant. You'll need some points allocated here to really get anywhere in the game, from helping your other skills to understanding advanced words that people will use (for example, low brains won't allow you to understand the word "specific", it will come up as a random garbled letters). You can play without any brains, but it will be really, really tough and probably not that fun. With Persuasion, brains will give you a wider selection of intelligent options to use.

Persuasion
How affective you are at persuading someone, obviously. The neat thing here is that it is useless without high skill in another area to determine how you can persuade.

Guile
Lie, cheat, backstab. Resolve issues through cunning and wit. Solve puzzles and create them with masterful trickery. With persuasion in the back wing, you can become a very successful liar.

Science
Givin your intentions, to find out why you're a talking rabbit, you will come across many people in the scientific community, and will have opportunities to solve scientific problems. This is the second most useless skill in the game, but it will give you a greater understanding of the "main quest".

Tech
As the years go on, machines become even more integral to our lives. In the 23rd century, dependency has reached an extreme. Knowing how to operate, fix, and build technical devices is a very useful trait to have.

Muscle
You can move stuff and fight people. With persuasion, you can physically intimidate the hell out of them.

Survival
Survival is the most useless skill in the game. Well, that is, unless you don't want to be bothered with visiting towns. This is the free-roaming skill. You can roam for miles and miles into the barren desert living on cactus juice and bugs. Travel routes play a large part in the game, and with Survival you can bypass it all, even most of the story. Max it out and you won't even have to find work; just live off the land.

Guns
Shoot things, and, you know, shoot other things. Here's the combat skill. This governs what guns you can be proficient with, and how accurate you are. You'll need this skill to be at least 1/4 full to even consider violence as a major option.

As you can see, even the basic concept is a huge work in progress.

Thoughts?
 

Chefe

Erudite
Joined
Feb 26, 2005
Messages
4,731
The number of responses is astounding.

Choices and Consequences

I always liked the idea of a morality system hidden to the player. It takes something away when you can open up the inventory and find out how good/evil you are. Everything described here would be hidden to the player. You find out your consequences from progression, not from looking at a chart.

Another trope I would like to abandon is the hotlink search. You know what I'm talking about. Every RPG is subject to this. You click through the list of dialog choices one by one to get all the possible information you can get from that character, then search for the one that progresses the game in the way you want. Mess up? Just reload. That won't be the case here, and that's where the difficulty comes in. Every dialog choice, unless it leads to your death, will autosave the game. You can't go back and reload. You must think before you do something.

Back to the morality system, it's based on points. Every decision will give you at least one point towards a column. The story will change in drastic ways depending on when you hit certain milestones in these columns. Once you hit a milestone, there's no turning back without serious work. Some decisions, especially late in the game, will not only increase one column, but will also decrease another. Keep in mind this is a very rough idea. If anyone finds this interesting, some input would be great.

The starting columns are Good, Bad, and Crazy. They signify hard, medium, and easy difficulties, respectfully. They then branch out to Barely, Moderately, and Very. You'll be able to switch your alignment easier in Barely and Moderately, and more difficult in Very. Once you go past Very, you've reached the point of no return (for the most part). To keep a neutral character, you just never go past very. After Very, the plan is to make the choices so logical to your character's progression that you don't realize it until you "really realize" what has happened, mainly when you take things too far.

Of course, these will blend into each other. The idea of playing a psychopathic samaritan sounds fun.
 

Pussycat669

Liturgist
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Messages
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You're serious about this? In case that you are, there is the easy to use Inform 7 language for interactive fiction. It provides a good documentation and is overall user friendly. Although it isn't possible to create animated cut scenes with it as far as I can recall.
 

Chefe

Erudite
Joined
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Messages
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I didn't really mean animated cutscenes. I was thinking several frames after one another in sequence, like a comic book. I also wanted to put a background in, so you're not just staring at white text on a black background.

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out more in detail later, but a quick glance tells me it might not be exactly what I'm looking for. I want to build a text based RPG game that looks modern.

Any thoughts on the concept?
 

sqeecoo

Arcane
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Messages
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The talking rabbit thing is absolutely ridiculous - and great if you are serious about it, but I can't help but doubt it. "Finding work" eh? hahaha

Anyway, your other ideas sound very good, I especially like the morality system, and how you can "overdo" being good without noticing and become a fanatic, or find that being nice pays off, even if you are evil. Your "Barely, Moderately, and Very" system provides a solid way of doing this, I think.

The autosave after dialogue thing is a bit harsh - you'll have to make all choices VERY intuitive, or it will be very frustrating for a player if an option has unwanted consequences (not unexpected ones, that's fine).
 

Spectacle

Arcane
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Messages
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Re: Rabbit and the Mexicans - RPG brainstorming

The premise of this game sounds like pure genius to me. Quite Kafkaesque in its simplistic surrealism. The rest of your design ideas also make it sound very much like the kind of game I would enjoy.
 

sqeecoo

Arcane
Joined
Dec 13, 2006
Messages
2,615
Damn, another Pravin Lal. I'll just have to take miriam then I guess
 

Chefe

Erudite
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Messages
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Thanks. I am serious about this. The idea being so ridiculous is why. Central America allows me to provide all kinds of "work" for a talking rabbit that wouldn't exist anywhere else.

Blending the morality system is where I'm finding the most difficulty in brainstorming. It's easy enough starting with the Good, Bad, and Crazy paths, but choosing how to mix them together is another story. I'm hoping once I do more prep work the point system will fall into place.

The autosave dialog is what I'm most unsure about. I want to make a game, a real game with a real challenge. I think it's important that you can really lose, and that characters aren't portrayed to the player as dictionaries that you have to grab all the information out of through clicking all the dialog choices. Replayability is a big factor for me, and there should be tangible reasons to replay the game and see the very different paths.

A way around the harsh save system, I think, would be to make dying difficult. I don't want players to feel pressured into playing it safe, and I realize I'm walking the thin line of a lack of challenge. I think wrong decisions pushing you further from you goal would work. Does this qualify as good challenge? You won't be able to go on town rampages, and most combat is non-lethal. The player should want to "win" by finding out why he is a talking rabbit. Most RPGs, I feel, are trying to be simulations. I want mine to be a game, with simulation as a side dish.

I plan on making the choices intuitive. This is a problem that other RPGs face because of bad writing and poor word placement. I don't intend a challenge to be figuring out what your character is really saying. Your job is to choose what you really want to say. Since I don't have to worry about graphics and animation, 100% of the work will be devoted to ironing this out.
 

Chefe

Erudite
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Messages
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Some more ideas. Like always, I really need input! :D

Dialog Classes
Like I've mentioned, starting paths are Good, Bad, and Crazy. They branch off into Barely, Moderately, and Very variations. After Very, they further branch out. Each one is akin to a dialog "class". They require certain points to reach, and in turn provide their own points.

Some mix (Vigilante would be a mix between Good/Bad) and some are just progressions (Justice would be a progression from Good). I think I'll eliminate the possibility of choices removing points because that would result in downgrading a class, which is something I don't want to do.

Jobs
Jobs provide you with money and are a route to achieving the main quest goal. The job progression is listed from left to right.

Unemployed: Beggar - Survivalist
Migrant Farming: Farmer - Exporter
Mercenary: Jack of All Trades - Mercenary - Lone Wolf
Circus: Stagehand - Sideshow Freak - Performer - Star Performer
Drug Trafficing: Mule - Errand Boy - Hitman - Gang Leader - Negotiator - Second in Command
 

Chefe

Erudite
Joined
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Messages
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I've come up with a quick chart of some different paths and how they connect together.

chartxz2.gif


As you can see, it's a very rough idea and incomplete. I'm looking for some input on the decisions. Too much? Too little? Keep in mind that this will all be hidden from the player.
 

Joff1981

Educated
Joined
Jan 20, 2006
Messages
59
Project: Eternity
I like the concept, very unique. As far as the no-going-back autosave style in order to promote replayability I think as long as you can provide players with a fleshed-out conclusion to the particular story arc they are on at the time then I don't think players would have too much complaints that they didn't discover their identity. I think that most of the frustration comes down to the fact that the players are invested in a story and then it just cuts off abruptly with a "You are dead" screen and no resolution of any of the events that have occurred prior to your demise. If you think of what fallout did with it's ending screens and expand it to deal with the individual characters that you have had an effect on up until your demise it doesn't really matter that you failed to find out who you were because your individual journey would have a beginning, middle and end.

With your chart of different paths I saw some common threads running through and wondered if you'd be tracking the player accross these threads to open up the different paths and close others off?

Some that I spotted, I'm sure that they are others:

Selfishness (Greedy, Hustler) to selflessness (Helpful, Generous, Cop, Hero),
Lawful (Cop, Hero) to lawless (Vigilante, Anti-Hero),
Sadistic (Bully through to Devil Incarnate) to masochistic (Pushover, Doormat)

Good work so far, I'll keep an eye on this.
 

Chefe

Erudite
Joined
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Messages
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Joff1981 said:
I like the concept, very unique. As far as the no-going-back autosave style in order to promote replayability I think as long as you can provide players with a fleshed-out conclusion to the particular story arc they are on at the time then I don't think players would have too much complaints that they didn't discover their identity. I think that most of the frustration comes down to the fact that the players are invested in a story and then it just cuts off abruptly with a "You are dead" screen and no resolution of any of the events that have occurred prior to your demise. If you think of what fallout did with it's ending screens and expand it to deal with the individual characters that you have had an effect on up until your demise it doesn't really matter that you failed to find out who you were because your individual journey would have a beginning, middle and end.

Thank you for your response. You're absolutely right, the "You are dead" screen is horrible and is not something I will include. Ideally, failures don't result in you dying, but result in pushing you further away from your goal. You can die, but you'll know that you are going into a life-and-death situation. For example, if you are in the drug industry and you fly to Miami for a hit, and the target happens to be a big-time dealer, you should know that this is a definite life and death situation. If you run into a street gang and attempt to fight them, you won't die, but if you lose you'll end up in the hospital, and depending on your injuries it could be up to six months.

I think I forgot to mention that you only have three years to complete the game. This is in game time, of course. Rabbits, even humanoid ones, don't live very long.

With your chart of different paths I saw some common threads running through and wondered if you'd be tracking the player accross these threads to open up the different paths and close others off?

Most definitely.

Some that I spotted, I'm sure that they are others:

Selfishness (Greedy, Hustler) to selflessness (Helpful, Generous, Cop, Hero),
Lawful (Cop, Hero) to lawless (Vigilante, Anti-Hero),
Sadistic (Bully through to Devil Incarnate) to masochistic (Pushover, Doormat)

Good work so far, I'll keep an eye on this.

Predefining the routes might be a more coherent way of going about this. I didn't even think of the Pushover/Doormat path to be masochistic! That makes perfect sense, especially since I want that to be the path most accessible if you play the "traditional" RPG way.
 

Chefe

Erudite
Joined
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Messages
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Anthropomorphic, standing about 3 ft (91 cm) tall, black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus).

I've put together some more info about the morality and job system. As always, input is appreciated and needed!

Each major game path has certain jobs available to it.

Justice: Unemployed, Mercenary, Drug Trafficing
Religion: Unemployed, Migrant Farming, Mercenary
Psycho: Unemployed, Migrant Farming, Mercenary, Circus, Drug Trafficing
Greed: Mercenary, Circus, Drug Trafficing

chart2wr1.gif


Before you get a job, you will make decisions that will put you in one of three main columns (Bad, Good, Crazy). You can be mean, decent, or wild and still be able to switch between the three. Once you reach dangerous, good boy, or basket case status, you're locked into a path.

Don't worry, you won't have to be labeled a basket case for long. Once you get a job, the choices you make will put you in one of the sub classes. Also note that you can only switch to another job in your same path. For example, once you start down the justice path, you can't become a migrant farmer or join the circus. I know this sounds like pigeonholing, but I'll justify it not by saying it makes my job a hell of a lot more manageable, but that it eliminates the "sudden alignment switch" that is unfortunately prevalent in so many RPGs.

When I work out the details more I'll post an updated chart reflecting the new method, with regards to the more extreme personalities available. Keep in mind that ALL of this will be hidden to the player.
 

Helton

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Jazz Jackrabbit: Goodboy/Helpful/Justice
Spaz Jackrabbit: Basket Case/Maniac/Justice

Do you know these characters and does that seem about right?
 

Chefe

Erudite
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JJR2 is my favorite game of all time, and that does seem about right.
 

Castanova

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I'd be interested in some kind of game-world consistent explanation for a rabbit's ability to hold and operate a firearm.

One thing that I don't think you've mentioned - romance subplots. After all, it would be difficult to imagine a rabbit that isn't on the randy side. It could relate to list of "paths" - for example, a Bible Beater Rabbit might very well be a virgin and be incapable of consummating with any NPCs.
 

DraQ

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Castanova said:
I'd be interested in some kind of game-world consistent explanation for a rabbit's ability to hold and operate a firearm.
Well, it's an anthropomorphic rabbit (zomgfurry!!1), implying prehensile, human like, hands, although, being under 1 m tall and having light bone structure would mean, that some medical skill should be available as well to repair limbs broken by recoil. I don't know if such creature would be able to shoot even some peashooter (in terms of recoil) like, for example, Makarov pistol, without risking injury.
 
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see Howard the Duck by George Lucas for an explanation...

he uses particle cannons which dont have any recoil
see? where theres a will theres a way
 

sqeecoo

Arcane
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Messages
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What does "migrant farming" entail? And what would the "justice" path be?

So you'll have an actual job, eh? Is the game still structured through quests tied to your job?
The alignment thing sounds nice, but without too much gray areas, especially in the second table.
Anyway, the game seems brilliant, now that I see you are perfectly serious.

About the autosaves: I like the option, but perhaps you could autosave before a dialogue, and let the player revert to that point (before the next dialogue, i.e. autosave). This way he can't go back on his choices, but he could go back if he misunderstands an option or wants to do something else.

JarlFrank said:
sqeecoo said:
Damn, another Pravin Lal. I'll just have to take miriam then I guess

Prokhor Zakharov is the man, take him!

Miriam beats Zakharov (or Saratov, as he used to be called)!

Saratov stood in the officer's mess, sipping hot water spiked with mild stimulants. In the command center, Lal and the others questioned Morgan, trying to determine quickly the impact his presence might have on the mission, but Saratov cared little about that. He closed his eyes as the hot liquid trickled down his throat, welcoming the respite from the stress of fixing the Unity.
The door swung open behind him. He turned to see Miriam crossing the mess to the small metal sink. He watched her splash cool water onto her face. Finally he spoke.
"Your faith and psychology will not help us repair this ship, Officer. Perhaps you should save them for the lecture halls."
"They can help," she said simply, dabbing her face with a thin white towel. "They are as vital to this mission as your technical readouts and precision instruments."
"Are they?" He laughed once. "Shall my engineers join hands and pray the ship to planetside? Can God change the atom?"
"God, and faith, can change anything. Indeed, faith is more visible to me than the atom." She lifted one hand. "Faith keeps my hands steady in these troubled times. How about yourself?"
Saratov, clutching his hands around his metal cup, looked at her angrily, trying to discern if she knew about the tremble in his hands. "I am steadied by the knowledge that your belief systems are all but extinct."
"Perhaps. Yet I see the fear in your own engineers' eyes. Men and women who have science as their religion now know they may die tomorrow. It gives a body perspective."
"Meaningless perspective. The atom exists, God does not. You fill their minds with illusions."
She looked at him carefully. "My faith exists, for the world would be a different place without it. With faith, my actions are different, my responses to the events of my life are different. With faith, I look at you with calm instead of...pity."
"Pity?" He barked a laugh. "Your experiences are all subjective."
She toweled her hands dry, considering. "You kill my child. With faith to guide me I take no revenge and my heart heals, without faith I kill you, or spend my life in bitterness. Faith has altered my reality." Miriam turned to face him now, tossing the white towel on the counter between them like a gauntlet. "Show me the atom that will do that."
"Lithium," Saratov said, and grinned like a death's head. "I could put chemicals into you that would turn your heart bitter, and destroy your faith."
"No you couldn't." Her eyes were calm, defiant.
"It is a proven fact. It is scientifically valid. You can not deny it."
This time she did not speak, but held his eyes with hers, and he became aware again of the metal cup clenched in his hands. He finally spoke again, in a near whisper. "You can not measure faith. You are atoms, and nothing more. That your configuration of atoms believes in something it calls God means nothing. Your kind, you crusaders, have set back humanity a thousand years or more."
She suddenly reached up and grabbed his hands, holding them tightly. He felt the warmth in them, and he felt the tremble in his own hands, and knew she could feel it as well. She closed her eyes.
"Your atoms betray you," she said softly, and then released him. "Every struggle you undertake is for a purpose you can not define. Put your own faith in science, because it feels safe. Rescue the ship, because you consider it a grand experiment. Live or die, it changes nothing. God is waiting for you as well as me."
"Enough," hissed Saratov, and slammed his metal cup down on the counter. "I have no time for this. Pray or don't pray, the ship will be fixed. And you will thank me for it, Psych Chaplain." He turned and left the room. Miriam watched him go, calm, and then her eyes flickered to the ceiling's white expanse.
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Pussycat669 said:
You're serious about this? In case that you are, there is the easy to use Inform 7 language for interactive fiction. It provides a good documentation and is overall user friendly. Although it isn't possible to create animated cut scenes with it as far as I can recall.

Hey, that thing looks cool. I've downloaded it and going to give it a try. If I like it, I might create some text-RPG or something with it.
 

Chefe

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DraQ said:
Castanova said:
I'd be interested in some kind of game-world consistent explanation for a rabbit's ability to hold and operate a firearm.
Well, it's an anthropomorphic rabbit (zomgfurry!!1), implying prehensile, human like, hands, although, being under 1 m tall and having light bone structure would mean, that some medical skill should be available as well to repair limbs broken by recoil. I don't know if such creature would be able to shoot even some peashooter (in terms of recoil) like, for example, Makarov pistol, without risking injury.

I haven't even thought about that. The gun use will be very minimal, but necessary if you take a rougher approach. Your character does have some muscle, after all, as you've probably figured out he's a product of gene splicing between human and hare. The Makarov pistol is one option I'm exploring for his weapon, along with the Desert Eagle and an Old West style revolver. If anyone is good with weapons, some input would be great here. The only weapon I'm familiar with is the zweihänder I carry to work.

sqeecoo said:
What does "migrant farming" entail? And what would the "justice" path be?

When you migrant farm, you travel in caravans and harvest crops. You can be promoted to the rank of Exporter, which is the same thing except you get more money and have some higher-end contacts. Given the time limit, means of travel is a big issue.

Unemployed: Worst travel option. You'll spend ages trying to get anywhere (game time, as in the game telling you that it will be a while if you try and walk from Tapachula to Phoenix).
Mercenary: You will acquire several big favors where you can quickly travel anywhere. The challenge will be using these favors at the right time.
Drug Trafficing: You won't travel fast, but you won't travel slow either.
Circus: Very fast travel between areas, but the layover time hits hard.
Migrant Farming: Fastest travel option. Downside? You'll be poorer than every other profession (not including unemployed).

The Justice path is available to types who pass through Ambivalent, Helpful, or Maniac, and grants jobs in mercenary work and drug trafficing, and you can even be unemployed if you want. This is the idea I'm throwing around.

Justice:
-Mercenary: Fight for what you think the good of the people and society is, in your own rebel way.
-Drug Trafficing: Be responsible and don't take out any hits on innocents. Alternatively, you can even work undercover (not officially, but on your own terms, making this one of the most dangerous paths in the game) to try and bring down people in the industry.
-Unemployed: A philosopher or a guy who just goes around doing good for the hell of it. This will most likely net you the "nicest" ending.

So you'll have an actual job, eh? Is the game still structured through quests tied to your job?

The quests are more progressive, with most not having concrete beginnings and ends but instead building on each other. Think of the job subplots as bricks that come together to build the house that is the main quest. Jobs will determine your contacts, travel methods, money, and obviously the story. For pure freeform style, unemployment is an option, but you'll get hardly any quests (since you won't be looking for real work, you'd be a mercenary then).

The alignment thing sounds nice, but without too much gray areas, especially in the second table.

Care to elaborate?

Anyway, the game seems brilliant, now that I see you are perfectly serious.

Thank you. My ego is well pleased. :D

About the autosaves: I like the option, but perhaps you could autosave before a dialogue, and let the player revert to that point (before the next dialogue, i.e. autosave). This way he can't go back on his choices, but he could go back if he misunderstands an option or wants to do something else.

Dialogs will be presented in "arcs" that make up several conversations before an autosave. I'm hoping this will resolve the problem you just described.
 
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a drug dealing rabbit mercenary - nice

dont give away the plot of the game on the forums, it will ruin the surprise for people
 

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