Posted December 10th, 2009 by micah
The story, so far…
Part 1 – Diary of a new iPhone game
Part 2 – Adventures in game engines
Part 3 – (you’re reading it)
Warning: If you’re a gamer and care about reading spoilers, stop reading! I don’t know when this game will come out, probably not for a couple months, but just FYI. This post outlines the linear story, what you have to do each step of the way, or what I’ve come up with so far. If you have ideas for things that might make it better, or especially if you have ideas for how to nicely tie up the ending, please post them in the comments!
Above is the same map from the previous post. I’ve only slightly worked on it more, but haven’t bothered scanning it yet. South of the castle I’ve added a village, which will contain normal village stuff like a blacksmith, but also Haken’s house, the hacker kid. Also the line of trees closes off south of the village, with only one entrance into the forest below, which I haven’t come up with a good name for yet.
So for reference, the top left is the dragon’s lair (I haven’t yet designed the interior). The top middle is the inside of the castle castle, with the outside right below it. The top right is the girlfriend troll’s bridge, and past it the desert where Ye Olde Electronics Shoppe is. Immediately to the south of the castle is where the village will be, and south of that will be the entrance to another forest, where you have to go to retrieve a cell phone. So based on all that, here’s what I’ve got:
State 0
- Game starts out with cutscene of a witch burning. You, the princess, protest, but the king won’t listen because you’re a woman. You vow to overthrow the king and restore justice to the kingdom.
- You begin the game in the castle, in your room. Everyone in the castle and in the village tells you things like “If that dragon, Vak, that’s being kept prisoner in the mountains to the west ever got freed, he would help overthrow the king for sure.”
State 1
- Activated by talking to the troll guarding the bridge to the west. When you talk to him he tells you you cannot past, and besides he’s grumpy. If you keep talking to him you find that he’s grumpy because of he’s lonely and never gets to talk to his girlfriend. If you could just get him a cell phone so he can send her texts, he would be happy to let you cross. He hear’s rumor that there’s a cell phone hidden in a tomb at the end of the forest to the south. Until then, get lost.
State 2
- Travel through the forest, find the tomb, beat the boss, get the cell phone. When you have the cell phone, State 2 is activated.
State 3
- Talking to the troll again activates State 3. He looks at the phone and says it doesn’t work because it doesn’t have a battery. He says you should be able to get a battery from the Ye Olde Electronics Shoppe in the desert to the east.
- If you travel to the east there’s another troll bridge, and before State 3 the troll just brushes you off. At State 3, you tell her you’re getting a battery for the other troll, and you realize this is the troll’s girlfriend. She grants you passage to get the battery, and she gives you a bouquet of rotten celery to give to her boyfriend next time you see him.
State 4
- You travel through the desert and at the end find Ye Olde Electronics Shoppe, and buy a battery from the shop keeper. When you have the battery State 4 is activated.
State 5
- Travel back to the original troll and give him the battery, and the rotting celery bouquet, to activate State 5. He is eternally grateful and grants you free access.
State 6
- Past the troll, over to the mountains where Vak the dragon is being held, there’s a guard who won’t let you pass. When you talk to him State 6 is activated. He says you cannot pass without proper documentation signed by the king.
State 7
- Activated by talking to the office worker, Phil, inside of the castle. You say you need fake documentation allowing you access to Vak’s lair. He says that’s the highest treason, but he supposes he can do it for you if you do him a favor. He wants more than anything a laptop computer. It will greatly speed up his office duties, and he hears spreadsheet software can do wonders. He says he believes you can buy a laptop from Ye Olde Electronics Shoppe.
State 8
- Activated by buying a laptop from Ye Olde Electronics Shoppe.
State 9
- Activated by talking to Phil again. He says the laptop is slow and has viruses, and maybe someone in town can help. But for now it’s useless to him.
State 10
- Activated by talking to Haken, the hacker kid in the village. He gets very excited about the task and formats the hard drive and installs Linux for you.
State 11
- Activated by talking to Phil again. He gives you the fake documents you requested.
- Afterwords you can go into the mountain lair where Vak the dragon is being held prisoner. Fight your way to the end, fight the final boss guarding him.
State 12
- After defeating the boss (activating State 12), Vak is very grateful and agrees to fight with you to overthrow the unjust king. But he’s still chained up, and he says the chains have magical powers and can’t be cut with normal tools. He says he’s friends with the witches in the Wicked Forest south of his lair. They’ll help you.
State 13
- Activated when you talk to the covenant of witches in the Wicked Forest. When you talk to them before State 13, they don’t say much. Now when you tell them that plight of Vak they’re glad to help. Also, they insist that they prefer the term wiccan to witch. They say that you can only cut his chains with mystical bolt-cutters. They give you a key to a tomb that’s in the Wicked Forest and say that if you venture deep into the tomb you’ll find bolt-cutters. Bring them back to them and they’ll cast a spell on them to make them mystical.
State 14
- Activated when you go into the tomb and beat the boss. After beating it, you get the bolt-cutters.
State 15
- Activated when you talk to the covenant again. They cast a spell on the bolt-cutters and make them mystical. Now you can go free the dragon.
And so far, this is all I’ve got.
I still need to come up with a good way to wrap things up. I’m thinking in the end I want to have you, with the help of Vak and the witches, overthrow the king. And, possibly, let the covenant set up a fair and just and democratic governing system in it’s place. So peace and justice can be restored to land, where witches and dragons can live free from persecution. The end.
I just don’t quite know how to get there. I’m thinking I don’t want it overly violent, like you killing your father. Maybe the witches can turn him into a monkey instead? I’m still working on it, but I’m definitely all ears to suggestions.
Also, A Princess Tale is just a working title. I’m open to suggestions for something more fitting too.
Part 1 – Diary of a new iPhone game
Part 2 – Adventures in game engines
Part 3 – (you’re reading it)
