I've started working on a new storygame in the advanced editor and thought I'd get some feedback from you guys.
It's a storygame I am adapting from a novel I've been working on for the past two years. I am hoping that not only will it help me out with writing the book, but also maybe give me some fresh ideas for it as well. Don't worry, this is spoiler free!
So here is the basic story line:
You will begin the game as Dmitri Chekov, a Russian boy living on the outskirts of St. Petersburg with your mother and step-father. Your country is currently in the midst of the Checken-Russian war, which your father died in only two years prior to the present story. Your mother has remarried a man who, unlike your kind hearted father, is a drunk with a mean streak. The first chapter weaves the tale of your home life as the Russian Winter blankets the world around you. The tired, world weary woman whom you call Mama lives in the middle of a difficult decision. She has married a man who abuses both herself and her child, but without him you would both starve or freeze to death without a home. You will see the difficult home life through a child's eyes, ultimately you will have to make a very adult decision at the ripe young age of ten.
In Chapter two you play Dmitri as he runs away to the nearby city of St. Petersburg. Battling hypothermia in the frigid night, only to be unknowingly saved by a little girl name Anastasia. She has been homeless for nearly two years, having escaped an orphanage. She lets you stay in her "house", a condemned storage facility where she has gathered various blankets and a sleeping bag, along with many other "treasures". All too soon you are submersed into the world of Russia's street children. A mixture of orphans, runaways, or both who either band together in large gangs or pair off into small groups of friends. The methods of survival can be harsh, but you must make many difficult choices between an easier survival, or doing what you think is right despite it making things more difficult. All the while you may forge powerful friendships or begin to harbor dangerous enemies.
In Chapter three time will fast forward four years. You are fourteen and Anastasia is twelve. At this ripe young age you must face an adult world, which all too soon you discover is violent and wicked. Will you face your adult decisions with anger, violence, and a possessive tendency or will you be patient, compassionate, and loving? Will you allow yourself to grow close to the girl who saved you that night four years ago or will you push her away, only viewing her as a means of survival?
Chapter four again will fast forward time four more years, you will be eighteen and Anastasia sixteen. No longer homeless, you have managed to secure a small, cheap apartment. But, jobs are scarce and money nearly worthless in the midst of a nation wide financial crisis. Opportunities will come to you in the form of life changing choices. Will you turn to crime, serve your country, or be a simple jack of all trades? Will you begin to see the beginnings of love for the beautiful young woman you have protected and befriended throughout eight years of just trying to survive? Or is she simply a nuisance, a nagging woman constantly questioning your decisions?
Chapter five will bring all of your conclusions to one of several endings. The nature of which you will have to play the game to see!
Let me know what you think! Good or bad, I want to hear your opinions. Suggestions are more than welcome! I am trying to keep the game as realistic and historically accurate as possible, but not to the point of it being boring. There will be action, romance, and tear jerker scenes! Coming soon!
