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Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

So like an idiot I decided to join the EPIC Contest in the hopes of completely annihilating Digit. For this contest I'll be going with a horror sci-fi story set in SPAAACE, specifically on a space station that's infested with aliens and shit. Basically System Shock 2 or Prey 2017 but more EBIC.

I'm pretty much ripping off Prey with the theme being dreams and waking up and shit. In fact the title is Within Dreams (because In Dreams, named after the Roy Orbison song, was taken).

So far I'm planning and I got a swanky title page up. I will not switch ideas no matter what happens. I don't care if the site dies, I'll make this a Goddamn choicescript game if I have to. Either I finish this story or I wallow in the SHAME pit. You can quote me on that.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago
That is a very swanky title page indeed.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

What the fuck Chris, that girl looks about 14.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

I was going to ask why that was a problem for you, but then I remembered that you're a momma's boy.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago
Nice title page, looks like fun. Good luck!

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

@Bucky

Here's your damn update. About a week early too.

Within Dreams

Genre: Science Fiction/Horror

Underlying Theme: Dreams, and how they can easily turn into nightmares when we're not looking.

Setting and Plot Synopsis:

The setting is the spaceship the Priestess in the year 2087. The Priestess was sent to colonize a planet, Motia-451, that would take ten light years to reach. As such, everyone on the ship was placed in cryogenic sleep to speed up the process, with the crew operating in 'shifts' every six months; for one half year this set would maintain the ship, the next another, so on and so forth. The player is an engineer that had just finished their shift and was placed in cryogenic sleep for the last stretch of the trip.

The next time they wake up the ship is in utter chaos. Motians, the native species of Motia-451, swarmed the ship once it landed on Motia-451. They take the form of the typical 'Gray' aliens, albeit much more intimidating in terms of height and build. The protagonist must make their way through the ship's various areas to achieve their goal. They can either choose to focus on escaping (with or without the rest of the ship's surviving crew) or defeating the Motians and taking the ship back.

Escaping would focus on the protagonist making it through the ship's various areas to reach the escape pods that are still operating. They will start in the cryogenic chambers within Sickbay, going through the barracks, the research lab, the engines, and finally reaching the hangar in that order. They can choose to rescue crew members if they want to.

Taking the ship back would involve journeying through the ship in that same order, but instead focusing on wiping out all the Motians on the ship. The protagonist can still choose to rescue crew members who will then fight alongside them.

The finer details are hidden, because I don't wanna spoil anything.

Main Characters:

Jun Yuen - The protagonist. Gender is selectable. Mid thirties. An engineer aboard the Priestess, recently awoken from cryogenic sleep to find the ship in ruins. Surprisingly calm and collected in the face of this threat, and prone to making wry remarks about their situation.

Plato - Basically speaking, your mission control and guide. Seemingly male. Unknown age. Contacts the player after they've woken up and guides them through sickbay. Very enigmatic, but you'll have to wait for the story to come out before you can uncover the truth about him.

Captain Diego Becker - First rescueable crew member. Male. Early fifties. The captain of the Priestess, who was awake the whole ten years the ship was traveling to Motia-451. Formal, military type, even in these dire circumstances. Seems shady but there's no proof that he's done something wrong. Keep an eye on him.

Dr. Gabriella Fontana - Second rescueable crew member. Female. Early forties. Chief science officer of the Priestess, also awake the whole ten years. Brilliant, but stuck up, especially when interacting with Yuen (due to their background as an engineer). More noticeably terrified than Yuen or Becker, but still capable of snootiness during rare moments of calm. Doesn't seem particularly shady.

Grigori Yakovlev - Third rescueable crew member. Male. Mid forties. Head of engineering, the third and final member of the crew kept awake during the ten year trip. Stern, no bullshit attitude. Not terrified of the situation like Fontana or desensitized to the situation like Yuen and Becker, but rather just hopeless; he feels there's nothing that can be done and is waiting to be killed. Due to his personality, he doesn't hide a damn thing from anyone and tells it like it is.

There are more side characters that don't do anything interesting. They're just red shirts to be rescued and brought along with you or used as cannon fodder against the Motians.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago
Sounds interesting. Doesn't really seem like the plot of an overly long story at first glance, but it looks like you're hinting you may not be able to trust all the crew members or that there are ways to get to know more about them that could make things more complicated. Also curious if the title references more than just being woken up from the cryogenic sleep. (And was everyone else woken up at the time the ship was invaded too?)

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

Yeah, I would advise against trusting anyone blindly. Even if they don't look it, they've all got something to hide from you.

As for the title, it mostly refers to being woken up from the cryo sleep but also the idea that the dream of colonizing this distant planet has suddenly fallen apart and turned into a nightmare. However, as you'll see in the story, some people are still holding onto the hope that the dream can come true, including you if you choose.

And no, not everyone was woken up at the same time as Yuen; when the ship landed the crew that was active decided to scout out the planet, which led to the native population swarming the ship and taking it over. The survivors tried to wake up everyone else but ended up forgetting all about poor Yuen in the process; they were then woken up for their next shift a month later (as a year and five months had passed between their last shift and the ship being invaded).

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

@CrashAndDive did some great art for the story after I called in a commission from two or so years ago. This'll be put in the story when the player has their first encounter with a Motian in the sickbay. Thanks again, Crash.

Buff Grey Alien and Blue Astronaut by FanOFluffStuff

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago
Oh that was pretty quick. And that's a way better request than Zag's man made of chicken nuggets.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

I don't know about that. A man made of chicken nuggets sounds incredible.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago
what the fuck

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago
So does that turn you on, mizal?

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

I was the one who reminded her she owed you.

You're welcome. 

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

Interesting. And yet she never had the time to finish the art she owes me. Goddamn fucking aces, man.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago
I finally read this thread. Your EPIC looks really cool. I'm looking forward to reading it!

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

Here's the first page of the story, as a little teaser to whet the appetite:

"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before."
- Edgar Allen Poe, The Raven

You run from something that you can't see. Sweat pours from your face, and your chest rapidly rises and falls in time with your hurried breathing. You duck into a small, dark corner, hoping that the color of your pressurized suit is dark enough to blend into the shadows. If so, whatever's after you might not notice you and you can slip by it.

As you catch your breath you hear it approach. Heavy footsteps echo on the metal floor, and as it draws closer you can feel your heart ready to jump out of your chest. At this point, you don't even want to know what it is, you just wish it would just leave you the hell alone. You're not keen on dying.

It's funny, really. So close to your destination, only for some extraterrestrial to get onto the ship and slaughter everyone. You're all that's left. You can only pray. Pray that it loses interest and leaves the ship, pray you can get to the escape pods, pray you can trap it in an airlock and jettison it into space.

Pray.

A large, gray hand grabs at your throat, pulling you from your hiding spot. All you can manage to make is a sharp, surprised gasp before the only sounds emanating from you are gurgled attempts to breathe. Empty, black eyes gaze into your very soul. It looks amused almost. Like it finds humor in your feeble attempt to hide, and your feeble attempt to breathe.

It tightens its grasp on your throat and your last thoughts are of how stupid it was to sign up for this mission.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

Hey, it's a start. Don't stop! I can't think of any games on this site like this, which seems like a pretty obvious choice to put our humble editor to good use.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

So, a quick question for those watching the thread.

Since I've gotten more into including music in my storygames, I figured 'hey, why not include a song in this story?' So, I decided that the genre would mostly be swing to contrast with the bleak, horrific atmosphere of the Priestess, and I'm currently torn between two songs to use when the player first wakes up from cryo to find the ship in ruins.

Choice one is Heart and Soul. I'm sure all of you have heard this song at least once. Probably from Family Guy if you're into that kinda shit.

Choice two is a far less famous song called S'Posin'.

So, which song should I use? I'm looking for the one that best contrasts (far too pleasant sounding) and compliments (sounds very haunting) the atmosphere.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago
How are you going to implement it? Is it going to auto-play, starting over, on each page? Are you going to ensure that it plays continuously over all the pages? Will the user have control to shut the damn music off when they're sick of it?

That said, of the two you posted, S'Posin' would be much better, IMO, because there's no lyrics to distract the reader.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

Like I did in my TechNOIR story, I was planning on linking it within the story and having it be, y'know, actual music playing within the story. The music would be entirely optional.

Actually, S'Posin' does have lyrics that kick in after the first minute.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago
As long as the music doesn't interrupt the reading -- but as for anything with lyrics, I would think that would tend to distract the reader from the actual reading part.

Oh, wait, just a link in the story? I dunno if anyone will care that much. I was picturing you having the music simply play when someone starts reading the story, and that could get tricky across pages.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

This seems like an odd choice.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

Not trying to rip off Fallout and its retro-futuristic world, no sir, not me.

How so?
 

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

It may be that instead of creating the desired contrast, you may find it to cause more of a artistic dissonance.

Music has the ability to manipulate how we interpret information, how we read into events. Easy listening music may sabotage the suspense I assume you are aiming for.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

Fair point, I suppose. Honestly if I want to create suspense, might be best to just not do music at all, as clicking on this bright blue hyperlink in the middle of the story just to listen to some music miiight pull the reader out of it.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

Update 6/30/18:

I... Have not been doing too well when it comes to keeping up with writing. I'm not going to make excuses, I've just been a lazy bum and have focused on just playing vidya gaems instead of buckling down and writing for the last week or so. But that's going to change. Doesn't matter what the fuck I have to do, I don't care if I've got to lock myself in a cabin with nothing but a typewriter to keep me busy, I will finish this story before the contest is over.

At the moment of writing this post, the wordcount is 3,059 and the pagecount is 13 (18, counting pages that are under construction and the title page [which contains nothing]). I'm in the middle of writing the prologue, focusing on the last day before the player enters cryosleep. Of course, they'll wake up from cryo when the fecal matter comes into contact with the rotary device, beginning the story proper.

Here's a basic checklist I've whipped up, representing the chapters and the progress made on them:

Prologue (Good Morning): 13/20 planned pages, 3,089 (current)/5k (minimum) words
Chapter One (Good Afternoon): 0/??? pages, 0/25k (minimum) words
Chapter Two (Good Evening): 0/??? pages, 0/25k (minimum) words
Epilogues (Good Night): 0/12 (3 to each of four epilogues) planned pages, 0/5k (minimum) words
Total: 13/32 pages, 3,089/60k (minimum) words

I covered the issues in the writing process in the first paragraph of this report; mostly they don't lie in the writing process itself, but in the person doing the writing. And, as I said above, I plan on buckling down in the coming months, and hopefully finishing the story if not ranking somewhere in the contest.

So, thanks all for tuning in I suppose. And @Bucky , here's your damned update.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago
If you're looking for help in instilling some writing discipline, I've always heard great things about Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago
Consistency will help you increase your productivity. Pick a set time and write during that time period every day, even if it's only for an hour.

Chris' EPIC Contest Entry Progress Thread

5 years ago

I always preferred the phrase, "When the poop hits the propeller". But that's just me.