Josh Sunga - Week 2 HW

- more under cut -

Hero's Journey

1. I want the ordinary world to our characters to be something exciting to the players. The first place is a habitat conservation area in the jungle, unexplored and left to subsist in a strict, pristine environment. Our hero calls this place home and has long lost the spark of adventure despite the flourishing world that surrounds him. Our secondary hero is a young boy who comes from the gutters and alleyways of a booming industrial city. The city leads in the innovation of mechanical technology (gadgets, weapons, mechs and other means of transportation), and celebrates the culture of bending steel to humanity’s employment.
2. Adventure’s call manifests in a crash landing and a regrettable confrontation with official authority. Basically, our hero is placed in a pinch between the law and sticking with a ten year old bandit boy.
3. Our heroes refuse the call of adventure when they part ways in the jungle in a stubborn act to prove that they are better off on their own.
4. The kid hero meets the mentor while he is off on his own. He also refuses the mentor’s help because of a deep set discrimination towards old people (grown ups). The mentor is actually a legendary adventurer presumed to be dead. Eventually, the mentor brings the kid under his wing and sets him off on little missions. (basic tasks for the player to learn) Meanwhile, our other hero is off fending off bounty hunters and the wild on his own. Gameplay parallels lessons from the boy’s missions to actual application as our first hero. The mentor’s final task for the boy is to survive on his own…
5. The two heroes cross paths again and are forced to work together after being stalked by an incredibly adamant predator. The two defeat the creature and discover something terribly wrong with it. (animal experimentation) Spooked, our heroes reason that depending on each other’s strengths is a strictly logical decision.
6. As a duo, the two continue to survive and defeat foes and make friends where there are any. Wild creatures can be fought, avoided, or maybe even befriended. A bounty hunter’s arrival in the scene will be like surprise boss fights.
7. Strange subtleties come to the duo’s attention. Predatory creatures have been more aggressive, and passive ones act timid. “Critically endangered species” don’t seem to be so endangered. An endemic plant known to be lethal to the touch actually remedies wounds. And they would also like to know why crimes like poaching (and even grand theft auto) would be cause for the excessive line up of bounty hunters and bandits they have faced. The duo finds their reason in a (legal) research facility granted government permission to broaden knowledge in the sciences and learn about the endangered species in the jungle. The duo knows there is something fishy. They unknowingly sneak into a vast operation of discovering a destructive power that trumps any technological innovation back in the industrial cities. (This is the ancient warrior found deep underground from a legend that I’ll make up for the prologue of the game)
8. Feeling weak and afraid, the duo tries to escape the evil lair. A true test of the lessons learned in the jungle comes to play deep underground it. Players will try to get as close as they can to the surface but will ultimately fail. Decisions made in past gameplay will greatly affect this mission. Captured animals that the player may have shown mercy to or helped earlier in the game can be released to aid the escape. After the player fails, the mentor and a band of allies made earlier in the game unexpectedly come to the rescue.
9. The reward is the problem of stopping possible world domination. And also new supplies/upgrades found at the mentor’s hideout.
10. The road back leads to the little hero’s home. The detour to the city (for new supplies/allies) will introduce a new environment to the player along a more intramural path to the city. Then there is also the road back to the jungle to thwart the evil within.
11. It’s too late… The warrior has already been awakened and stands tall amidst the jungle canopy as the heroes return (they are flying in a ship). Chaos ensues. It seems that the culprits have lost control of their monster; people are seen fleeing the jungle. No one cares who is friend or foe, some past bounty hunters offer to help bring down the warrior. It’s learned that there is a failsafe with an officer who still believes he can conquer the world. The mentor being wise in his nature, reveals that the “poisonous” plants endemic to the jungle actually are poisonous- to the warrior. An explosive filled with chemicals extracted from the plants is used to end the warrior. The player makes the ultimate sacrifice to detonate the weapon at the warrior’s heart. But then again, it was learned that the plants healed wounds and was only poisonous to the warrior. The force of the explosion tore the hero apart while the mass substance discharged healed his body. (It’s revealed that this is like the animal experiments on a much grander scale)
12. The elixir is in the result of the explosion. The hero’s body has been molecularly modified. The player now has the ability to (potentially) befriend the creatures of the forest, and continue on with side quests and stuff.