Overarching Focus
Monday, June 18, 2018
1:51 AM
For good story:
Focus on conveying each character and entity's physical/mental needs, limitations, and desires
E.g. Start with scene of Vanse covered in blanket in Jeep headed to HQ as beacon showing Prototype has awakened shines in distance
Event: Some members of PG try to convince the Prototype to come along to some sort of field work or other event that seems mundane. During the event, the mundane transforms into something more exciting and unusual
Optional event: Something you can ride or enter comes and goes constantly from one specific location. If you stick around long enough, you will encounter it, and have the opportunity to ride/enter it and take part in a small side-story/event.
Location: Somewhere that "feels like home" - a place with a warm aura where the player can take solace. Perhaps an associated character and/or associated repeating event, such as a recurring upgrade.
Event: Then… Right when the player gets used to going to the above location, take it away from them. Everything seems normal but when the player returns, the place is destroyed (or disappeared?) - a new path is revealed, a new branch of story unravels.
Location: Somewhere that feels like a distant corner of an unfamiliar world full of unfamiliar people/beings. Reference: CowBop Chess Master Episode
Location/Time Frame: Somewhere and some event where you feel isolated and cut off from everything that had you feeling confident and comfortable before
Weapon Enno (Shards/Sections): Are obtained element-less and devoid of unique characteristics. Are transformed into weapons by way of a technique called "Enno Fashioning."
Only a few of the scientists (and maybe a side character or two) can fashion Enno
 A story event where the Prototype is traveling with a character who cannot fashion Enno, and after the Prototype obtains a new Enno shard, they remark, "What? Forget it. Not everyone can just modify Enno on the spot."
Even fewer characters can fashion Enno without being physically with the Prototype (and maybe using some sort of equipment) unless they know the Prototype's inner systems and construction like the back of their hand
Therefore, if an Enno weapon is ever found pre-fashioned, there will only be a very select group of characters who could have created it
The potential would exist for an "incompatible" but pre-fashioned Enno weapon to be discovered, e.g. something meant for Calenbloom
To fashion Enno, maybe require that the Prototype has developed a "Perfect Idea" to fashion it after. For example, a Perfect Idea may be obtained by interacting with an enemy or defeating it using many possible methods.
This way, Enno weapons don't simply "exist" but take after things from the game world, giving them an origin and a sense of history. Examples might be, one Enno weapon ("Special Weapon?") may take after/be fashioned after a tool or weapon some old-timer has used for years. Or one Perfect Idea may originate from a character or enemy who dies or disappears.
Multiple Enno shards may be necessary to fashion some weapons?
Create a template for immersive, engaging settings which must be completed in whole prior to the creation of given setting's graphical and audio assets
Create a template for living, motivated characters: Their motives, desires, history, physical traits, age, relationships, likes and dislikes, quirks, style, key story events they influence and/or are affected by, ways and times they change over the course of the game/story