   shades of grey
  well, it''s been a while since I''ve been here.Anyways, I have been etching out a game Idea in my head, and was looking for some input.The story--The player finds himself waking up after a nightmare. The nightmare is pretty vague, but he/she has the feeling that something terrible has happened. After getting dressed and stepping out of the room, he finds that his room is not connected to the rest of his house, but an elevator. Thinking he is still dreaming. After riding it to the top, he finds himself in the land of Limbo.He is quite confused as to what he is doing there, but after wandering around for a couple minutes he bumps into a shady character. Although uneasy, he is now lost in the city, and trusts the person to help him back home.Before they get very far, a woman in white (dressed like a lawyer) stops them, and goes on to argue with the shady character. The player just sits there confused for a while, until the lady explains what has happened.The nightmare at the beginning was not a nightmare. He had been in an accident and was now in a coma. A mistake had been made doing the Paperwork (The world of Limbo will have a slight government-esque feel to it) and the boy is pronounced dead. Since his death was not his fault, he had been placed in Limbo to determine which place he went to (while trying to avoid any positive/negative connotations of "heaven" or "hell")The shady character was actually the "attorney" or "agent" assigned to him from the dark side, the woman the Agent from the light. The boy in fact is quite not dead, much to the surprise of both Agents. They go to the Court at once to appeal his death certificate.After lengthy proceedings  It is determined that if the boy is to have his death certificate rescinded, he would have to find (insert some yet to be known legal document here) and return it to the court. Since the area outside of Limbo is quite dangerous, the two Agents would be his protectors, also watching and recording his rights or wrongs.This sets about the premise for the game, a third party not alligned with either light or dark side will enter into the story, and the boy will have to stop it from destroying Limbo.As the story progresses, he will learn more of his accident and the role of this third party in causing it.--This whole game concept came about because I was messing with thoughts on good and evil. I want to make it clear that the player doesn''t have to choose one over the other, and the consequences wouldn''t be as typical as they are (i.e. you use dark power = you are bad = you go to hell = the ending is unhappy) no. I would try to keep the two more equal, or something.And lastly, the role of the two Agents (dark and light) would be very integral as far as gameplay. the character''s appearance would become different if he used one more than another, or either a certain number of times. It would tie into just about everything, but not in too much of a large way.Anyways, thanks for reading all of this. If you have any ideas, suggestions, or questions, just let me know. thanks! 
  Neat idea.  A few comments:Using the terms "dark" and "light" polarizes readers and presumably players toward them.  We automatically think that dark is evil and light is good.  You might be better off aligning them with logos and chaos, or order and entropy, or the Dionysiac and the Apollonian.  That way they can stay a little more neutral.  Optimally, I''d like to see a situation in which the default position is a middle ground between them.  If you go too far in one direction or the other, it''ll be a little weird.The "look for a lost document" quest needs a little work.  I''d prefer a maze of red tape, where each authority figure passes you to the next."Hi, I''m here to have my death certificate reconsidered.""Sorry, that''s not our department, go to the ''Life Cycle'' department.""Hi, I was told you could help me out with my death certificate.  You see, I''m not really...""Wrong window, sugar.  Swing by the Post-Mortem Office to get that looked at.""Hi, I need some help with this certificate.  It was issued in error to me...""This certificate is invalid.  Go get it notarized at the main office.""But I was just there, they said...""Move along, sir.  NEXT!"And so forth.  The third party, and thus the substance of the game, could arise while you''re bouncing around from desk to desk in Limbo, and your advisors might motify you that earning a boon from the ruling power would slice through that red tape quite handily, so you set about solving the large problem, rather than dealing with the buraucracy.As far as using the two advocates as allies in the course of the game, I''d almost rather see a large number of small matters to clear up, rather than a single huge force to combat.  Dealing with a series of minor conflicts and scenarios would also provide a good medium for the "devil on your shoulder" kind of thing.  You could consult your advisors and then act in accordance with either, both or neither of them, according to your ascertainment of the situation.This is a very neat idea.  I hope it goes someplace. ;  reminds me of an old movie.  The premis was that that a world war 2 fighter pilot was suppose to die in a parachuting accident.  However because of mix up in heaven he surives and gets an extra day of life. However during that day he falls in love with a woman and she falls in love with him. There a scenes where he almost drifts back to heaven like he is suppose to, which was kind of interesting since heaven was black and white and real world was in color.  He is assigned an attorney by heaven to argue his case that he should live because the extra day allowed him to fall in love.It was a good movie although I doubt anyone here has heard of it...I agree that that rather then some major quest to retrive a life certificate that it would be better to do a number of smaller tasks.  Such as the exciting find your way to the superviors office task.  Or perhaps complete form "Application to have coporeal status reinstated on grounds of clerical over site" in triplicate. -----------------------------------------------------Writer, Programer, Cook, I''m a Jack of all TradesCurrent Design project: Ambitions Slave   ;  Heh.  Maybe you would have to fill out the form yourself, and if you made any typographical errors at all, it would be rejected.  Same thing for formatting.  They''d just tell you that paragraph six is not acceptable, and you have to go down to the Eternal Library to look up the right way to spell "noncorporealitude". ;  lol, the gaming sensation Sim Bureaucracy, all the fun of waiting for hours in the wrong line, deciphiering incomprehensible forms, trying to get useful help from the help desk and of being told you submission is unaccaptable sending you back to the begining again.  Offices open only between the hours of 11:00 am and 3:00 pm, closed weekends and holidays.    "Noooo,  I spent two hours in line to get the form to request form RX-CE-109, when I needed RX-CE-107, and know the form request office is closed so I'll have to comeback tommorow."-----------------------------------------------------Writer, Programer, Cook, I'm a Jack of all TradesCurrent Design project: Ambitions Slave[edited by - TechnoGoth on March 30, 2004 5:53:52 PM];  Thursday is a holiday. ;  glad everybody caught on to the whole government esque thing. anywho, I should mention that Limbo is more than just this city on the clouds, there is also to do with the land around and other cities. but there will always be that polished office desk feel. anywho, yeah. I agree, several smaller tasks (that will influence the story, not just be pointless items> is a good idea. I will have to get back to you guys on that.More on the role of the two agents. Mainly, you will use them in combat. All of your stuff is either dark, light, or nuetral. Since its afterlife and stuff, I''ll use the example of wings. If you use dark wings, you will have higher speed, evade dark attacks, etc. but your dark meter will increase. If your dark meter is far bigger than your light meter, you will be succeptable to light attacks. its kind of a give and take relationship.Ok, keep it coming. this is some good feedback.p.s. what sort of weird stuf would a dead person be able to do in an afterlife? the ground will be all clouds, or metal, or rocks and stuff, to give you an idea on environment. The buildings are all gothic stone and metal.thanks!~chokki ;  I rememeber a game for the PSX where the start of the game has a girl in hospital. The camera drifts away her and she says ''I cant belive it...im...dead''. She goes to limbo where her fate will be decided. But a force which may destroy it before her fate is decided comes into play, so she must stop them.Unfortunalty, just like my other post, I cant remember the name of it, so if someone knows which game im talking about (its the only game which had a preview in a cinema I know of) please post.  ;  I like the ability to use the agents in combat, and the real-time alignment shift is also good.  You might be able to tie that into the bureaucracy, by requiring a certain alignment to make use of certain services.  On your form, you have to write down your alignment, and that will affect the process:Clerk:  "Sorry, but +8 logos alignments need a chaos waiver to be considered for death certificate annulment."You:  "Damnit!"I''m not sure that actual combat would be appropriate in this environment, though.  Maybe outside the city, if there''s some kind of supernatural wilderness, you''d have to contend with disgruntled spirits who have been "in the system" for thousands of years.  Maybe some of them are trying to get your still-living soul so that they can sneak past the death detectors at the aetherport and get on the "plane of the living" (that''s a pun).  Others might just be pissed.Say, would it be possible, under certain circumstances, to get a change of representation?  You could hire a new, more powerful white lawyer, and he would work for you as long as you could pay his fee, and then you''d be back to the default court-appointed agent.I''d like to pint out that this game could be absolutely hysterical.  Since enough of the U.S. population watched Law & Order to have a general understanding of legal proceedings, you could get some seriously funny jokes in there. ;  yes. there will be some humor in here. jokes on death, life, absurdities, and dark office buracracy humor. I should clarify, these two agents that have been assigned to you are more than just items. They are integral parts of the story, too. They are people, with personalities, and secrets. I think it would be better if there was some higher conflicts from some of their respective employers..hmm. I do feel cheated though. Whatever game was previously mentioned, yes - I was sort of shooting for the ''3rd party is going to destroy Limbo, but you find that the 3rd party is also related to why you are their in the first place '' bit. Now that that boat is sunk (I''m not comfortable about ripping other peoples games, even if I''ve never heard of them) anybody out their have some suggestions?I still feel that a 3rd party is essential to the story, but how could I stay clear of the whole ''save the world'' kind of plot? then again, if I went with that plot, it would only be a byproduct of the players real goal... I''ll get back on that. 