Story Development

Programmer's Quest Story
__INDEX__

Plot Summary
Welcome to the pleasant village of Thompson and it's closest neighboring village Ritchie, it's a peaceful land where people have learned powerful techniques to get them through the repetitive tasks of work so they can play and have fun. Day and night mighty developers work to create new and powerful techniques for work and play. One day an evil and powerful black hat, a developer whose work has become cruel and twisted, unleashes a virus on the villages that infects the villagers and robs them of their ability to perform techniques. The world grows grey and people are forced to perform their duties themselves. You alone seem to kept the ability to perform simple techniques, but for some reason you can't use other people's techniques, you have to write them yourself! Are you brave enough to travel the lands in search of lost skills to improve your techniques and bring joy back to the lands?

Part 1: Exploring the Town
Photo of Thompson

This is an extremely rough sketch of what I was thinking. There might be too many homes for the first town (village town, straw roofs, painted sidings), if there are, then I think we should split it into two and let this be a general layout for Thompson and Ritchie. The mayor's house could be in one, the ranch in the other and the Developers' Hall located between them. Someone better at layouts needs to take this basic idea and make it look nice ;-)

I don't know if you can read my notes but here they are:

C = Church

M = Mayor's house A = Armory I = Item Shop

DH = Developer's Hall Star Symbol = Your House


 * 1) 1 = Path blocked/hidden until Linus Saves you, when you re-enter town, someone sees you coming through the bushes and decides to clear the path

That heart pulse looking symbol = Screen Transition

The game starts featuring a young person (you choose between stock male or female character). You have grown up in a world of powerful techniques and are rather lazy relying on other's work rather than learning things yourself.

Game starts by panning around and observing different techniques in action, showcases basic structure for the programming language of their choice.

While exploring the town you'll be tasked with finding a friend (party member later), delievering technique (memory game, you're told program and have to choose correct options when telling developer)

The first real quest you're given is finding a feather to use as a quill for your older brother (so he can keep working as a developer). Your family has been teasing you so much that you decide you don't want just some lame bird feather, you want the feather from the renouned Auk.

You travel through nearby forest maze (puzzles like "Golden Sun" RPG or more of an actual maze?), during it you and your friend make passing comments about feeling slightly feverish but write it off as combat fatique. Once making it through forest maze (mini dugeon) you get the feather, but on the way back to down you both pass out.

You wake up in a stranger's bed. An aged man enters and tells you that he found you passed out in the forest.

First Half: Fiding a Friend
Important items gained: 2 command words, 1 word of power, 1 Party member (Total game play estimate 3 hours, Estimated Player level at end 4-6)

The old man (named Linus) reveals (via a cutscene) that the fatigue you were experiencing in the forest was due to a virus released by the dreaded black hat Klez. After being infected with the virus, the victims would grow sick and pass out, once they woke up, they no longer had the ability to use techniques!

The world is now a bit muted, still in color, just more muted colors (as you bring techniques (programs) back to the world the individual villiages vivid colors return, this is done on a village by village basis).

Linus tells you that he can sense something different about you. That it seems like you have some sort of partial natrual immunity against the virus. He doubts you will ever be able to use a technique written by another, but if you wrote it yourself.... he advises you to head to the developers hall (where your brother was) when you make it back to the village and try writting an attack, defend, and use item technique.

You don't like the sound of that (you've always prefered fighting to developing), but you leave Linus' hut and return to the village anyways. Your way to the developer's hall is initially blocked by your older brother who insits that you talk to mom. You head home and on the way you see how hard the lack of techniques is hitting everyone. Your mom is particularly upset and you decide to follow Linus' advice and try to write a basic program.

Once you finish (correctly writting the program), your friend shows up and nochalantly reads one. To his surprise it works! You've discovered that any technique you write using the quill you got from Part 1 can be used by others. The developers ask you to write more complicated programs, but you don't know any more command words or any of the words of power and you can only write programs consisting of a single action.

After some discussion the developers reveal that ages ago the command words of programming were passed down from "The Source" each word of power was placed in a sacred temple and guarded so that it's presence on this world would enable everyone to use them. You must travel to each of these temples and learn the word of power from them to bring techniques back to the land. They also advise you to keep you eyes open for smaller shrines or individuals who hold command words. They tell you that there was a hermit who used to live nearby that had access to three of them and perhaps you should seek him out (this, of course, turns out to be Linus, and he has already given you the ability to use his three commands words (attack, defend, and use), but he will let you know if he discovers the location of any more words and will give you advice on what each command word does)

So you and your friend set off for your first quest to learn the word of power "If/Then" (once you arrive at the temple you learn that Klez has infected the temples, you must purify each temple in order to learn the word and be able to use it outside the dungeon)

When you arrive at the first temple, you find it tightly locked up with the royal seal on the lock and a notice that all seeking to enter the temple may only do so with permission of the king. With no other options you head for the capitol to speak with the king to get permission to enter the temple.

When you arrive at the castle you discover it is being attacked by a monoster, but the gaurds are unable to properly defend it without their techniques. You jump in and defeat it. The king seeing you can use techniques promptly throws you in jail! He's been hearing reports that no one in all his lands can use their techniques except for you appearently, therefore you must be the one responsible for all that has been happening.

While waiting in the jail cell you encounter party member #3, a humble (and *completely* innocent) theif who was thrown in jail for being in the wrong place at the wrong time (The treasure vault while guards were there). In exchange for helping him escape he agrees to travel with you to the temple and picking the lock so you can get in.

You get out of the cell, escape into the swearers and navigate the mini-maze (boss fight Jailor at end of swearer).

The swearers end in the lower city. You can stay in the lower city safely, but if you try to go into the upper city, there's the sound of whistle and you get chased by the gaurds back into the lower city (you hide in an alley way, they run past). Your new companion reveals that he already has the command word "steal" When ready you depart the lower city and head for the temple

Second Half: Getting Back to the temple
The lower cities dump you on the wrong side of a mountain range

Playable Characters
To be discussed: Should we do a max party of 4 with set characters (i.e. you will find them and they will join your party) or a party with lots of characters for you to choose from each with their own strengths/weakness.

Also do we want to give them the option of choosing their classes for any character, for all characters or just themselves (If you chose a fighter than your first party member is a white mage and vise versa)

My gut is that it would be easier (and perhaps smarter) to just have a party of 4 with set characters/classes

You (fighter)

Best Friend (White mage)

Mysterious stranger you meet in jail (Theif) (You always end up in jail at one point in an RPG ;-) )

Powerful mage you rescue from mob (Black Mage) (They blamed him for the virus which robbed them of their abilities, but he's actually a black mage who uses his abilities for white hat purposes)

Side Quests:
This might need to become it's own page evntually. I envision side quests being a major part of the game.

Each side quest will be comprised of 3 parts

1. Find person who needs you to create a technique for them. They're speech will give you clues about the way the program will need to be written

2. Find the command words/word of power needed to complete the quest.

3. Write a program with the appropriate command words/words of power. As the game progresses these become harder and there might be different levels of accomplishment. If a person needs to clean their room before they can play, then a program telling them to clean room would work and you'd get a minor reward, but a program tthat checked to see if the room was dirty first would get you the big reward. I'm not 100% on how we'd impliment this, but it's something to keep in mind.