I decided to mess with the idea from the writing competition a bit more, adopting a different sort of style and feel than before. This is an FPS, something like Half-Life 2 or Call of Duty, but with some other elements. *** The game opens with a flurry of 1970's era computer screens. Old newspaper and magazines, in monochrome microfilm, skitter across the screen. The whirr of hard drive access, cooling fans, and the typical sounds of computers, goes from a quiet imperceptability to a noticeable force. The articles begin to take on random colors, harsh on the black background, blue, red, yellow, green. The noise becomes busier and louder. Bursts of static punctuate the visuals. Faster and faster, more articles scroll by, more and more until the screen is almost a blur. Though impossible to read, certain headlines linger for a moment before terminating. CLASSIFIED DATA OPERATION SUBLIME - TOP SECRET Volunteers will be recruited from all services - ALPHA CLEARANCE REQUIRED COUNTERTERRORISM PROTOCOLS Grand Cayman Account #9458123 CONFIDENTIAL ECHO CONTINGENCY - NUCLEAR OPTIONS Twenty seperate funds totalling to over twenty billion dollars - SOLDIER AUGMENTATION PROGRAM Appropriations Committee Hearing 7/62 This is patterned after the opening of the movie "The Andromeda Strain," but much shorter. The sound of electronics and whirring gadgets abruptly halts. The screen goes black for a couple seconds. A single block cursor in the middle of the screen. Four words appear, as an inhuman voice, digital, feminine, says; YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED The cursor blinks impatiently, waiting for the player's button press. FOR SECURITY REASONS SELECT A CODE NAME A CGA terminal interface pops up, allowing the player to enter their name. A silhouette of a man dominates the side of the screen, with various readouts and indicators appearing. It very much resembles an old Atari or C64 game. The following text appears, slower than the last three lines, but the voice does not speak. BEHOLD HOW GOOD AND PLEASANT IT IS Suddenly, the sound of a man crying out in pain pierces the static. The static becomes louder, trying to drown it out. It starts crossfading, changing. FOR BRETHREN TO DWELL TOGETHER IN UNITY The text shatters into a million glowing shards, needles of light falling from the screen, a harsh contrast against the black background. (the man's voice hisses) Hey. The static becomes more coherent, more natural. It sounds less like computer noise and more like a thunderstorm. The sound of heavy rainfall is starting to become distinct. (man) Wake up, dammit. 1ST PERSON - INTERNMENT CAMP You wake up, hazily. The dark, murky sky is filled with foreboding rainclouds, lit by the pale moonlight. High-powered spotlights shine through the rain. The blades of a helicopter cut through the frigid night air. Guard towers in the distance point heavy machine guns inward, preventing escape. Soldiers patrol the paths between the cells, looking bored. Tall, barbed wire fences prevent people from moving around. Most of the people here have no idea where they are. They are huddled, shivering in the cold, speaking in hushed whispers. You are sitting against the fence. Looking down, you see your wrists bound with thick, heavy metal chains. You’re wearing an olive drab BDU, caked with dirt and grime, soaked and freezing. Your ankles are cuffed together, making it difficult to move around. A few of the glowing shards are still in your eyes, fading. In the corner of the screen, you see the man. He's wearing a ripped, muddy military uniform, much like yours; handcuffed to the chain-linked fence post, though his legs are unbound. Upon closer inspection, it looks as if he's fiddling with something. (man) I'm finished. Your turn. The man turns toward you. He is slim, fit, and of East Asian descent. His eyes are intense and aware, though most of his face is covered in unkempt facial hair, making him look quite the worse for wear. He looks edgy and restless, nervously biting his lip. You can see his name tape and rank now - Sergeant FOX. A single shard remains, wafting down slowly from the upper left hand side of the screen. FOX unlocks his handcuffs, and reaches toward you with something, but fumbles and drops it into the mud. Tearing fabric. FOX(swearing) Kuso... FOX has torn the top of his uniform off reaching towards you. His arms are bare, revealing a bloody gash in his left shoulder. FOX Sorry, sir. The player is prompted to use the WASD keys to wriggle towards the object. At first the item is indistinguishable, but the single softly glowing shard, from earlier, rests directly onto it, revealing a sharp, bloody piece of shrapnel. (movement/targeting tutorial) FOX Hurry. They'll be back any minute. You pick up the shrapnel, and lean over to unlock your leg cuffs. The up, down, left, and right arrows appear on the screen, as well as the picture of the inside of a lock. As you mash the buttons, each tumbler in the lock will push away. There are four tumblers. This is not intended to be a puzzle, just an introduction to some of the metagames. From this location, you can hear the guards outside talking. They seem to be speaking in beeps and modem noises, not any conventional language. Some words are discernible, as if being filtered through a vocoder. It’s somewhere between Charlie Brown’s teacher and an evil R2-D2. It shares some similarities with the artificial voice in the opening sequence. You can only understand them because their speech is subtitled. GRIEVER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #1 Why’s this guy separate from the other cells, if he’s so important? GRIEVER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #3 Some lieutenant. Marshal says he was behind the attacks on the western front. GRIEVER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #2 Who, him? He’s just some dirtbag. GRIEVER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #1 Yeah, I know. I don’t see what the big deal is. Probably doesn’t know shit. GRIEVER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #2 Hey, the marshal wanted him heavily guarded for a reason. I don’t know what it is, but he’s saved my life too many times for me not to trust him. GRIEVER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #3 Well, the specops guys managed to capture him, anyway. They said he was a pussy. GRIEVER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #2 Yeah, if those drunks managed to drag him in, he can’t be that tough. * AVENGER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #1 So who is this guy, anyway? AVENGER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #2 He’s that lieutenant the marshal was hunting down. Been at it for months. Some foreign agent. AVENGER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #1 We at war with a new country? AVENGER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #3 If we are, I hope it’s sunny. And that it doesn’t rain all the fucking time. AVENGER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #1 Yeah. Like a beachfront or something. We’ll invade the boardwalk. AVENGER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #3 Careful what you wish for there, -unintelligible-. AVENGER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #1 One fortified by lots of umbrellas, and pretty girls in bikinis. That need a strong man to rub some suntan lotion… AVENGER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #2 Look.. you need to either go jerk off or pay attention. This guy’s a psycho. We gotta be vigilant. You drop your guard, even for a second, that’s all it takes. AVENGER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #1 Sorry, sir. AVENGER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #2 I’m serious. Command sent an entire company after these guys in -unintelligible-. They never came back. AVENGER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #1 Maybe they got lost. AVENGER DIFFICULTY – GUARD #2 You’re a fucking retard. We found them a week later, in a mass burial pit. Some of them were still alive in a shack nearby, their bodies… burned totally, some with fire, some with electrical shock. They didn’t have an inch of skin left. The bastard tortured them to death. * MARTYR DIFFICULTY – GUARD #1 Reporting for duty. The marshal wanted extra security for this area. MARTYR DIFFICULTY – GUARD #2 I feel safer already. MARTYR DIFFICULTY – GUARD #1 So, uh, who is this guy anyway? MARTYR DIFFICULTY – GUARD #3 Remember that recon patrol that came back a couple weeks ago? How they all sent to the psych ward for mental problems two days later. They all just kept babbling about him. MARTYR DIFFICULTY – GUARD #1 I just got assigned here. MARTYR DIFFICULTY – GUARD #3 Haven’t you heard of the massacre at –unintelligible-? That was him. This.. lieutenant. MARTYR DIFFICULTY – GUARD #1 Shit, this is him? MARTYR DIFFICULTY – GUARD #3 I heard this guy bit through –unintelligible- wrist. He’s in the infirmary. MARTYR DIFFICULTY – GUARD #2 I heard he burned an entire village and everyone in it. Rounded up all the survivors and made them stand in a row, before he executed them. MARTYR DIFFICULTY – GUARD #1 Why did they have to stand in a row? MARTYR DIFFICULTY – GUARD #3 To save ammo. MARTYR DIFFICULTY – GUARD #2 They left one man alive, though. MARTYR DIFFICULTY – GUARD #1 What happened to him? MARTYR DIFFICULTY – GUARD #2 Poor bastard. Those… murderers.. cut off their hands and the heads, and put them in a cart. They let him live so he could bring the parts back to the garrison. * Once you finish, the fragment falls to the ground. FOX edges over quietly and picks it up. In a nearby cell, you can make out the figure of a large, bulky man leaned over. He looks incredibly depressed, almost suicidal. If you edge closer, you can hear him crying and mumbling to himself. FOX(if you edge over) He’s been like that for weeks. Poor bastard. GUARD #4 (once you finish) New orders. The marshal wants him taken back for… one final round of questioning. FOX nervously twiddles with the piece of shrapnel, eyeing the door. GUARD #2 I was wondering why we were keeping him around. to be continued!

I like the different intros depending on the level of difficulty. Nice idea (and funny dialogues). Maybe present it differently, though.

Quote:

Original post by ahw I like the different intros depending on the level of difficulty. Nice idea (and funny dialogues). Maybe present it differently, though.

What sort of format did you have in mind.

But wait... there's more!

***

Cannon blasts ring in the distance. The guards turn. The loud whine of an air-raid siren fills the camp.

GUARD #3
Me and –unintelligible- over here’ll take care of the prisoner. You two go report to your CO.

GUARD #4
You got this handled over here?

FOX flashes a look at you. This is your chance. A timer appears in the upper left hand corner of the screen, next to one of the control buttons. It’s counting down seconds.

GUARD #3
Yeah, yeah.

FOX(if you’re moving around)
Sit still.

The loudspeakers hanging from poles come alive with the voice of an authoritative officer, shouting orders. GUARD #1 and #3 march in.

GUARD #3
Stand up, asshole.

GUARD #3 pulls you to your feet, roughly. GUARD #1 stands in the corner, eyeing you warily, rifle drawn and pointed directly at your chest.

GUARD #3
Let’s go.

A single lightning bolt strikes nearby. The tremendous sound of thunder washes over you like a wave, blotting out all other sounds.

FOX springs up, dashes from the corner, and launches himself into a flying tackle, slamming into GUARD #1, throwing him to the ground.

GUARD #3(spinning around)
Oh, sh-

The counter reaches zero. Pressing the control button, you reach out around GUARD #3’s neck, wrapping your metal chains around his throat. A symbol appears, indicating you to rotate your control stick clockwise as fast as you can, to tighten the chains. GUARD #3’s life bar appears, as he makes choking and strangling sounds, struggling against your tightened chains, clutching and pulling at them. The faster you rotate the control stick, the faster his life bar will go down.

FOX has managed to disarm GUARD #1. They are in an all-out fistfight directly in front of you. Once you take out GUARD #3, a single haymaker from you will take out GUARD #1.

In the background, the weeping man has turned, and is standing, watching the altercation intently.

FOX picks up GUARD #1’s gun. You can search the corpses if you wish to get a weapon and ammunition.

There is a heavy, solid metal door preventing you from leaving the area. Fox walks up with the shrapnel and attempts to pick it. The fragment breaks inside the lock.

FOX
Must have locked behind them. Probably couldn't have picked it anyway.
Now what?

If you look at him directly, there will be a special event. Some text will fade in and out in static quickly, and the female voice will whisper to you quietly. You will have to have good eyes and ears to catch it.

???JUN KOSHIMA???
FILE NOT FOUND

The three hinges of the door begin to glow softly. The player must shoot each of these hinges to proceed. (weapons tutorial)

FOX
Good idea, sir.

Once all of the hinges have been shot, the door will fall to the ground.

FOX
Let’s roll.