This is a game idea I've had for awhile and I've been extending it and altering it with a friend. I'm going to show the basics of the idea and I just want some feedback both story wise and the seperate ideas. I need help piecing together these ideas and actually coming up with what the story is about. All kinds are appreciated. Wind Mage - Beast Game (No official name yet) Beasts (think Shadow of the Colossus): Roaming Beast - Heshengo Equivalent Beast - Serriusa Tormented Beast - Daigon Monument Beast - Kenshadow Magma Golem - Retsuigen Swift Demon - Rensuigen *The beasts are a big factor in the idea, but I'm just now sure how yet. The Roaming beast is a huge 4-legged bull type monster that wanders his habitat for whatever reason. The Equivalent Beast is a giant dragon that lives in a "rip (not sure how to describe it)" in space. Essentially a seperate demension where he is the guardian of all the realms and the invisible energy flows that bind them together. The Tormented beast is merely a kid (like wrath in the anime Fullmetal Alchemist) that lives in the Void (I'm not sure why yet). He uses chains that are attached to his body as weapons. The Monument Beast Kenshadow is another 4-legged giant that lives in a valley somewhere and has a local village that prays and worships him since they think it is a god. The Magma Golem Retsuigen is a giant sword-weilding rock structure (like an early boss in Shadow of the Colossus) that was once a human but for whatever reason is now a beast. His core is made out of liquid magma that never hardens and is his fuel or life source. As a human he had a brother (not sure how far apart ages are) and he became the swift demon Rensuigen. Quick, silent, and deadly with a katana. Looks like a human but will need to be different somehow. Wind Monks/Mages: Scar Backlash Gust Tunnel *Each mage will control wind in a way that corresponds with their name. Backlash is the leader of the group and she looks like Kikyo from the anime Inuyasha (link:Kikyo) and she has a sword that looks like a giant buster sword much like Cloud from FF7 . Her main power is essentially the Bakuryūha or "Backlash Wave." Scar is muscular, tall, and just tough in general. His power is to create circulating wind around his right arm and use it as an extension of his body like a blade or whip. Gust is a monk that simply uses the movement of wind for his powers and is an essential ally in battle since he is the only member of this group that can create wind. The others can only manipulate. Last is Tunnel. I'm not sure how he looks except he looks like he's been in hell his entire life and is slightly crazy. Boney, sunken-in eyes, scars all over him, etc. He's like this because he can form tunnels of wind around his arms (basically mini tornadoes). The thing is, every time he uses the power they slowly consume his soul for whatever reason, yet he cannot stop since he has so much power. Therefore he is sent to the Void Demension at some point for all eternity where he befriends the Tormented Beast Daigon. Dimensions: Heaven Life Hell Void Oblivion Mind Nightmare *I'm not sure about keeping all of these but this is what I have so far. Oblivion is a place of complete whiteness and emptiness. The Mind is the center of all the realms and the home of the mages. The Nightmare is the size of a room with a light seemingly coming out of nowhere about 10 ft in diameter. In the center is a hole and a creature that looks like Necrid from Soul Calibur II that guards it. The hole is the Void, a place where the insane are kept for all eternity in endless darkness and it gives you the feeling of being alone and overcrowded at the same time. This is where I need some help. I can't think of a solid beginning. If I can get a base idea on how the story/game should start or work, I can expand very easily. Pretty much all I know is I need the mages and beasts somehow connected (maybe the mages want to control them) and I need to make a hero for the game and decide what his purpose is. Thanks for the help and like I said anything from helping with the story to creating whole new elements would be great. I was thinking of a general style of Legend of Zelda/ God of War/ Shadow of the Colossus. Thanks for the help.

First off, it seems as if you're worrying too much about specifics when you're still very early on in development. Sure, you can work in many of the beasts and mages later on, but it's best that a basic concept is established for your universe first.

When I saw your wind mages, the first thing I thought of was the classic, four elements thing (earth, wind, fire, water, you know, good ol' Captain Planet). I would love to see the universe based on these four "elements". Each enemy would be either a wind or fire (or whatever) type enemy. And certain types of "magic" would be either effective or ineffective against them. For example, water would be effective against a fire enemy, while wind would be weak against him. A rock-paper-scissors type thing, you know.

For story, I'm thinking along the lines that agents from the Void or Nightmare (whichever one is more hellish) are working their way into the "actual" world to manipulate events to cause more suffering and insanity (therefore bolstering their ranks in the Void/Nightmare). To combat this, agents from the "Heaven" realm contact the protagonist and request he fights for them.

As you can see, I kinda think a lot of your dimensions are unnecessary. They could be worked in somehow, albeit minimally. The oblivion could be present to show what happens when all life leaves the world for the Void/Nightmare realm. But, this is just what struck me when I saw things you had thought up.

Fantasy really isn't my genre, though, so as much as I hope these suggestions are helpful, they aren't exactly coming from a genre veteran. If you have any questions about structure (act breaks, catalyst, climax, etc.) let me know, I'm kind of a structure jock.

Thanks for the input Sulphix. I'll be sure to ask you for help if I need it. Also I don't mind all the usual elements (fire, wind, water, etc.) but I like how I broke down wind into different types of using it. Maybe what I'll do is use the elements but each is represented by a group of people each with their own special way of controlling the element.

Ex: wind - 4 mages
fire - 4 mages
water - 3 mages
etc......

Also I like the idea of the agent thing and maybe each elemental group could control a realm (not neccesarily those ones), and you could be an agent trying to send them to the void/nightmare. Finally, I know it seems fantasy, but it's more like shadowrun. Fantasy with magic, but everything looks futuristic or modern. Not the typical looking fantasy settings.