Cypher & Zero: World’s Energy Setting: Dunia-A world of magic and wonder Characters: Cypher-An orphan with the marking of the “Messiah” Zero-A Grey Wolf who has been with Cypher all his life Uncle-Cypher’s only living relative Dahl-A monk from the mountain temple Kanto-The guardian of the mountain temple Clara-A Sorceress who takes Cypher to the Oracle Bal-A Famous Knight and champion of the Colosseum Ocaris-A famous hermit and master of magic Hanson-The handsome hero of Joll City Kawk-The ever so annoying parrot Green Dragon-An important agent for the Imperial Army Captain Tyran-The evil pirate of the Soul Sea Oni-The stupid demon summoned by Nix Zorg-A mad scientist and master engineer Morpheus-An evil spirit who wishes to release all evil Nix-The evil queen of the night Inferno-A massive flaming demon who wields the Pyro Aether Konk-A giant robot created by Zorg Kandas-General of the Imperial Army Leonidas the 2nd-Emperor of the Capillan Empire Captain Sam-The captain who sails an Airship and Seaship Locations: Yara Island-Cypher’s Homeland Kingdom of Joll-An independent nation in the tropics Odin-The Highland Nation to the north Lemuria-A lost city of the Ancients Volcan-The extremely volcanic area around Mount Chimney Capilla-The Capital Continent, with huge towers Nippon-A continent which is always beautiful Alda-The Flying Castle Stone Temple-The home of Ocaris the Oracle Black Monolith-The land of Morpheus Soul Sea-A massive ocean guarded by evil spirits Warp-The space where the ancients were forced out of and couldn’t build, the Black Monolith is there. Misty Canyon-A massive Canyon whose base cannot be seen because of constant thick fog. Shambhalla-The destroyed city where the Storm Temple is Aether: Red, Pyro-The Fire Type, enables the ability to throw fire balls and increased strength Blue, Aqua-The Water Type, enables the ability to swim underwater can be used to freeze enemies Yellow, Storm-The Thunder Type, enables the ability to shock enemies and faster movement Green, Tempest-The Wind Type, Allows the ability fly a short distance and create platforms Items: Cypher’s Sword-The one thing his parents left him before vanishing, revealed to be a relic of the Ancients Prophecy Amour-A suit of armour which is supposed to be a relic of the Ancients Aether Staff-A staff like weapon that can be used to harness and control Aether Relic Bow-A mysterious bow that was held by a hero of the Ancients Health Potion-Used to heal wounds Decoder-A lock pick kind of thing that Cypher can feed Medallions to use. Gameplay: In Cypher & Zero the Player takes control of Cypher a young boy who wields a sword in combat, Cypher can use powers with Aether and also wield other weapons such as a bow with which he can hit distant objects and a staff which he can charge with Aether and shoot beams of energy through it. The Player can also control Zero; A Wolf who can jump higher and crawl lower than Cypher, so he can go into different areas, he can talk and is wiser that Cypher, he changes colour when enchanted with Aether. The player will collect Medallions, Coins and Crystals to sell for items, the medallions can be fed into Cypher’s Decoder which can unlock doors in Ancient Ruins. Crystals also come in different variations, one for ever kind of Aether, and of course the neutral which cannot be used to upgrade powers and can only be sold. Through out the game the Player will have the opportunity to use many different vehicles such as a submarine, glider and he can even ride Zero. Plot: The player takes the role of Cypher a young farm boy destined for great things, he knows not of the terror that lay beneath him, he dreams of being a soldier in the Imperial Army. Underneath Dunia; a beautiful paradise, lies a dark secret, Morpheus the manifestation of all the hate and evil in the world seeks to release it upon the world. Luckily there is a barrier created by the World’s Life force known as Aether. This force is pumped through the world is a massive pipeline series which all lead to a Aether Core at the centre of the planet. On one dark stormy night Cypher is watching the lightning with Zero on top of a mountain, they then see Yara Village burning, they run down to Cypher’s Uncle’s house, Cypher’s uncle is lying inside the house. Cypher rushes out and takes him to the beaches, the Uncle opens his eyes and says one last thing, he tells him to never give up on himself and the people he loves, and then hands him the decoder. Cypher then puts his Uncles dead body in his raft and pushes it to the sea, Zero tells Cypher to grab his sword and then to run away, far from Yara Village, luckily the arsonists don’t notice Cypher and Zero leave. He and Zero venture through the forests until they reach Stone Canyon where Cypher eventually collapses from exhaustion, Zero drags him to a cave where they meet Clara; A Sorceress. Clara helps Cypher heal and then takes them to the Stone Temple, the home of Ocaris the Oracle. The Oracle then tells Cypher of the prophecy about the Messiah and the relics of the Ancients which are scattered across the world. Then Ocaris teleports Cypher to the Kingdom of Joll, Cypher explores the tropical ruins and villages before reaching Joll City, in the ruins he meets Hanson and his pet parrot Kawk they are searching for an ancient relic known as the Relic Bow, Cypher and Zero join them in the search only for Cypher to be the “Chosen One” to wield it Hanson honours Cypher for it and lets them continue to Joll City. In the city Cypher meets Captain Sam who tells him that he will sail him to Capilla for 200 coins, there is only one way Cypher can raise such money, in the Arena tournament. The arena is held by the champion known as Bal, Cypher enters the arena and fights all the competitors until he must finally fight Bal; a cocky champion. Cypher finally defeats Bal with a kick to the groin in a comical fashion, the crowd cheers and Cypher gets the 200 coins for Captain Sam. As they set off to sea the ship is attacked by pirates, Cypher is knocked off the ship and Zero jumps in after him. As Zero tries to swim further dragging Cypher by his clothes he eventually falls unconscious from exhaustion. Then they both awake on an island surrounded by women in kimonos, they guide them to a village, it appears to be night time. Cypher is then taken to the village elder; he tells them that an evil witch has taken control of the Mountain Temple and has cast eternal darkness on the land of Nippon. Cypher and Zero go on a quest to heal the land back to its normal state and banish the witch and her curse. They venture through the mountains and forests until they find a camp where some monks and temple guards are resting. The guards are led by Kanto and the monks are led by Dahl. Dahl tells you of the Witch called Nix the Night Mother and her curse, he also tells you of a demon that guards the front gate he calls it Oni. Cypher, Zero and Kanto continue back to the temple, with Dahl waiting at the camp. When they reach the temple they are attacked by Oni who appears to not be very smart, Cypher and Zero quickly outsmart Oni and defeat him. Inside the temple Cypher, Zero and Kanto must defeat many demon guards before fighting Nix the Night Mother, she tells them of Morpheus and his great plan to release the darkness of dreams upon the land, these dreams manifest the nightmares from peoples minds into the real world, Morpheus sees this as art. After defeating Nix she her body absorbs all the darkness across Nippon releasing it from the curse, Cypher and Zero are welcomed back to the village as heroes. Then Kanto offers them his glider as a thankyou gift for saving his land from the curse of Nix, they keenly take the offer, last of all Dahl summons the power of Tempest the Wind Aether from the great pipe beneath the temple, Cypher has gained new powers. Cypher flys the glider to Capilla using his new wind powers, Cypher and Zero then find themselves at Capilla City finally. Cypher enlists into the Imperial Army and Kandas immediately lets him into the ranks because of his special powers. Then Capilla city is attacked by Captain Tyran’s forces, after defending against the first wave of enemies Cypher and Zero both join Kandas in the Imperial Fleet as they set sail to fight Captain Tyran’s forces for a second time. After fighting them off Clara suddenly appears, she tells Cypher and Zero that they must go down deep into the sea to Lemuria the lost city where the Aqua Aether pipe is which created the massive open sea. Clara leads Cypher to the Submarine at the bottom level of the ship which they use to reach Lemuria. In Lemuria Cypher and Zero fight off bipedal lizard creatures before finally reaching the temple. Inside the temple Cypher must use his Decoder (powered by medallions collected along the way) to unlock ancient doors that lead towards the sanctum of the Temple. In the sanctum Cypher gets the Aqua Aether, then Lemuria begins to collapse, Cypher and Zero can know both breath under water. Cypher and Zero are then swallowed by a massive Gobblegob fish, inside its stomach Cypher makes his way to the throat where he stabs the mouth until the fish spits him and Zero out. Cypher and Zero are then picked up by Clara in the submarine, she takes them to Odin; the northern continent. At Odin they venture through the mountains covered in snow, they are then contacted by Kandas through a telepathic link, he tells Cypher that he must meet up with an agent code named “Green Dragon” who can take you across the Misty Canyon. Cypher and Zero use the caverns to get to the other side, inside the caverns they meet with “Green Dragon” only to find out he actually is a Green Dragon, much to the surprise of Cypher and Zero because Dragons are supposed to be extinct. They speak to Green Dragon who is wounded he asks you to get an antidote for his poison which is kept in the Goblin Fort on top of the mountain. Cypher and Zero sneak into the fort and steal the antidote carefully taking it to Green Dragon, after giving it to him he takes them over across Misty Canyon and to the land of Volcan. In Volcan Cypher and Zero explore the barren land and climb to the peak of Mount Chimney which on top of it they fight Inferno. Cypher and Zero defeat inferno by stoping his flames with water and wind, after taking his Aether they meet with Kawk and Hanson again. Kawk has had his feathers burnt off from the heat and Hanson is tired and wounded, Cypher helps them and in return they take him to Shambhalla. Cypher then meets with Clara and Ocaris again. Shambhalla is being excavated by robots commanded by Dr. Zorg. Dr. Zorg tells Cypher of the great technology of the Ancients and the fabulous flying castle known as Alda. Dr. Zorg then activates Konk his massive robot and Alda and leaves Cypher and the others to deal with Konk. After defeating it Cypher takes the Aether Staff which he uses to create a structure which can take him to Alda. Cypher must fight off flying robots as they attempt to fight him off, when he reaches Alda he fights his way to the top of Alda where he defeats Dr. Zorg, Cypher then gains the last and final Aether, Storm, and the Armour of the Ancients as well. Now he is the Messiah and Cypher uses the portal to reach the warp, inside the warp he sees the greatest terrors and nightmares of his life. Cypher and Zero approach the Black Monolith and they begin to climb the sides of it. When they finally reach an unguarded entrance they enter to find inside the massive main spire is an energy beam charging with the combined powers of the other four Aethers, seems Morpheus has created a machine capable of reshaping the world. When Cypher and Zero reach the top they find Morpheus waiting for them, he then offers Cypher and Zero ultimate power as the replacement for Nix, they obviously refuse the offer, Morpheus then fights them. Cypher and Zero can’t defeat him, he is too powerful, they realise that his power is coming from four other spires on the sides of the Black Monolith, on the top of each is a Mega Aether Crystal, one for each type of Aether. Cypher and Zero break each generator releasing the crystals, this weakens Morpheus, they can now defeat him. Morpheus, fuelled by anger, aims at Zero wounding him badly. Cypher then knocks Morpheus down the generator which then explodes when Morpheus hits the bottom of it. In a huge flash of light all the different Aethers begin to work rebuilding the Warp into a finished land, the walls of the warp begin to harden and become beautiful waterfalls, then forests quickly grow and vines grow around the black monolith, the world is safe from Morpheus’ evil. Cypher runs over to Zero who is lying on the ground howling, Cypher begins to cry for his best friend, then a shadow grows over the two of them, its Alda, it lands behind them and Clara, Ocaris and Hanson walk towards the two. Then it shows two months later and Zero is all healed and he and Cypher are running after each other in the rebuilt Yara Village. The End.

So I did a text search for a question mark '?' and there were none in your post...
leading me to believe there is no question here

I can't possibly spend the time needed to read all of that without knowing what you want from me.

My gut reaction is this: Whatever you're thinking of asking is probably irrelevant until later in the development process. Short version: get started!

Alternate gut reaction: No one is going to make your idea for you, but if you like it, you should try to make it yourself. Short version: get started!

Why do you suspect I want someone to make it for me? why can't you see the fact that I might simply be posting this because I want feedback on the idea itself, it includes more than just story and characters so putting it in the "Writing for Games" seems a bit... foolish, if you think it would be better accepted then someone please move it, but anyway, anyone wanting to post their thoughts on the actual concept of Cypher & Zero: World's Energy please to so.

Mayhem,

I think your posting could benefit from a bit of formatting to make it easier to read and find specific sections to comment on. This is a good post to look at as an example even if it only uses bold tags and complete paragraphs.

As for the game idea, I've found it's better to ask more specific questions in this forum regarding specific game mechanics than an overall 'how does this entire game concept look' query. I'm sure anyone that reads through your entire post would be wondering what makes it any different than say, Legend of Zelda? I for one would be more interested in an elaboration of the Zero mechanic and exactly what kind of gameplay we are talking (2D, 3D, etc) since I remember an old Shinobi game that used a wolf that you could command.

Not knowing if it's a platformer, open sandbox environment, etc makes a big difference on how locations would be interpreted as well. What makes one different than another? How is aether collected?

Many times I think the vague idea of a game is easy to come up with. It's narrowing down the specifics early in the design phase that becomes difficult. But doing so will save you a huge amount of time in the future when developing. Hopefully we don't come across as too critical here, but rest assured that most of the people on these boards are really trying to help and I've found much of their feedback helpful over the years.

Quote:

why can't you see the fact that I might simply be posting this because I want feedback on the idea itself

Well, because you don't say that you want feedback anywhere on it. You could have been asking "is this cliche?" or "how should I make the battle system for this game?" but we'd never know, because you never posed a question. Maybe we should have assumed, but never assume that anyone will assume what you're thinking, then we have these three-post conversations about how we're all confused.

This post may fit better in writing for games, since most of your content is plot/characters. To make it fit here, give us a little more on how it works - is the combat Zelda-styled? Platformer? How much can Cypher interact with his surroundings? What are the dungeons like? Don't go strictly by this list, but mechanics and design are how this forum can help you best.

In any event, I read this this morning, so feedback:

Based on (some) of the names and items, the world these characters are in seems sort of like Ancient Greece with magic and some technology thrown in. Some of the other names seem like placeholders, though - "Dr. Zorg" sounds like typecasting. If he's got real motives, he's probably got a real name, too. Same with Captain Tyran(t), Hanson(me) (Erfworld's already doing this joke, but he's named Ansom), Ocaris the Oracle, (got kicked in the) Bal the Champion, Kawk the Parrot (although if the captain's a goof, this can stay), and Volcan the... Volcano area.

When you're naming an area, sure, it makes sense to use the landscape in the name, but integrate it somehow. Since your volcano's name is Mt. Chimney (which can also change), you could call Volcan the Chimney Plains, or the Lake of Fire, something like that. When you're naming a place, think of how the naming came about - did the first person to scale the mountain name it after him/herself? Is the area named after a peculiar animal that lives there?

Are you sure you want to call him the Messiah, instead of a world-tailored title? Some of your potential audience may be turned away from it if they think they're playing a religious game. Religious gamers may also be turned away if they think you're blaspheming.

Quote:

Inside the temple Cypher, Zero and Kanto must defeat many demon guards before fighting Nix the Night Mother, she tells them of Morpheus and his great plan to release the darkness of dreams upon the land, these dreams manifest the nightmares from peoples minds into the real world, Morpheus sees this as art.

So is this nightmare thing how Morpheus plans to break the barrier, was it something Nix had been planning with him, or something Nix was already doing? Dreams and nightmares are always fun things to play with - maybe you should have it already happening? A dark sky all the time is something people can adapt to, but being attacked all the time would make them want a hero to save them all the more.

Also, it seems random attackers are a main part of your plot - first the arsonists, then the pirates. Is crime like this common in the world of this game, or are they attacking things related to Cypher because they've been told to?