I'm hoping to get some feedback on a game idea i've had for a while. I'm not looking for feedback on any specific part of the story as i haven't got far enough to perfect it, but i've got a basic storyline that i've quite enjoyed thinking up i'm wondering what others think. May i note that i have no experience in game writing but rather do it as a hobby, but game writing is definetly a dream job for me in the future.

storyline - The great depression hits the global economy after the wall street crash in 1929. Thousands are unemployed, many are homeless and some are starving. The North of England is hit hardest in Britain with up to 70% of people in areas losing their jobs. However, its a different story in the South. The depression was short lived and a boom in the motor industry in 1933 boosted the economy. By this time, the North wasn't getting any better, so a Union began, called the 'Northern Union'. With the help from a Manchester Gang, the union became more aggressive, with protests becoming violent. By 1934 the North was almost outlawed, with the suburbs and country side becoming safe havens, and the cities becoming drug and gang filled. The Southern Goverment agreed to border of the North and cut off connections. With the lack of help recieved from the South, the aggression became to much, and the Northern Union attacked. With hundreds and thousands sweeping across the borders to the South, the authorities were overwhelmed. As they hit London, some southerners fought back along side the Army, but many went with the flow in order to get the best head start in the new out landish south of England that seemed inevitable. England was now an outlawed country, with no authority, no healthcare, no education, no industrys and no goverments. All other countries cut connections and evacuated their citizens out. By 1936, England was official outlawed. The Northern Union ran everything and were the most powerful establishment around, however they were not the only ones. Many outlaw gangs began to sprin up around Lodnon City central and the outskirts, fighting the Union, and the vigilantes; enemies to everyone. Vigilantes also sprang up to make one last effort to purge England of The Union and other outlaw gangs, such as the 'metropolitan policers' and 'the majesty's new gaurds'. Civilian settlements began to grow in areas, using every resource to protect themselves from outlaws and to survive. Many settlements began to have their own law and goverment systems, even if they were small and growing. However the two years of outlawed England proved to change the course of History forever; Hitler's third reich began, and after he took france, the nazi army invaded England, or what was left of it, in order to capture the rest of Britain and began his invasion of America. By this point, everything changes, the vigilantes, civilians, outlaws and the northern union must fight back the Nazi's to save the country they once loved, and return it to a normal state.

I have more ideas of actual in game story line, such as how your character would go about playing through these time zones and how and where he fits in to everything, but i wasn't sure if that was to be put in gameplay or not so i will save it. What i really want to know is, is this to much of too ridiculous? I have a solid idea but i'm worried that it seems ridiculous and could never be possible. Evidently a lot of games out there could never be possible, but i want to creat a realistic fiction story that shows and alternate history. Whatcha think?

Joe.

p.s when i say "could never be possible" i mean in real life. Games such as ratchet and clank would never be possible scenarios in real life, but i want to create a ficiton story line that could've actually happened, to show an alternate history.

2 views in 2 days.. that seems a bit odd, theres gotta be someone out there who likes the sound of a depression era shooter/survival game!

Not a great history/economics fan Still, if this is a shooter, I guess its best bet is to put pressure on action - the new FPS games try to win over the crowd with stories, but it's always more or less a "this guy is bad, kill him" kinda thing. The setting would be more or less that of Wolfenstein (the new one mayhap?) minus the paranormal weapons that made it something more than just a CoD clone. I'm aware that there are people who enyoj historical fights, real weapons and a plausible storyline.

Btw, maybe try revising the topic name? I don't know why I thought that this would be a rant about how depressing the games of this era are

To be honest, this is not quite the most active section on these forums. I think you might be looking at the wrong counter as well-- at the time of your post mentioning you had only two views, I see that you had two posts. The current count is 96 views, and is unlikely to have increased so dramatically over the last couple of hours and have been so dead for the last day.

You don't have many replies, it's true, and I think that a likely culprit for that is the massive block of text in your initial post. Someone isn't going to know how they feel about your plotline if they don't read it, and it's a bear to read. Additionally, as you state you don't have any particular question about the storyline which makes giving a reply difficult, and the reply itself less valuable.

As to your question, I don't think that the story is especially ridiculous (aside from the South of England's economic prosperity is due to a boom in the motor industry. Who's buying all those motors, and with what money?). While it's not terribly likely that a major econonmic power and one of the most advanced industrialized countries at the time would succumb to governmental collapse, it's plausible enough if you stoke regional tensions, as you have done.

I don't know that one region of a single country as small as the UK would be able to prosper so much while the other falls apart, but that's probably not going to be a sticking point for anyone. Although if you're describing a split between England and Ireland/Scotland, I'd be more apt to buy into it. Either way, people forgive a lot in back stories, and remember, your plot will be compared to games involving swarms of psychic robot aliens and such.

One thing I might suggest though is that if England is so fractured and weak, it might be a much more attractive target than France. Germany had to move North and then West to avoid the Maginot Line, and by the the time they're in Belgium it's not much harder to go to England. If it's weaker there, why not go for it first?

Not a great history/economics fan Still, if this is a shooter, I guess its best bet is to put pressure on action - the new FPS games try to win over the crowd with stories, but it's always more or less a "this guy is bad, kill him" kinda thing. The setting would be more or less that of Wolfenstein (the new one mayhap?) minus the paranormal weapons that made it something more than just a CoD clone. I'm aware that there are people who enyoj historical fights, real weapons and a plausible storyline.

Btw, maybe try revising the topic name? I don't know why I thought that this would be a rant about how depressing the games of this era are

I wanted to make the background story realistic and plausible, but thats not to say that there couldn't be a new set of weapons arise in this outlawed country, for example make shift weapons. I got this idea from the likes of Fallout (which are a bit futuristic however) where you see a plausible future, but unheard of weapons like the deathclaw hand. As for action in storylines, i got some inspiration from red dead redemption. I want a free roam storyline, that allows you to start an epic storyline mission with a lot of action. I am a big fan of storylines so i wanted to take this gameplay style and put it with a storyline that just sounded cool to me and sorry about the topic name! my bad

To be honest, this is not quite the most active section on these forums. I think you might be looking at the wrong counter as well-- at the time of your post mentioning you had only two views, I see that you had two posts. The current count is 96 views, and is unlikely to have increased so dramatically over the last couple of hours and have been so dead for the last day.

You don't have many replies, it's true, and I think that a likely culprit for that is the massive block of text in your initial post. Someone isn't going to know how they feel about your plotline if they don't read it, and it's a bear to read. Additionally, as you state you don't have any particular question about the storyline which makes giving a reply difficult, and the reply itself less valuable.

As to your question, I don't think that the story is especially ridiculous (aside from the South of England's economic prosperity is due to a boom in the motor industry. Who's buying all those motors, and with what money?). While it's not terribly likely that a major econonmic power and one of the most advanced industrialized countries at the time would succumb to governmental collapse, it's plausible enough if you stoke regional tensions, as you have done.

I don't know that one region of a single country as small as the UK would be able to prosper so much while the other falls apart, but that's probably not going to be a sticking point for anyone. Although if you're describing a split between England and Ireland/Scotland, I'd be more apt to buy into it. Either way, people forgive a lot in back stories, and remember, your plot will be compared to games involving swarms of psychic robot aliens and such.

One thing I might suggest though is that if England is so fractured and weak, it might be a much more attractive target than France. Germany had to move North and then West to avoid the Maginot Line, and by the the time they're in Belgium it's not much harder to go to England. If it's weaker there, why not go for it first?

Ah sorry about that, it was my first post so i'm still a bit confused about what i'm doing and okay, i will bare that in mind for the future!

As for the storyline, i got the idea for the prosperous south and weakening north in order to create the tension needed for my storyline from research on websites such as Wikipedia (unreliable i know). I didn't look in to the effects of the great depression anywhere other than the Uk so i best look in to it, but according to that, the South DID infact have a boom in its economy due to the motor industry, not sure wether or not that is true.

As for the storyline of the German invasion, i must admit i lack a bit of world war II knowledge, and invading France and then England was a botched idea that seemed like an obvious solution, however you're right and i ought to look in to it a bit more and change that area of the storyline.

Thanks for the replies!
Joe

I wanted to make the background story realistic and plausible, but thats not to say that there couldn't be a new set of weapons arise in this outlawed country, for example make shift weapons. I got this idea from the likes of Fallout (which are a bit futuristic however) where you see a plausible future, but unheard of weapons like the deathclaw hand. As for action in storylines, i got some inspiration from red dead redemption. I want a free roam storyline, that allows you to start an epic storyline mission with a lot of action. I am a big fan of storylines so i wanted to take this gameplay style and put it with a storyline that just sounded cool to me and sorry about the topic name! my bad

No need to be sorry Since you put it that way, I'm quite sure such a game would attract an audience. I'm a big Fallout fan as well, and a setting that involves, let's call it, "dirty survival" is good for me. As with everything, it all comes down to personal taste - some people will worship a title while others will ignore it. Select a target audience, read about its needs and adjust. Even better - identify to what audience You may be related to and then adjust the game, so it will be a compromise of "fun to make" and "fun to play" later on.

Anyway, you make it sound cool and enthusiastic, it has a good air blown by your recent post - keep it that way!

Ah sorry about that, it was my first post so i'm still a bit confused about what i'm doing and okay, i will bare that in mind for the future!

As for the storyline, i got the idea for the prosperous south and weakening north in order to create the tension needed for my storyline from research on websites such as Wikipedia (unreliable i know). I didn't look in to the effects of the great depression anywhere other than the Uk so i best look in to it, but according to that, the South DID infact have a boom in its economy due to the motor industry, not sure wether or not that is true.

As for the storyline of the German invasion, i must admit i lack a bit of world war II knowledge, and invading France and then England was a botched idea that seemed like an obvious solution, however you're right and i ought to look in to it a bit more and change that area of the storyline.

Thanks for the replies!
Joe

No worries about being new, everyone one is at some point. I wasn't trying to make you feel bad, but just point out for the future an easy way to encourage future replies.

As for differing prosperity between the North and South, there's no reason that it can't happen. But as you mentioned a goal of having as plausible a story as possible, I only wanted to comment that while differing areas had different experiences during the Great Depression (and the south of England may well have had a motor-related boom), no region did very well during that period. A boom relative to another country/region wouldn't mean awesome prosperity, but rather a somewhat less crappy situation. It may not have been enough to drive jealousy between the North and South, and even if it did the UK is small and a highly integrated country economically, so that's something to address in your backstory.

It's not unreasonable that southerners might have wanted to break away from the North, particularly as their economic situations differed. You can have it in your story, plausibly too, it's just an area to give special attention to. It's the same with where Germany invades first. You can easily write it whichever way you'd like, but careful thought will lead to a situation players will accept more readily. Countries and individuals also often make less than optimal decisions (look into Operation Sea Lion for a real life example of Hitler making a bizarre choice during the war, which had a significant impact on the outcome). So don't feel bad if something you want in your story doesn't seem like the most logical choice-- your characters aren't all Terminators.

I think that your idea is pretty good though. The WWII shooter genre is a little stale, and a re-imagining of the whole scenario could be a nice breath of fresh air. Your game definitely has the potential to do that. Stick with it, and keep fleshing out the design, I think that the result can be really good.

thanks for the feedback people