As a father and his
two young boys meander through the woods just outside their village, they
discuss life lessons of hard work and the basics of battle. After a couple
hours the father pauses briefly.
"What is it
papa?" the younger son inquires.
He looks down at his
son, smiles, and embraces him, "Nothing. How about we get us something to
eat?"
The two boys happily
nod, and the three head to the nearest river. Leaving to catch some game, the
father asks his sons to build the fire. As he returns with a couple stouts, he
catches his sons engaged in a friendly tussle. He looks on amused, when suddenly
a faint sound catches his attention -- a scream, far off in the distance.
"Boys! Put out
the fire!"
"But we haven't
eaten anything yet."
"Do as I say!
We must leave. I fear something has happened..."
After putting out
the flames, the boys hurriedly catch up to their father.
The older son speaks
up, "What is it father? What's happened?"
With a worried
visage and staring straight ahead, the father only mutters to himself,
"No...it's too soon!"
Passing through a
clearing in the woods, the older son points upward, above the treeline.
"Father! The
sky!"
Looking up he sees
the night sky, glowing with an amber hue. Picking up speed, he nearly leaving
his sons behind. When they reach the village, they are presented with a vision
of bodies, blood, and fire everywhere. The father orders his boys to run to the
place of their family's relic, and then sprints into the village. Against their
father's wishes, the sons follow him, staying hidden so that they remain out of
trouble. They watch in awe as he defeats enemy after enemy effortlessly without
ever unsheathing his sword. Suddenly their father stops and stares into the
shadows.
"Why are you
here…?"
A silhouette departs
from the darkness, and a man the boys have never seen before, clothed in an
aura of evil, approaches their father. In low voices, barely audible to the
boys, the two men converse. They see an anger grow in their father's eyes they
never knew to exist as he releases his sword -- the first time the boys have
ever witnessed. Striking out at the mysterious man, a duel ensues on a scale
the boys have never seen. Weapons and powerful magic clash, the father
appearing to have the upper hand! After what seems like hours, the battle ends
as quickly as it began. The father stands over his opponent.
"You can not
win. I've defeated you once, I will do it again!"
The man responds in
a labored voice, "Yes, indeed you had defeated me, but do you know what
I've been doing all these years?" The man's form begins to alter and grow,
"I've learned a few 'tricks' since we last met!"
Quicker than the eye
could catch, the man grabs the father by the throat and tosses him against a
nearby house. With renewed vigor and beast-like savagery, the stranger begins
battle with the father once again. This time the father is on the defensive, and
fatigue begins to show. The boys watch as their father is battered mercilessly.
On his knees in front of the stranger, the father is bloodied and bruised,
desperately trying to catch his breath.
The stranger speaks
mockingly: "I told you one day you would bow to me."
The father swings
his sword one last time. Catching it by the blade, the man kicks the father,
hurling him against the house once again. Weapon in hand, the man approaches.
Out of breath and unable to move, the father stares off into the distance and
sees the boys. As the stranger raises the father's sword against him, the
father locks eyes with the older son and smiles one last time. A faint smirk
appears on the stranger's face when he hears the younger boy scream as he
executes their father…
...Teniras jolts
from his sleep and tries to regain his bearings. It was a nightmare, nothing
more.
_______________________________________________________________________
This is the opening
scene that a player sees after selecting to start a new game. The gameplay
tutorial takes place towards the beginning of the scene when the father is
teaching his sons "the basics of battle". Players will be shown their
navigation and battle controls and test them out...pretty standard stuff.
As of right now I'm
tied between developing for console gaming or for pc gaming. Both have their
pros and cons, but taking into consideration the current industry trends, I
believe pc gaming will probably be the final verdict. Developing for either
platform will allow players to participate in both online and offline gameplay
(which will be described in greater detail about how that will be carried out
in this game at a later time), but the pc platform allows for creating mods
which I know is huge in the pc gaming community. The main drawback that I've
always seen with pc games is that you have to make sure your computer can
handle said game, and that's not always easy. VnV will definitely be a
contender when it comes to shear scale of the world on which you travel, and
I'm not sure how that will play into minimum requirements for computers. Either
way, we can do it...we have the technology.
I've read recently
that Xbox is already releasing basic development specs to companies who want to
get a jump on making games for the soon-to-come system. Sony is at about the
same point as well, I believe. Hopefully VnV will be finished in time to be a part
of that initial batch for either new system. And if it is, I may just push for
a cross-platform game that will hit Xbox, Playstation, and PC/Mac. Perhaps even
have all three capable of online/offline gameplay. Either way, odds are it will end up being available for purchase as soft copy only. Sorry, kids, no disc...
Okay, so this is
pretty big news:
I just read an
article tonight, literally released at 6pm today, that gives a pretty clear
picture of where the video game industry is heading. The link is below. Check
it out if you have the time.
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