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This the pretty much the game concept description I developed from the dream notes I took.
Name: Persevere (Potential?)
Code Name: NULL
Chapter 1 - Freedom Is Fabricated
The player is a young orphan in an orphanage in one of the few buildings still left standing.
There is a Marm that oversees the place. She is stern and matter-of-fact.
Through a series of playable cut-scenes, the player is harassed by the Marm and the other children (how?) to the point where escape seems the only option.
Just after lights out, the player discovers a slightly ajar access panel and can sneak out, into the nearby loading yard.
The player must then use stealth techniques to duck from shadow to shadow, eventually working his way up a ladder, and dropping though a garage skylight.... into the back of a box truck
Playable cut-scene in which the truck drives back to the orphanage and into the hands of the Marm.
Punishment ensues (what kind?).
Chapter 2 - Love Is False
The scene: Same orphanage, but under increased scrutiny.
The player is now a tweener.
Through a series of playable cut-scenes, the player gets involved with some minor brawls with other orphans. This is where melee attacks are learned.
The player also interacts with one of the female attending assistants. (How do we make the player care about her?)
In discussion with the assistant, the player learns of another possible escape vector, and she agrees to help with the condition that she gets to tag along.
The player makes it much farther through the remains of the suburb, picking up a club or crowbar in the process.
However, the Marm catches up with the two escapees and is now joined by armed guards.
The player has an opportunity to fight off the guards, but it should become apparent that their sheer number and size overwhelm the player, capturing and cuffing the two.
WIth a look of disappointment, the Marm says, "shoot her."
The guards fire and the girl goes down.
Chapter 3 - Life Is Fleeting
The player is now a late teenager.
Through a series of playable cut-scenes, we realize the orphanage is actually training soldiers of some sort - the player has earned enough respect to actually be handling a basic firearm and has begun the first phases of training. (See La Femme Nikita)
Just as his security detail lets their guard down, the player escapes bolting through the city streets (buildings still damaged but cleaned up?).
A full-on manhunt begins.
Initially, any attempts on the player will be non-lethal takedowns - each of which the player subverts.
Eventually, the security team has to resort to lethal force.
The player is finally gunned down (by a minigun from a small hover-chopper thing?)
Chapter 4 - Death Is Forever
Through a playable cut-scene, the player wakes up in a haze. He is on an operating table, machines are beeping slowly in the background (indicating it doesn't look good), and a medical team is standing over him.
"I'm sorry, sir. The orphanage called in a strike team. There's not much left of him. There's nothing we can do."
The player's screen makes one final glance to one of the nurses (or doctor?) and then fades to black.
[Insert cool transition sequence - pinholes of light; eye is the window to the soul; images of somebody else's life...]
The player's screen is now looking down on the remains of his former self. It's bad. The actual vantage point is from whichever nurse (or doctor) was looked at last.
The doctor asks for a final clamp to stop the blood from soaking the table any more. The player can look down at a tray of instruments and can pick any:
• If a clamp, the doctor clamps the patient, asks to do final cleanup and walks out. The player may pick up other instruments as needed.
• If a scalpel, the doctor questions the player's choice, which leads to an escalated fight. If any of the personnel escape, alarms will be sounded.
• If any other instrument, the doctor questions the player's choice, giving the option of rechoosing (until a break point? three tries?).
From this point forward, play proceeds through the meat of the game.
The twist is, whenever the player dies, he respawns in the body of the last NPC he saw (in the event that all previous NPCs have been killed, then the body of the PC's killer).
The player can choose to play it stealthy with whatever instrument the nurse picked up, or full-on guns blazing.
There is no weapon hoarding - if the player wants a particular weapon, the owner of the weapon has to be the last person he sees before dying (finger-print coded weapons?)
Some obstacles will require finding a way to die while watching somebody on the other side of the obstacle.
[What's the meat of the story? Is the player trying to find and kill the Marm?]
My dream notes suggested a scene toward the end of the story:
The player finds themselves in a predicament in which the only escape is a leap over a balcony to a 13 story drop. During the fall, they pass the window of a conference room with a meeting in progress and make eye contact with an attendee.
Per the rules of the game, the respawn from the sudden stop puts the player in the conference room. A little person is giving a presentation on the larger corporate plans. Interacting with or interrogating the speaker (and perhaps dealing with the attendees), the player can find out about what he knows and why the player is there. Pushing further, they can learn that he is a lower level manager. The real person in charge is the Marm!
There you have it! What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
