A while ago, I took part in a GameJam (make a game in 24 hours) and was trying hard to come up with a cool, unique idea. We ended up making something else, but I decided to try and make the game I had thought of anyways, after the gamejam. Here it is!
Introducing: The Wiki-Based-RPG
Remember the game "Sleep is Death"? The server creates the story as the client plays it?
This is similar. But text based. So you don't have to draw and stuff. Also, it's influenced by Wikipedia. Here's how it came to be:
- Let's make a game where the story is always different.
- All right. We'd need some sort of online database that game-play elements could randomly be chosen from.
- Whut? It would have to be HUGE! Who'd do all that work? We only have 24 Hours!
- True.
- Let's use an already existing database.
- Like... Wikipedia.
The Game:
The server is the storyteller. He/she decides on a word which the story should focus on or start with. For the sake of argument, let's choose "Cave". The Game then checks if there's a Wikipedia article for it. If so, it will accept the word.
Next, the clients join the server. There's a maximum of 4 clients, which, from here on, I'll call "Heroes". This IS an RPG, after all.The Heroes, let's call them "Caveman" and "Huntsman", choose create an Avatar (very old-school-pixel-look. You get only 15*15 squares of two-coloured awesomeness. Be creative!) and think of a word that describes their character. The game looks up that word on the wiki and gives the players randomly chosen words from that page as choices. The players choose one of these words and use it to describe their Character. This results in sentences like: "Caveman's cave is not on the 'List of caves in Iran'" or "Huntsman's favourite animal is the Boar".
When the game starts, the storyteller starts writing the first part of the story, in which his start-wiki-word must be mentioned (here, "Cave"). Then the Heroes take turns to reply, using one or multiple of the commands /say, /do, /use or /skip. As they're typing, the story-teller is presented with follow-up words, randomly chosen from the links on the Wiki's "Cave" page.The storyteller can choose to give these words into the inventory of the users for them to use, or use it for his next passage.
Then the cycle repeats. This time, the storyteller must take into account a) his new word and b) the actions the heroes have taken in the meantime. At the end, you can export the story directly to a .html file.
Below is the exported version of a game played by my sister, a friend and me. None of us are native English speakers, so excuse any mistakes!
For more info: There's a README.md in the game and on GitHub.Download the game from IndieDB's download area or from get the most up-to-date source version from GitHub.
Chest
(A story influenced by En.wikipedia.org and a fair bit of randomness)
(Bold words were dictated by the wiki)
All the preparations are made. She has her lockpicks with her and the rope. Dressed in Dark clothing, Novika the thief is standing outside the dark walls which are guarding the Princes' riches. Somewhere behind these bricks, she knows, there is a Chest full of very earthly wealth. Today, Laurent-Outang must part from them, this she swore to her friends. Her escape route has been carefully planned.
Novika is VERY good at lockpicking
Laurent-Outang is Sovereign Prince of Monaco
Novika: "Let's get ourselves some treasures... "
Novika checks to see if the alley is really empty and throws the rope with the rock over the wall.
Laurent-Outang: "A prince would'nt be a good one without having ears all around the p(a)lace... "
Laurent-Outang: "And thus I heard there were some thieves, daring to plan a move on my wealth. "
Laurent-Outang double-checks the rooms, the guards and everything else whatsoever.
On light soles, Novika climbs over the outer walls. As a master thief, she knows that no one could have seen her. Still, she is cautious and waits in the dark shadows for a minute or two, before she carefully moves to the nearest tower. In the meantime, Laurent is having dinner in his large hall, along with all the guests. Servants are serving delicious foods. Every few minutes, one of the guard comes in and reports: "Everything is still under control."
Laurent-Outang , while pleasantly smiling at his guests, still can't keep the unpleasant rumor out of his mind. What if even a bit of it was true ?
Laurent-Outang: "My dears guests, I wish you a pleasant meal for the time being. "
Laurent-Outang starts to eat, as if nothing else matters ...
Novika: "If only my friend didn't let anything slip when he was drinking the other day... he told me it was foolish to rob the palace. But what does he know about treasures and riches, anyway?""
Novika decides to stop talking to herself, a bad habit of her's when she's on a delicate mission. She waits for the right moment and runs swiftly across the yard, past the kitchens and nearer to the main buildings.
Laurent can no longer sit still. He excuses himself to puzzled guests and starts walking towards his quarters, where the treasures are hidden behind a secret entry in one of the walls. At the same time, one of the guards asks: "Huh, what was that!" He walkes around the corner into the yard. "Thought I heard something..." That's as far as he gets. Novikia quickly puches him, barehanded, he collapses. She takes his boots, which look shiny, like they're worth a lot...
Novika received Heel
Laurent-Outang looks at his shiny amount of treasures, all percieved with the help of monstruous taxes and unfair protection money. Who said the mafia could't be in the royalty ?
Laurent-Outang: "I ... won't ... leave that thing until noon... I swear "
Laurent-Outang finds a comfortable armchair and just begins to wait for ... whatever should come.
Novika looks around and is relieved that nobody heard the noise the guardman made. She creeps into the shadows by a servant's entrance and quickly picks the lock. It is no challenge for her, only a simple one. She quickly climbs up the stairs, into the hall and down towards the prince's chambers.
Soon, she reaches the door that, according to her information, leads to the prince's private rooms. She disposes of another guard standing in her path by grabbing his legs from behind and pulling, quickly. He's out in no time, with the help of an elbow and a fist. Now, only the large door is blocking her way. In the meantime, Laurent-Outang is joined by his long-time friend: a strong, large primate whom the palace guards call "Brownie".
Laurent-Outang received Primate
Laurent-Outang suddenly got an idea. He takes the chain with the key to the secret chamber out of his pocket and put it as a metal necklace around Brownie's neck. Being aware of Brownie's tendency to keep the things he owns, the key was now pretty safe. That being done, Laurent-Outang takes his dear friend in the arms and ...
Laurent-Outang uses Primate on the little just-big-enough-for-a-monkey tunnel.
Laurent-Outang: "Now get out of here, my friend. I count on you"
Novika takes a deep breath.
Novika: "Ok, let's go for it. "
Novika gives the door a gentle push. It is open, she doesn't even need her lockpicks. Inside the room, she sees two little girls asleep on the bed. Quickly she closes the door behind her and takes the time to curse her friend.
Novika: "Damn you. I will never trust any information you give me again. Especially not the buildingplans. "
Novika Goes around a corner and overcomes the next guard, kicking open the right door.
Laurent-Outang jumps up as soon as he sees her coming. He tries to run and call for guards, but Novika quickly grabs him by the elbow. He janks back his arm, suddenly they are in an open fight. It does not take long, but leaves Laurent-Outang with a dislocated shoulder and Novika with a blue eye and multiple bruises. This is not how she planned it all...
Novika uses Heel on the princes' stomach.
Novika tries to hold him down.
Novika: "Where is the key? Give me the key and I'll let you live. "
Laurent-Outang feels an intense pain as he is trying to get back up. His right arm being useless for now, and his opponent using a heel to beat him down (probably some kind of foot-fetishist ... ), Laurent-Outang seems to have lost any backup options. The little monkey-trick had proven to be useful though. Despite the woman yelling her question at him...
Laurent-Outang faints.
With her Victim fainted and no key, Novika starts looking around the room for the entry to the treasury. Being the thief she is, she quickly finds a crack in the wall and starts pushing with her shoulder, to no avail. Laurent-Outang moans, regathers himself and starts crawling towards the door...
Laurent-Outang feels like his head is about to crack open. And his stomach feels like bursting. Who the heck beats someone else down with a heel? He tries to get back into the hall, calling for the help of his deficient muscle men commonly known as "guards".
Laurent-Outang: "Help, help! What the hell, where are all the guards? Someone's gotta stop this fetishist girl, she's trying to rob me!"
Laurent-Outang looks back at the thief, then starts yelling again.
Novika shoves Laurent-Outang back from the door with her heel and closes the door.
As she closes the door, Novikia hears calls and shouts outside. She consideres briefly, then curses and leaves the room. To distract potential followers, she throws over two of three torches. Then she runs out of the hall, through the yard and into the night.
She leaves behind a badly bruised, but still rich Laurent-Outang, who from this day onwards will never again wear shoes with hard heels.
Fascinating.