Whisper has been a project of mine for almost two years. The story has progressed from an H.P. Lovecraft fan game, to a story of murder, depression, addiction and dementia. During this time i've changed the script multiple times, started, completed and scrapped levels. I think the reason was because I never felt truly happy with the story I had set behind it, now, with a script half written but fully planned out, I feel confident to get this project done.
As a result of my previous experience with games and 3d in general, I am allowed to put each module to use towards a single project, this project is Whisper. Due to the fact that this project goes towards me passing my university done, it has to be completed. This is probably the biggest motivation I have and with my passion towards the project at hand, I couldn't ask for more incentive to get this done.
I'll give a brief overview of the story, but because of the twists and turns that happen and how the story evolves as you progress, I'm afraid I'm going to have to be vague.
The story follows Jack, a police detective who lost his wife and son to a vicious murder nearly four years ago, he turned to drink. The murders remains unsolved, but Jack believes that a current string of deaths may be related to the events that took place four years ago. The man who claims to have done it has never been seen, only heard, But Jack has seen him, he appears in his dreams, telling him of the crimes he has committed and taunting him with vicious words. Jack's only hope is to follow the trail of clues left at the crime scenes to finally seek his revenge.
Although the game is a first person shooter, I'm attempting to break away from the traditional kill everything that moves. There will be a solid shooting mechanic down, but the emphasis is on story, character development and the crime solving mechanics (that's not to say that there aren't any exciting action sequences on offer!).
Due to the weird nature of the modules on offer in my course, the entire first level, with story sequences and the first murder investigation have to be done for the end of the term. I'll be putting this up for download when it's done(the end of June '10). The second problem here, is that because I'm creating a total conversion, it means every game mechanic that is present in the opening level, has to also be done. This increases my workload tenfold and gives me a lot less time to work on the engine itself than I wanted. The good news is that not all of the game mechanics are present in the first level of the game, so what you will soon experience is not everything on offer.
Sounds very, very cheesy. Doesn't mean it won't be good and if you pull off the atmosphere then it will be amazing it's just the whole "Alcoholic retired cop with a murdered wife and child" is a very overused cliché.
I wish you good luck sir, I will keep watching this and look forward to playing the June release.
Whilst I openly admit about the use of a cliché, it proved a good catalyst for the twists that follow. I'm hoping I can change your mind about the story as I unveil more along the way. I have enough faith in the story twists and the story itself that the final project will be emotionally engaging and interesting to follow. Hopefully a few of the teasers I'll eventually push out will ease your mind.
Cheers.