RMMV (Disclaimer: Deals With Religion, Depression, and other themes)Is this idea stupid or boring?

[PeanutButterToast]

So I've been toying with this for a while but haven't done anything with it yet other than write the opening on paper. But long story short, it's about a teenage boy named David who survives a suicide attempt by poisoning, and is stuck in limbo while in ICU. The game goes through memory fragments as to how he got to this state of mind and how he ended in such a low place in life. The events of the story take place in the city of Edom, and is run and controlled by cultists who want the protagonist to grow up to be an emissary for their faith. With an abusive homelife and controlling environment that he is stuck in, David struggles to discover himself and find the will to stand up to his superiors.
He meets a friend down the line who gives him the courage he needs to defy his elders, but the friend is expelled from the school and shunned by most of Edom for his rebellious behavior, and ends up committing suicide.

I can add more if necessary, but despite the sad themes of the game, the ultimate message is to find your own purpose instead of following what you're being told your place in life is supposed to be, and of course, to keep living even through the dark times. In the end, he wakes up and the player decides how the game will end. Will the protagonist choose to accept what is supposed to be his purpose (as told to him by everyone else), or reject it and leave on his own?

Battles take place in his mind, during and after he finishes his memory fragment. If he falls in battle, he dies in real life. Just to give the player a reason to care about battling and leveling in the first place. I might scrap this though.

Its based sort of on my own experience growing up in a similar way, and i guess i juat want to let sone of it out.

What do you guys think about all this? Does it sound boring or stupid?

 

[MagicPizzaGuy]

Does not sound boring or stupid, but I don't think battle is necessary, the game would work better with puzzles I think, but still I think the best option would still be make it like a visual novel, these themes and the cartoonish look of the rpg maker don't fit well together, but if you make some custom graphics then it would be great

It's cool that you found your way and want to show through the game

I just didn't get it where the game is related to religion as you said in the title, is the religion a real one or the cultists have their own "fake" religion

 

[PeanutButterToast]

I wanted to be on the safe side, since I'm new here. Also I can't decide if I want it to be fictional and based on the real religion, or just use the religion and risk offending people.

I thought about using the Character Generator but i don't really like that style so I'll make my own facesets and try to find a sprite artist for the characters. Puzzles are a good idea. Thanks. I wonder how much pixel artists charge. Hmm...

 

[MagicPizzaGuy]

I thought about using the Character Generator but i don't really like that style so I'll make my own facesets and try to find a sprite artist for the characters. Puzzles are a good idea. Thanks. I wonder how much pixel artists charge. Hmm...

I also don't know, but I would first try to make the game work and later think about the art and tilesets and everything else, using a big blank image (or anything taken from google search) isn't a problema for starting the project, that's what I do at least

 

[Lemonrice]

So, throughout the game David is in the limbo and the end is him waking up. Does that mean the city and the cult only exist in his mind? Do they represent his state of mind, his sorrows?

I agree with Magic Pizza Guy, this could easily work as a puzzle game or maybe just a walking simulator where you uncover the demons that the protagonist is facing. But I think battles could work if there are very few but important once - especially when David might die. The enemies could represent memories or symbolize people who did him wrong. The first Silent Hill games did that very well, if you search for the symbolism of their enemies.

 

[gstv87]

does the story involve some back and forth between the inside and outside of his mind?
does the player ever get to see the protagonist in his bed?
because, that could give a lot of meaning to the fighting.

also, I'm gonna go a little off side here and submit this: what you know (whatever any one person knows) at any given point in your life, depends on what you've been told and what you've observed. That, is the sum of your *knowledge*.
Scientists are still debating what is consciousness and what happens when we dream, or die... but at any point in our lives, whenever our brain goes haywire dealing with a lot of memories and ideas, those memories and ideas never exceed the sum of a person's knowledge.
In layman's terms: you can't handle the concept of subatomic particle, if you believe that matter is only made of earth, wind, fire and water.
From there: whatever takes place inside the mind of the character, will have to be bound by the knowledge that said character possesses at that time. Meaning, if at no point in his life has the concept of "cultists seeking a messiah" ever been brought up in any form, then the manifestation of brain activity will never have the shape of a cult seeking a messiah.... the guy just can't handle the concept, because he doesn't have the basis for it.
That's why I bring up the going in and out of his mind, because at some point you have to establish that the experience was a dream, and that the concepts given form in that dream came from external stimuli.

A game that tackles this somewhat accurately, is Catherine.
where the main guy gets progressively more deranged dealing with life stuff happening around him, and that translates into monsters in his dreams.

 

[PeanutButterToast]

So, throughout the game David is in the limbo and the end is him waking up. Does that mean the city and the cult only exist in his mind? Do they represent his state of mind, his sorrows?

As much as I like that idea, Edom was real and he's reliving certain key moments of his life. He wakes up near the end, but the actual end will be shortly after his attempt where one of his elders tells him that the time to become an emissary is near. The player will have the choice to either agree and accept his "fate", or say "No" and leave Edom to venture on his own.

 

[LaFlibuste]

That being said, wouldn't it be more interesting gameplay-wise if the decision the character took at the end depended on choices he made/how he fared during the game? Also try not to have only text choices, but actual things the player decides on doing, like did he take time to go visit X or did he instead go do Y, etc.

 

[lianderson]

Sounds like you need to make it.

Make it.

 

[Andar]

stories like this have been done before and partially with very good success and praise, but it all depends on execution.
critical themes like religion and depression always require a very careful balance or they go the wrong way, and you need some story-telling experience (not game-making, that is something different) to really handle this.

I also suggest you search for the game "to the moon" on steam. it has a different story but is somewhat similiar

 

[PeanutButterToast]

I'll do that. Thanks all. I'll see what I can drum up as my first game. Nervous, scared I won't be able to convey it all properly but I'll try. Thanks again.