Using RPG Maker Ace for the final presentation.

[Mr. Detective]

Hi guys,

I am thinking of using RPM to make a short story for my final presentation. We are supposed to make a video or a website about a social issue that we can share on social media. I plan to make a long cutscene, play it and record it myself, and then show it to the class as a video. Would this be a good idea?

I have an outline of what it should be, but I don't know how to make it convincing yet. Here's what I have in mind:

A guy in high school is constantly being bullied by his classmates, unable to stand up for himself. After various incidents, some of the bullies came up with a more cruel and twisted method to torment him. Two of them, one guy and one girl, will have sex with each other and frame him. Before that, the guy would have stolen a certain item from the main character, such as a wallet or ID of some sort. Then, the girl will use that as "evidence" to frame him as a rapist.

This is where things get a little tough. How can I make it convincing for the girl to blame him? How can I get people in the game to believe that the MC is a rapist? How do they not get the police involved and find out the truth? Perhaps the MC's parents will beg them to keep it under the rug, while paying them some sort of reparation and smacking the MC? Or perhaps the girl is a whore who already lost her innocence, but pretended to love the MC and have sex with him just to frame him? I am not sure which scenario I should do yet.

I know what to do after this point, but I need to get this part of the story clear first. There's also stuff like faceset and sprites. I can't do much for animated actions during cutscene, but I'll see what I can do with the default sprites. I will also need some dead sprites covered in blood, too. I think I could twist the walking sprites to 45 degree angle and put them over a pool of blood to make them look dead. Not sure how well that works, gotta try it tonight.

But overall, that's my plan. Let me know what you think, and what feedback to would like to give me regarding the plot. If you feel like helping me making the cutscene, like editing sprites or whatever, I'll appreciate it. This shouldn't be longer than 10 minutes, so it won't take as much work as making a new game.

 

[Warpmind]

That sounds pretty dark... and unnecessarily convoluted.

Why would it be necessary for sex to happen for rape allegations to happen, when they have falsified evidence?
Spreading rumors is effective enough as it is; any, um, physical evidence of an encounter, as it were, could likely become instant proof the accused wasn't even at the place as soon as the police get involved and get, um, samples for forensic analysis.

Of course, since these sound like fairly stupid and cruel teenagers, I'm sure they haven't thought that far ahead, either...

 

[Mr. Detective]

It should be dark.

There has to be some sort of evidence that the girl has lost her virginity in order for her family to make a fuss. It's not very believable to just throw out accusations. Here's what I came up with: The girl is from a family that immigrated illegaly into the U.S. Her mom has checked and be sure that her virginity is gone. The girl would then make up some fake story about the MC raping her, and during a struggle, she managed to get a hold of his wallet or ID. Her parents would then complain to the MC's parents, who are ultra "progressive". They all agree to not press charge, since that would get the girl's family in trouble. Then the story would start to spread at school, and everyone will detest the MC. That's when his Berserk Button is pressed.

If you're wondering why I am making this story, my class is ultra super duper liberal, so I want to flip things on them. And we're talking about grown college students here, so half-assing an inconvincing story won't work. So, how did that sound?

 

[LostFonDrive]

The girl is from a family that immigrated illegaly into the U.S. Her mom has checked and be sure that her virginity is gone.

Before anyone complains about this statement, I just want to point out that this kind of crap actually happens in certain (awful) eastern cultures.

 

[Mr. Detective]

Before anyone complains about this statement, I just want to point out that this kind of crap actually happens in certain (awful) eastern cultures.

Normally, a mom checking on her daughter to really understand what exactly is going on isn't awful. Not sure if this is going well.

 

[Warpmind]

Okay, then the scenario starts adding up.

Creating the "tangible evidence", though, still shouldn't require more than, um, mechanical aid.

I'm smelling the possibility of a VD, though, for a nice little stinger at the end. -_-

 

[Mr. Detective]

What's VD?

But with that said, would this be a good idea for a presentation? Anime styled cutscene and college students might not mix very well. That's what I'm sort of worrying about.

 

[Warpmind]

Sorry, I guess STD is the common terminology nowadays.

Sexually Transmitted Disease, y'know.

But I guess my mind does veer off tangential plot twists quite easily...

 

[Mr. Detective]

Aw, great... The bloody professor said that the media can only be 3-5 minutes long, so 5 minutes is my cut-off time. I feel like it's a bit too short to flesh out the story and show the guy's internal struggle. Reverse racism and indefensible falsely accuse rape are the main theme, coated by bullying. The story will be told via the guy's point of view, his inner thoughts and diary. Maybe I should just let the guy kill himself after being falsely accused? But then, there would be no twist.
 

I was planning on having him shoot the entire school and commit suicide. Then, the media would gloss over the fact that he was bullied and accused him of being a racist and crazy killer. They would even find video games in his room and blame them for his behaviors. Any advice on what I should do instead? What else can I do to make it more convincing, and not so fabricated?

 

[Archeia]

There is a way. In the Philippines we had a case that is similar to the framing but not in the way you imagined. What they basically did was this girl invited the guy to a hotel room, they beat him up and forced him to sign a testimonial that he has indeed raped this girl and there was a trial case about it. This might be of interest: http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2014/10/03/1376072/another-rape-case-vs-vhong-navarro-dismissed

 

[Mr. Detective]

Hate to rant about this, but the professor said I can't just make up a story like that. There has to be some sort of research that shows how the topic is related to history. After a short exchange with her, I still have no idea what the hell is it that I should be doing. It's also clear that neither of us is fond of each other. >

Any ideas or advice you guys have? A social issue that's related to history? False rape accusation, she said it isn't widespread. I am not sure if it's very related to history, either. But then, how the heck am I supposed to present it is another issue. She wants no powerpoint, no traditional presentation. Perhaps a story on a guy and girl drunk, have sex, and the girl sues him? Then I'll make a survey in which you guys vote if the girl is being raped or not. Not very convincing, but I'll keep thinking or other ideas. Aw man, what to do!?

If I skip out on this one, I might get a C, but...

 

[Warpmind]

...I'm tempted to suggest you do something on "the increasing prevalence of superiors - bosses, managers, teachers, etc. - handing out assignments and whimsically changing the requirements for said assignments as the deadline approaches."