WORLD
The year is 1997.
There are four great Squares of human civilization. Outside of those squares, there is a haunted emptiness which no one has ever returned from.
The wealthy and powerful people you read about on the internet or see on the news feeds live in the First Square. They have trees, rivers, mountains and beautiful cities of shining steel. There is rain and sun, open skies and verdant plains. They also have parades. The First are eternally content, and they rule over everyone else.
Civil servants live in the Second Square. They live in well-maintained apartment complexes and run the whole framework of civilization. They are happy and dress in nice clothes.
The Third Square is where the soldiers make their home. They police the rest of the Squares and carry guns. They are always angry and never smile.
The Fourth Square is located far from the shining cities of other Squares. It is a sprawl of ghettos and slums built over the ruins of the old world. Hundreds of years ago, murderers, rapists and all sorts of other criminals were banished here and their descendants have lived here ever since.
STORY
Robbie K. is a 14 year old boy living in the Fourth Square. He is lonely, awkward, and has a speech impediment. Robbie has no friends.
The local food supply is running out, everyone is going hungry and things aren't looking too good for the people in his neighborhood. He is bullied constantly at school, and his family life isn't any better.
Robbie's older sister spends her days risking her life on protest demonstrations, and his father is a low-level street tough in the local mafia who seems to have forgotten he has kids to take care of. As for his mother, she is not once mentioned in the game's plot.
To escape from the real world, Robbie spends most of his time on the Adolescent Citizens Network, a government-regulated internet service which closely monitors its users and everything they do online. Robbie dreams of escaping from the Fourth Square, and is fixated on an ancient legend-- that of the existence of a heavenly paradise said to be located deep within the haunted emptiness, far beyond the boundaries of human civilization. He spends all of his free time searching through centuries-old web domains which have been long abandoned, trying to find any clues of this mythical place.
Robbie's search has thus far proven fruitless. One day however, he chances upon the existence of a mysterious web forum... and his life is changed forever.
SCREENSHOTS
VIDEOS
FEATURES
Neat-Looking Maps: I spent an embarrassingly long time trying to make this game look good. I've also filled the maps with tons of details and have included a lot of stuff that players can interact with.
Deep NPCs: Every NPC you meet has a distinct personality as well as their own small storyline which you can choose to experience (or ignore). My goal is to make the game world feel alive, and so there is quite a lot of depth to the NPCs. I've been heavily inspired by Mother 3 when it comes to this aspect of the game.
In-Game Internet: Using the mouse system, the player can explore the Adolescent Citizens Network (an in-game internet service) and click on links which lead to numerous different websites. I've created all of these websites from scratch, and they range from blogs belonging to the game's characters to news sites which report on the developments of the plot. There is also an in-game email system where the player can receive messages from NPCs.
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This project is meant to be a short game, and will probably have about 2 or 3 hours of playtime. I'm not sure when a demo will be available, but I'm hoping to have something playable some time this year.
Thanks for reading!
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