Iji

edited 5th Mar '12 12:42:59 PM by JayTheHelmetGuy

Dan put up some Iji-related art on his website: http://www.remar.se/daniel/pics/angelica2.php

He's not doing Iji 2 yet, but it sure looks interesting!

edited 12th Mar '12 6:39:58 PM by skaianDestiny

Angelica? Jaavi? Did I miss something?

They're characters he planned for a sequel, even though he doesn't think he'll do one. Why he came up with the name "Jaavi" despite this (the first time I saw it, it mentioned him as being unnamed) is beyond me.

Although I am planning on doing a sequel with the MSPA, so this gives me some more material. I was already planning on including Angelica (only under a different name, since she wouldn't be a human in my version), so at least I have more information to work with.

Jaavi and Angelica were named years ago, I just thought Jaavi was such a dumb name that I didn't want to be honest about it at first... he's named after Javi, a funny villain with a cool ship in Tyrian.

Ansaksie and the Massacre are also from the plans of Iji 2. The whole Star strike / Null driver thing was at first supposed to be a tie-in to the sequel, but as Iji neared completion I realized that a sequel wasn't going to happen, at least not in the foreseeable future. So I crammed some of it into the first game instead, with a glitched Null driver prototype and a Star strike reference or two.

As the picture says, I like playing around with the concepts. If you'd like, Master Hand, I can tell you more about my ideas around these characters and the settings of Iji 2. But it'll probably mess with what you had envisioned yourself - that's one of the problems with making a sequel. :p

Well, even if I don't end up using your ideas, I'd still think that it'd be nice to have them at least for curiosity's sake. If you aren't going to be coming out with a game, you won't be spoiling anything by sharing them, and I'm sure we'd all like to hear what you had planned.

My plans for the sequel would have involved some of the stuff you'd talked about - the Star Strike is set to play a pretty big part, and as I've stated I plan to use Angelica's character design. I've never had any plans of doing a sequel that would be what Iji 2 would have been - the ending I have planned out for the MSPA would basically go completely off the rails and lead to events that never would have been possible in the original game - but I might be able to borrow some ideas, and even if I don't, I can't imagine anyone here who wouldn't be interested in them nonetheless.

-downloads game-

-loves game oh so much-

Master Hand: I was meaning to post the Iji 2 stuff sooner, but it's so much I'm just going through what I want to cut now (like the entire plot) so it won't be as much of a wall of text. I'll post it tomorrow.

Hey, it's fine. Take your time, I'm sure we'll all find it to be well worth it.

My version of Iji makes a weird noise whenever any dialogue sound pops up. Is it the fault of my laptop?

Sorry, haven't heard of that error before.

Prepare for text. This isn't the parts about gameplay, plot, details, in-depth character descriptions and other things, just what I think Master Hand would find the most interesting.

Before we begin.

These are only ideas. I've no intention of making this game, not in many years.

Setting first.

Five years after the end of the Tasen war, the Komato return to Earth to include the struggling humans into their fold, as part of a recent peace campaign. Unlike the Tasen, there's no rivalry between them, and the humans are so few that it doesn't matter to most Komato. In an ongoing process to prevent/prolong another incident on the scale of the Tasen-Komato war, the Army's influence is also lessened.

A larger focus in the story is placed on the fact that the Komato did not invent nanotechnology, but took it from a long-dead civilization they discovered (yay tropes). Imperial Research, and the many hackers/crackers around the empire, are just reverse-engineering and trying to understand this technology until they can completely recreate it. Of course people are still protesting this, saying it will lead to the same fate as the technology's inventors. Research has therefore branched off and is doing some of this work in secret.

Their projects involved in the plot are the Star Strike, Null driver, Immortal nanofield, and long-range teleportation. It's unknown whether they're still in development, finished, or secretly finished and about to be tested. What's clear is that Angelica has the Immortal nanofield though.

What do these mean for the plot?

The Null Driver is a weapon with light-years of reach, but the string of gravity it punches between tiny wormholes only travels at the speed of gravity (same as the speed of light). Useful as an assasination weapon from the opposite side of a planet - over larger distances, the target would have moved out of the way of the gravity string already, and the weapon's targeting isn't possibly that precise. Uses enormous amounts of energy to fire, and only one was built as proof of concept, so it's mostly just a stepping stone to the Star Strike.

The Star Strike continues on the wormhole technology, capable of opening a very temporary hole between a planet's core and the core of the star it orbits. This bypasses planetary shields, and though it too requires absurd resources to use, it can be fired from a single ship anywhere near the planet - the implications of such a stealth planet buster would lead the whole plot. The bad news is, it disappears after a raid on Imperial Research.

The Immortal nanofield has no predicted limit on nano absorbed. More nano makes it denser, tougher, and grants more ammo to the user. Nanofields work by converting nano into energy and manipulating gravity, so even a super-dense field wouldn't make the wearer sink through the ground, instead it checks where the ground is and acts accordingly. That's as far as the game will explain it anyway.

Long-range teleportation allows for the impossible; instant faster-than-light travel, currently only survivable for a single user. Again requires lots of energy and has been in development for ages.

Musings.

Before I continue, I should also say that I worry a lot about what the story should and shouldn't be... it's easy just increasing the stakes, scale, and power of the technology involved, where the battles turn into some kind of Dragonball thingy and now there's several planets to save instead of one, etc. And how long does it take to travel to a planet in another system in this setting anyway? It should at least be months, and "planets" shouldn't be like "towns". Wars would constantly be waged everywhere, just like in real life on the only little planet we have.

Furthermore, since the setting already has short-range teleportation, it raises tons of issues and questions about its possible application, and why it's not used more or in deadlier ways. For example, telefragging is not possible due to nanofields not being able to enter one other unless one is significantly denser, and such mumbo jumbo. But maybe it's better not to bring up at all. Also the whole "nanotechnology" thing which wasn't that good an idea in hindsight - I should have called it something else to begin with. Back in 2004 I thought a story is cool if you insert made-up words and lingo, like nanofield and nanogun, but it's just another barrier for the reader and is more likely to just sound dumb.

And then there's canon! With the possible ending modifiers in Iji, what should be canon? Should the player choose at the beginning?

Anyway, characters.

This taking place 26 years after Iji, Iji herself is now 46. Since nearly dying from her hackjob nanofield, she was offered a proper one by the Komato when they returned. She keeps to herself back on Earth, and is respected but largely unknown among the Komato since the incident. The Human Anomaly is an issue you don't talk about. Iji gets some training in to stay healthy and doesn't hold as strictly onto her pacifistic values anymore, but does want to preserve peace, and eventually does voulenteer civilian research and guard duty for the Komato. She lives with a few adopted kids, one of which she calls Mia. Despite hardships, nightmares and issues, she retains her iron will.

Dan's fate is unknown for now.

Angelica was born in a human-Komato colony, and her parents wanted her to be something special. Thus she was taken in by the Imperial Army at the age of 4 and trained until 18, when the story takes place. She's bratty, cocky and intellectual, and very emotive and outgoing, but as a human performs far worse than her Komato squadmates in combat training. Chosen for the Immortal nanofield project so the Army can haul her around as a tool to show how accepting they are. Programs in her nanofield can be remotely shut down by her superiors. Angelica walks on her toes to appear taller, when she's not hunched over to appear more Komato-like (and embarrasing, to everyone else). She's a Komato fangirl and overall wannabe, thanking her parents for giving her this chance to shine. Her tattoo is the "metal butterfly" found in the human facility where the Human Anomaly appeared - she thinks of it as a symbol of shaping nature. Angelica doesn't carry armor, just her life support in a vest and a helmet for the heads-up display and communication.

Ansaksie has degraded mentally due to continuous stimulant and hot drink use to calm her growing paranoia. She may be in her full senses, but isn't qualified for combat anymore. Loves to program tools and play games in her helmet interface. She teams up with Iji and acts as her information source, and pilots a small ship. A ship packed with hot drinks of course, even ones for humans that are just lukewarm. Wants to get ahold of the Null driver and tracks a lot of things and people with her interface.

Yukabacera and friends are alive and well, hiding out on Earth in a very tiny Tasen colony. Their existance really cannot be made public, and they can't reproduce anyway (like the Komato Imperial Army, they're all sterilized). What they can do is help the local humans out and continue cracking Komato tech for Iji - their lifespans are much longer than that of humans.

Voe Jaavi is a Komato savant, master of his teleportation interface and single combat but nothing else. He does like to boast and intimidate and uses a voice changer in his helmet. Since Research took an interest in Jaavi's potential, they tailored him a powerful nanofield focusing on offense. Has some weird paranoid habits, but finds a friend in Angelica and is easily swayed by her rants and opinions. Basically he's a souped-up Asha and impossible for Iji to defeat, like a plot roadblock.

Kiron appears to be a doormat to High Command like Tor was before him, but also like Tor, he has his own ideas about things. His role is up in the air for now, but he commands either Angelica or Iji.

Hasmah is a Komato Research scientist working on the Immortal nanofield and Star Strike. She doesn't trust her superiors one bit with these, and is skillful enough to include some unnoticed backdoors. She understands the implications of this and how secret it must remain.

So what's the game about?

Basically the idea that you're alternately playing as Iji and Angelica on two sides of a conflict, with the very difficult goal of making you feel equally for both of their plights. As one of them, you'll potentially kill close friends of the other character in combat. Somwehre during a fight between Iji and Angelica, you switch between the two at random in the middle of the fight while the AI controls the other - what would the player do then? I don't know. If the player doesn't attack with one of the characters because they want the other to win, the game takes this as that they're surrendering. If both surrender, the battle doesn't end in someone's death. If only one surrenders, the AI takes permanent control over them and resumes fighting back... or something.

The story would also branch much more than Iji's, leading to very different end scenarios. Mostly, this is affected by who dies during the story - even Iji and Angelica can die before it's over, such as if Iji makes Jaavi her enemy and he seeks her out, or Angelica is assassinated before she gets her special nanofield pumped full of nano and nigh-indestructible. Zentraidon is also a possible ending, but if I explained how it'd sound like Dragonball stuff again. :p Angelica also transforms rapidly from cocky and immature to introspective once the killing starts. I like the idea of Iji having a more adult perspective on things this time around, and how she relates to what's happening to Angelica.

The setting would be less cartoony and tropey this time around; if someone wants to fight, they start shooting rather than talking. Attacking someone in their sleep or through walls is preferable, and if someone has access to a certain technology, they'll use it rather than reveal it. All characters can target enemies through walls and over long distances, and are far faster and more agile than in the first game due to advances in nanotechnology. Jaavi, Ansaksie and Kiron are particularly ruthless in their actions and beliefs.

Finally, both playable characters are both protagonists and antagonists depending on the point of view. I want to convey the general messages of anti-war, acceptance and mutual understanding stronger this time. Does it even matter? Does it stop wars and make people see things from others' perspectives? Not in the slightest, but it's a tiny tiny part I want to contribute in my own way. Also I'm tired of games that glorify war.

edited 21st Mar '12 6:19:54 PM by Ulti

RANDOM BRAINSTORMING

I kind of wish I knew how to make games, so I didn't have to post walls of text about games I loved.

This... feels sort of like Skyrim. I mean, it sounds AWESOME, but when you play Skyrim, you immediately find out "Oh yeah, that continent you worked so hard to save in the last game? It was ravaged by Nazi Elves". It's a haunting reminder of what life truly is... but also makes me sad. I don't want to be told that even though I worked so hard to be pacifistic and save enough Tasen for them to reproduce they all die anyways! I don't want to be told that even though I worked extra hard to save Dan, no one knows where he is! If handled correctly, forcing players to acknowledge that what they do may not make everything better can make a stunning impact. If not handled well, it feels like the player got slapped in the face. No matter how you handle it, though, people are going to be sad. ( I (sniff) WANT MY HAPPY ENDING (sniff) WAAAAAAAAA)

Since you obviously don't have a mass effect style budget, you would have to make only one path canon... but you could potentially work around this. Perhaps have a... dream sequence where you play through small parts of the original game, either pacifistic or not, and this determines what you are in the new one? Just make the old game influence a little of the new game, but have it be noticeable? One of, if not the, best story parts of the original was being given the choice to not kill, and I'd hate to see that wiped out because of lack of time. If you wipe out, say, a character because they were killed in action later, fine. That's a reminder that you can't make everything better. But if you wipe out choices you made in the original game because you can't make them carry over to the new one... well, that gets rid of the "harsh reality" subtext and goes straight to "we didn't add that part". If it must be done, which it has been done successfully many times in the past, it usually works best when you use the best ending, though.

Idea: Give Iji PTSD. This sounds horrible, but kind of makes sense. It would work to communicate the Anti War stuff, would give her a weakness, would give you a reason to avoid lots of call backs to the first game that rely on plot, etc. Also, now that I've mentioned this, it won't happen, will it?

Lastly, I think that there are 2 ways to communicate the whole "anti war" message: Player Punch and Significant Choices. For example, you can either lead the player down a path, and then, when they play as a normal gamer and kill their enemies, punch them in the gut with your fists of plotline (Done well, THIS IS AWESOME.). Or, you can do what you give them the choice to kill, and if they do, they end up having to kill more, and end up, at the end of the game, sitting on a pile of skulls contemplating what they did. Or you can combine the two. Your choice is really "Game with multiple outcomes, some good, some bad, depending on who you are", and "Game with multiple outcomes, some bittersweet, some bad, because this is war and war doesn't end well." Personal note: I WANNA HAPPY ENDING!!! WAHHHHHAAAAAAAAA

I would love to see this game get made. Just reading that it sounds incredibly interesting, and I want to see what happens next. Also, if you're giving "shoot through walls" and "assasinate in sleep", could you maybe include some non-lethal attacks? pwease?

Lastly, and most importantly, If there is no scrambler in this game, I refuse to play it. End of story.

Nonlethal attack? Like, say, the knockback effect of the Hyper Pulse without the health damage?

edited 21st Mar '12 9:03:46 PM by KylerThatch

Technically that term is a lot broader than you are probably giving it credit for, but the context at least made this clear.

Well, thank you for sharing this with us, it was quite interesting to see what you had in mind.

The ideas are certainly rough and could use quite a bit of polish, but I think you've got something going there. Also, assuming you would've been using Game Maker for this, this hypothetical game would certainly be a NIGHTMARE to make. Looking at Iji's source code, that game certainly took a lot to make as well, and what you're suggesting is certainly more complex than it's predecessor.

I think you misunderstood, Jimmmyman 10. Dan's survival or not is undecided from a writer's perspective, not from the game characters' perspective. None of this is decided, if I actually made the game it would likely be very different. But I did want everything you did in Iji to affect the second game as well somehow.

Also, the endings don't have to be bad. Zentraidon is just on one extreme of the scale, if even possible.

Awe Striker: I know, that's why I thought it was a poor name choice, it should be called something else. For the sake of the plot, it's "unknown alien technology".

Marioguy 128: I wouldn't use Game Maker, and the scope is larger than what I could make myself. The gameplay would be close to the first MDK, so it would be in 3D with a fixed camera and very fast-paced. So, more reason why I won't make it anytime soon. :p

Edit: As for non-lethal attacks, most characters die without their nanofield and thus life support. Which reminds me of a plot hole in Iji; once Iosa's nanofield was deactivated, she wouldn't be able to even scratch someone who does have a field, so Iji could just have walked away. :p

edited 22nd Mar '12 2:32:53 AM by Ulti

Could long range hacking be a possible thing, or is that kind of impossible in the Ijiverse?

If you'd like, I can start referring to it as "The Force" in all future conversations. Would that help?

edited 22nd Mar '12 4:11:31 AM by Brickman

Could long range hacking be a possible thing

Seems likely. If they can communicate over long distances, and programs in Angelica's nanofield can be remotely accessed, remote hacking would certainly be possible.

Since you obviously don't have a mass effect style budget, you would have to make only one path canon

I wouldn't compromise the modifiers, I also think it's important that the player's choice matters. Iji had a negative budget since I paid my server costs, didn't stop me from adding modifiers. :p Iji 2 could be a short highly interactive game rather than a long linear one.

edited 22nd Mar '12 7:39:37 AM by Ulti

I kind of just assumed it was called "nanofield technology" or something.

So dan might actually live?

yesssssssss

And the game sounds brilliantly incredible. I want to play it, badly.

... Have you considered kickstarter?

Of course, if Dan survived the first game he'd be in the sequel.

As for kickstarter, the only ways I'd like the game made is either as freeware with no deadline, or I'd pitch it to Ludosity where I work. But we're still too small to do this kind of thing, and I have other games I want made before that. In fact the one I'm considering now (freeware) already has more meaning to me than Iji 2, and may be more likely to have meaning to the player.

Hey the creator actually posts in this thread? Cool!

He's been doing that for a while now, actually.