Overview

The player follows the story of Valentina Zeigler and plays the game through her point of view. The genre is a role playing adventure game. She finds out from her husband close confidant, Dr. Quincy Pennyworth, that she is not really who she thinks she is (as she really not human). All of her memories of her past and her marriage have been fabricated and that she is a human clone created for a terrible purpose. Quincy performs a health check up on Valentina and indentified that she is 2 weeks pregnant. Valentina discovers more about herself through conversations and exploration of the space. As Valentina uncover more about herself, the choices she make becomes within the world becomes difficult and clouded. She begins to lose herself. The game is played in 1st person view.

Story

Characters

Valentina Zeigler: Female

Appearance: Appears to be 27 years old (but only been truly alive for 5 years), thin – fit, dressed in a sparkly black gown that is slightly torn and dirty, unkempt long brown hair with some black hair clips, tall stature, thin face, wearing diamond earrings, wedding ring on her left hand

Mannerisms: Walk gracefully, well manner (ie. cover her mouth when she yawns), likes poking at things

Special Abilities: Her wedding ring is able to unlock certain doors, “hack” into computers, can be tracked, be used as a power source in certain objects

Personality: Confident in what she knows is fact, like to try new things, idealistic, loyal, organized, person-oriented (social), enthusiastic, trusting, sensitive, kind, interested in peaceful living, semi-independent, analytical, dependable, curious, numbers person – worked as an accountant

Dr. Quincy Pennyworth: Male

Appearance: Appears to be around 63 years old, wear silver glasses with small circle frames, balding on the center part of his head with grey/white hair on the sides of the head, wears a felt cap that covers the bald spot, has a bushy mustache, round face, shorter stature, between fat and skinny, wear loose clothing, white button down shirt with a black bow tie and a front pocket that holds his bald point pen, large beige overcoat,

Mannerisms: Use very technical terms/precise, when looking at objects he either brings it really close to his face or walks closer to the object, has precise movement but has a limp – carries a wooden cane (that doubles as a gun),

Personality: logical, thinker, analytical, organized, resourceful, creative, quirky, sensitive, good-manner, trustworthy, supportive, curious, insightful

Special Abilities: Able to craft gadgets/work with machinery, strong understanding of computers

Relation: A good friend and confidant to Valenina’s husband, Tiberius Ziegler. He assists Agent Ziegler with his missions by cleaning his gadgets and creating new ones for him to try out. He has not met Valentina in person till this moment

Scenario

Setting

-Long underground hallway, goes in one direction, does not branch

-Clean, organized laboratory and workshop inside a large warehouse disguised to be abandoned. -Various gadgets and machinery around the space.

-A sections of one of the walls have large monitors displaying various technical data.

Objective

-Discover the truth about yourself

Game

The player starts off in a long windowless hallway with white walls and fluorescent lights giving a cold, abandoned feel. There is a lock door behind Valentina with a window that looks out into a garage with various vehicles parked. There is black car with the driver and passenger doors opened. The player walks down the hallway and makes a left, continues to go up then make a right and encounters a door. When the player attempts to open the door, Valentina reaches the handle with her left hand and her wedding ring flashes and an unlock sound is played. She lifts her hand observing the wedding ring and turning it back and forth with her right hand. Valentina proceeds to open the door and beyond the door is an iron ladder going up. She climbs up the ladder and encounters a lock trap door. She places her left palm on the door and it unlocks teaching the player of one of the abilities of Valentina’s wedding ring.

She opens the trap door and is enters into a large empty dusty hanger space. Sunlight fills the room from windows at the top. The light is filtered by the cracks and dust on the window. There is some junk lying around. The player can walk around the space but there is only one door on one of the walls. The player is drawn to the door due to its rusty appearance and it appears to be the only way out of this hanger. Once again, Valentina places her left hand on the handle of the door and an unlock sound is made. In addition there is a female mechanical voice that says “Hello Valentina Zeigler.” The player now knows the character name they are controlling.

The next area is smaller, size of 2 master bedrooms. There is another door here with a rectangular red light on top of the door frame however the player cannot unlock this door. When they attempt to open it a beep will go off. It is a work shop with small disassembled electronic gadgets on a table. Along one of the walls is a large map with push pins on top of some countries with a string connecting them on top of a cork board. On another wall, the top half is covered with computer monitors with a table in front of them with a mouse and keyboard on top. There is a vanity mirror on one of the tables that the player can walk to and see the face of Valentina and her dirty black dress. On the cork board there is a photo of Valentina and Tiberius facing the camera with their glass of wine in the air and smiles on their faces in front of a setting sun on a beach. The player can interact with the photo (take it off the cork board) and have a closer look. Valentina will talk to herself mentioning when this event occurred. Before she gets to deep, Dr. Pennyworth enters the room through the door that the player could not open.

Control is taken away from the player temporary having a small in-game “cut scene” with Valenteina looking away from the photo and towards the Dr. The Dr. is surprised that Valentina is there but first put away something’s that he brought in. Control is return to the player. They can continue to examine the room, certain objects will cause the Dr. to react saying “Don’t touch that, it’s dangerous” while he continues to put stuff away. The player can walk up to the doctor and have a conversation. The Dr. comments on how worn out Valentina looks and invites her into the next room which is a dining room with warm sunlight filling the space. The Dr. goes to prepare some tea and snacks by the sink. The next moment is triggered when the player decides to sit at the dining table.

Valentina sits at the table but the player cannot leave the table till the conversation is completed with the doctor. This is not branching narrative but a narrative to help the player frame what is going on. It can be “what is going on”, “who is the Dr.”, “where is she”. The player finds out that she is married to a man named Tiberius Zeigler who is a spy for the US. government (which they can reference to the photograph they have seen in the lab). The Dr. Mention how much Tiberius cared for her and tried his best to protect her.  The Dr. is a confidant of Tiberius and is the one person who creates and maintains all the gadgets that Tiberius uses for his missions. She is currently at the Dr. personal workshop in a rural area on the outskirts of the city where she lives. The player can either leave the conversation or go further in (They can still come back to the Dr. later on if they decide to find out more information). Inquire about “where is Tiberius now”, “why did Tiberius leave her”.

The Dr.’s reply that Tiberius is on the run and is being chased by unknown agents and that Tiberius left her here probably for her protection (The voice over indicates that there more to this statement but the player cannot get it out from the Dr. at this point). He explains that there were some secret agents coming after them during their anniversary dinner and Tiberius suddenly had to lock her up in that hallway. With this conversation with the Dr., the player learns about the conversation system that keeps track of how often the player has interacted with that in game character. With more, deeper conversations with that particular character, the relationship meter between them will increase which will unlock special conversation branches and side quest the player can do with the character. There will be a variety of characters the player will encounter throughout their journey.

After this initial conversation, the player is given a small communicator which can be used to save the game, contain the list of relevant objects they have encounter (ie. the photograph with Tiberius), a list of people and their attributes they have met, and contact the Dr. He sends her upstairs to clean up and change into a new set of clothes. She walks upstairs, screen flashes and walk downstairs with a t-shirt and jeans. The Dr. is outside repairing his vehicle. The player can explore the home; see pictures of the Dr.’s past and his family. The player learns that the Dr. was a mechanic during WWII and has a large family. Outside is a nice piece of land with a wooden fence around the perimeter. The city can be seen in the distance. The player cannot leave the premise.

The computer in the laboratory is accessible and is unlocked with the use of Valentina’s ring. It is intractable like a normal personal computer (with mouse cursor and clicks). Certain files on the computer cannot be opened due to their classification rating however the profile on Tiberius and Valentina can be opened (but not all the information is reveals, some is redacted). The player can learn about Tiberius age, medical record and list of missions he participated in (but not the details). The profile of Valentina shows her age and medical history, which is key information. They see that she has a code name PG41, underneath age is the number 5 in parenthesis, and some medical records are unlocked. They reveal that her memory has been tampered with and is “stable”. Valentina is caught looking though the record on the computer by the Dr. There is dilemma for the player to choose either to play clam and explain the situation with the Dr. or throw an object at the Dr. and escape in the vehicle he just repair in front of the home or present no reaction.

Calm

Valentina walks towards the Dr. explaining that the computer just turned on and her ring was the one that unlocked it. As the conversation happens with the Dr., Valentina becomes field of view becomes blurry and eventually goes to black as the player sees her collapse on the floor. She wakes up in a hospital bed with IV attached to her arm. The monitor to her left shows her heart beat (sound is made). The player can get out of bed and leave the hospital room but is in a weaken state (she is sways as she walks). The hospital is eerily empty with locked doors, as the player head towards the exit of the hospital, the Dr. is sitting in the waiting room reading a newspaper. He notices you and walks up to you. Quick time event occurs here where the player tries to get to the exit before the Dr. catches you (however the Dr. will catch you regardless). He forces Valentina in one of the Waiting room chairs and tell you to calm down (it is difficult for Valentina to resist his grip due to her weaken state).

He explains the situation to Valentina to why she is in the hospital. This moment is when she finds out that she is not really human and that she has been created as a human weapon. This is the next stage in technological/biological weapons by the US. He just needed to make sure that she was stable and not going to disintegrate. The conversation relationship between the Dr. and Player grows. The player can continue to go in depth with the conversation to find out that she is two weeks pregnant. However if the player decides not to press further, they will find out later on the story when Valentina starts to exhibit reactions related to pregnancy.

No Reaction

The Dr. walk towards Valentina and ask her what she has seen. The player can tell the truth, remain silent or tell a lie. The Dr. realizes that Valentina is in a frighten state and tries to defuse the situation by mentioning that dinner is ready and he walks towards the kitchen.

Run Away

This is a quick scene performed by quick time events (a game mechanic where part of the character is controlled by the game but the player has to time their button presses or joystick movement to let the sequence of events to occur). The leave the house, enter the vehicle in front of the home and escapes. The player enters into a diving mini game and drives down the road. There is a mirror in the car for the player to look behind them to see if they are being followed or not. However over time the car will run out of gas and a scene of Valentina driving to the side of the road will play. An in game cut scene will happen showing Valentina hitch hiking for a ride and an old woman driving a small car comes to your rescue.

This is the second character the player encounters and a conversation happens between them (Scene similar to the Walking Dead Episode One video game with the arrested man talking with the police officer). Valentina conversation tree does not allow her to tell the whole truth. She can mention that she is running away from an ex lover, on her way to see a friend but her car ran out of gas or just stay silent. The old woman will decide to take you to her home since it is getting late and it is not safe driving at night. At this old woman’s home, the player can read the newsapaper and watch the news on television to get a sense of what is going outside (There are murders reported but no cause of death or suspects arrested – related to the government shut down of Project GENE and going after the subjects).

Inspiration

  • Bioshock
  • Portal
  • Myst
  • Dear Ester
  • Bladerunner
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Walking Dead

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