the marble statue - concept proposal v2.doc

The Marble Statue Brief Story Concept Document: Mad Head Games

THE MARBLE STATUETIME PERIOD AND SETTING: The fabric of the world is broken and the player travels back and forth between a mysterious spirit realm and the real world. The story in the real world is set in the 16 th century renaissance town, Mediterranean gardens and an ancient Roman villa.

IDEA BOARD: Inspiration art for The Marble Statue:

DRAMATIC QUESTION: Can you regain your divine powers and seal the rift between worlds?

SHORT SUMMARY: You are the avatar of Venus, the Roman goddess of love, powerless and trapped in the material world. With the assistance of Mercury, god of messengers, you have to find a way to regain your powers and undo the disaster caused by your affair with a mortal, Florio, 10 years ago.

KEY FEATURE ELEMENT: Rift-walking (resolved through various many games, offering a new way to navigate the map through the spirit realm). Phase 1: Before obtaining the amulet, the player can call upon aid of Luna and Sol that help her navigate the rifts. Phase 2: After obtaining the first piece, the player can witness memories locked in the spirit realm, and use her power to navigate the rifts on her own. Phase 3: After obtaining the second piece, the player can interact with various objects in the material world in new ways by manipulating their essence in the spirit world. Phase 4: The amulet is shattered, and the player no longer has control of the transitions. The material and the spirit world start mixing without her control creating many obstacles on her way.

Plot:

Back story: 10 years ago, Venus had an affair with a mortal poet Florio. Interpreting her as a soul-possessing demon, Florio’s friend, Fortunato found a way to banish her by destroying the seat of her power, a magnificent marble statue on the coastline, unknowingly causing all love and beauty to gradually disperse from this world.

Setup: On a dark and stormy night, the composer Fortunato is playing a magical tune from a boat in a bay. A thunder strikes at the coastline hitting the Venus statue. It’s pieces crumble all over the shore and a palace / villa in the distance starts breaking.

Chapter 1 summary: 10 years after the destruction of the statue, the player regains her consciousness but is surrounded by total darkness. She hears a murmuring sound of something dragging her from the seafloor through

Fall 2012 Big Fish Narrative Design Team


the waves and to the shore. Her shell opens and she realizes that she is in the realm of mortals and has no powers. She encounters two guards, and as soon as she introduces herself as the goddess Venus, she gets locked up in an asylum. Still trying to figure out what happened, Venus calls upon the aid of Mercury who in turn sends two of his messengers Luna and Sol, the snakes on top of a Caduceus. The snakes open up a rift to the spiritual realm, which she can use to escape the asylum. They tell her that in order to regain control of her domain, she must fix the broken statue and in order to do that, she must regain a part of her powers by collecting the 3 scattered pieces of a Sun and Moon amulet. After her escape, the town guard is on a lookout for her, so she must move carefully in order to avoid detection. She finds the first piece in the seashell in which she arrived. It grants her the ability to open and use reality rifts to travel between locations. Using her new powers to avoid the guards, she finds the second piece hidden in Fortunato’s organ inside a church, with the help of a friendly priest, who seems to be the only person unaffected by a global curse of lovelessness. Unfortunately before setting off to find the final piece, the guards surround her inside the church, knock the priest unconscious leaving her with no means of escape.

Rising action plot points:

The player wakes up on the shore realizing that she is powerless and trapped. Wow moment: She introduces herself to two guards and immediately gets locked up in an asylum for claiming to be a goddess.

The player calls upon Mercury for help. Wow moment: Two snakes on a Caduceus come to life and open up a rift through which the player can escape the asylum.

Following the snakes advice, the player goes to the shore to recover the first piece of the amulet. Wow moment: Picking up the amulet, she witnesses a memory of Florio and Fortunato. The guards find her on the shore, but she uses her new powers to open up a rift and escape.

The player reaches the church where the second fragment is supposed to be hidden. Wow moment: She witnesses another memory and meets a friendly priest who is more than willing to help her.

The key to the hidden compartment of the church organ is in an inn where Florio used to stay. The player goes there to pick it up. Wow moment: One of the townsfolk recognizes her, and traps her in a room, alerting the guards of her presence.

Escaping the inn, the player comes back to the church and unlocks the secret compartment. Wow moment: The two pieces of the amulet become one and the player gains new powers.

Climax at golden hour (survey cut-off): The guards find the player in the church and surround her. They knock the priest unconscious and move in to seize her. No rifts can be opened there and the player is trapped, without the means to escape.

The player tries to battle the guards but gets overwhelmed. Wow moment: Venus’s former servant, Donatti enters the church and uses a magical powder to daze the guards granting you the means to escape.

Donatti takes you to his encampment in the wilderness, offering his help on your quest. Wow moment: He takes you to the entrance of your villa where the final piece of the amulet should be found. Inconveniently, the entrance is sealed by magical means.



Donatti prepared a spell to break the barrier but is unable to acquire all the components. The player must gather them. Wow moments: While gathering the components, she encounters a huge, hostile serpent with whom she must battle.

The player uses the spell to unlock the gates of her villa. Wow moments: Before she enters, Donatti gives her a charm for good luck, he is worried for her welfare.

The player navigates through the courtyard of the villa. Wow moment: She encounters her ex-priestesses, who in her absence turned into scary abominations now blocking her path to the entrance.

The player enters the villa. Wow moment: As she gets closer to her domain, she gains more powers. While in the villa, she can move between worlds at-will navigating between the ruined villa in the material world and a majestic castle in the spirit realm.

The player finds her way to the hall of mirrors located between worlds where she will find the final piece of the amulet. Wow moments: In a mirror shaped like the symbol of Venus she finds the final piece and has a discussion with her own reflection.

The player learns, that she is actually a material part of Venus, while her divine essence still dwells in the spirit realm, unable to reconnect with the material world and therefore causing the rifts. Wow moment: Before the player gets the chance to respond, Donatti’s charm activates and the divine essence of Venus gets trapped while the hall of mirrors starts to collapse.

The amulet shatters and the player is trapped in a rift. Wow moment: Navigating through the rift she finds Luna and Sol bound by a spell. She releases them and in turn they help her get back out to the material world. They reveal Donatti’s treachery.

The player wakes up in a cage. Wow moment: She is assisted by the priest, who followed a white dove to her location.

The player confronts Donatti who is performing a ritual to banish Venus forever. Wow moments: While the ritual is performed, the sensitive fabric of reality is broken. Since the amulet is broken the player cannot control the transitions and the spirit and material worlds start mixing resulting in some weird scenery.

The player battles Donatti and is assisted by Luna and Sol and by the priest. Wow moments: They apprehend Donatti, but the ritual progressed too far to be stopped. The player must take the charm that trapped Venus’s divine essence and use it to restore the statue before the rift becomes permanent.

Climax at end of game: The worlds crumble around the player. She rushes to the shore gathering the pieces of the statue in a race against time. The player fixes the statue but nothing happens. From one of the rifts, the essence of Venus explains that the player is not in fact the real goddess, but the binding energy that gave life to the statue and linking the two worlds. The only way to seal the rift is to reenter the statue and retake your place as a stationary guardian forever.

Resolution: Through your sacrifice, the material and spiritual worlds are reunited. Donatti regains reason and repents for his actions, seeking forgiveness from Venus. She forgives him and accepts him back in her ranks. After



mending the damage done to the world, Venus calls upon Mercury and thanks him for his assistance. Mercury replies that he is not the real hero, but her statue is.

CHARACTERS:

The Player — Avatar of Venus

Goal/desire: To regain her divine powers and seal the rift between worlds.

Emotional Characteristics (Personality): Emotional, frightened, confused, and a bit arrogant.

Relationship to other characters: Ally with Luna and Sol, ally with the priest, Ex-mistress of Donatti, material manifestation of Venus.

Donatti — Villain, crazed former servant of Venus

Goal/desire: To have revenge on his former mistress for abandoning him.

Emotional Characteristics (Personality): Calm, deceptive and sly, pretending to be helpful.

Relationship to player: Friendly (for the sake of deceiving her)

Relationship to other characters: Enemy of Venus and her servants.

Luna and Sol — Servants of Mercury

Goal/desire: To assist the player in her quest of mending worlds.

Emotional Characteristics (Personality): Comedic, goofy, talking in riddles, completing each other’s sentences.

Relationship to player: Ally.

Relationship to other characters: Servant of Mercury.

The Priest — Villager

Goal/desire: To help people of Lucca find love again.

Emotional Characteristics (Personality): Wise, peaceful.


Relationship to other characters: /

Mercury — God of Knowledge and Messengers

Goal/desire: To aid Venus.

Emotional Characteristics (Personality): Intelligent, modest and helpful.




Relationship to other characters: Master of Luna and Sol.

Essence of Venus — Goddess of love, spring and gardens

Goal/desire: To seal the rift between worlds and reestablish her link to the material realm.

Emotional Characteristics (Personality): Powerful, wise and loving. Enchantingly beautiful.

Relationship to player: Her divine essence.

Relationship to other characters: Former mistress of Donatti. Mistress of the priestess and the mermaid.


the marble statue - concept proposal v2.doc

Documents