Alien Abduction Custom Story Idea: NEED COLLABORATION!!

[X32WaysToDie]

Hey guys. I really love games, especially games that either have incredible stories with lots of emotional attachment to the characters, or stories that offer awesome and rewarding sandbox freeplay. I've got tons of ideas for games, but this is the first one I'm acting on, so to speak.

As a kid (and even in to my mid-teens) nothing has had such a prolific effect on me in terms of horror quite like the movie Signs did. I absolutely loved the story (minus the religious twist at the end), and it was the cause of many sleepless nights for me. The characters were excellent and felt like real people, and the aliens were terrifying, mostly because you saw so very little of them, but you knew they were there for very malevolent reasons. I'm not a religious or spiritual person, so traditional horror staples like ghosts, demons, witches, etc don't really do anything for me. The only thing that has ever done it for me is aliens. I definitely believe aliens are out there.. whether they are here on Earth or not is a whole 'nother topic.

Anyway, that's a little bit of a backstory on me so you know where I'm coming from. I have long hungered for a truly terrifying alien invasion game. Sure, we have games like Dead Space, Crysis, and Halo, but none of them caught the authentic, and terrifying fear that a modern day normal person would experience. Amnesia I feel would be the perfect platform to this. You aren't a super-soldier, you are simply a normal person, in a desolate area, caught in a pivotal moment in human history.

I'm new to coding and graphics and such. I've never done it before, though I definitely am willing to learn it. What I can immediately bring to the table is a foundation, storyline/dialog, and some scripting.

What I want to accomplish with this story is to give you that genuine alien invasion terror, where you really are pretty much powerless and only have your wits and a bit of luck to help you survive. Think Signs, The Fourth Kind, and Dark Skies (2012).

I don't want to give away too much about the story in here as to preserve some surprises for people not working on the project. But a couple key points I was thinking of was:

A. Location/Setting
I have a couple ideas here. The most likely setting would be in some kind of large mansion surrounded by woods, and maybe a small town down the road. I've been toying around with ideas as to logically why you're at a mansion during the start of the game. I didn't want to go the easy route and say it's your mansion, because that takes away some of the unfamiliarity of it. My idea for the starting sequence would be that perhaps you are visiting a friend or relative you haven't seen for a long time, and they are hosting a small party (or maybe a fund-raiser for something).

B: Storyline
The opening sequence would perhaps be entering the party, mingling a bit, ya know, experiencing a bit of the normal world before everything goes down. Perhaps one person rushes in from the family room into the room you're in, and tells everyone they need to come see this. The TV is on, and is showing alien UFOs over cities, much like the news broadcast in Signs. A few scripted events later, and the power is out. This is where I would like to change a bit of the Amnesia formula.. at least initially. For a chunk of the game, I want to have a couple other characters in house with you. some people may have already either left in an attempt to make it to their homes or wherever they feel their best chance to survive is, while some still have decided to stick around and not go anywhere. There will be a few set pieces here or there, maybe a few people turn up missing. Tempers will flair as fear of the unknown sets in. Why are the aliens invading? What do they want? What are they going to do to everyone? This is where I'd like to build some relationships and connections to characters. Eventually, after some time, the traditional horror gameplay will emerge and you will be the only one. You will need to go outside through the woods at some point.. maybe even to said town (to give you a broader scale of what's happening). Like I said, I don't want to give too much away, because I want to keep some of the suspense up for people who aren't helping to create this story. Don't expect to immediately see the aliens in their entirety. Much like Signs, The Fourth Kind, and Dark Skies, I plan on giving you glimpses, and POSSIBLY revealing them at the end.

C: Graphics
As I stated, I'm new to graphic design. I would need someone competent in that regard to help with remodeling some of the textures as well as creating new ones. Obviously, the time setting and monster setting between Amnesia and this story are very different so there will likely be a need for lots of new textures and models.

Sound: I'm sure I could find some kind of orchestral soundtrack somewhere that would work, although if someone is able to create a decent sounding soundtrack, that would be awesome. Some other sound effects will need to be implemented, such as alien noises, tech, etc. Also, because this game focuses heavily on characters, I would need several voice actors (I will be one as well) with decent recording equipment to record some voices for this game. You would need to be able to put on a convincing performance as well.

TL;DR of what I need:
Voice actors (I'm going to say maybe 6 or 7 at the moment, but it could increase)
Coders
Modelers/graphics designers
Optional: Composer
Sound Engineer
Optional: Editor/Co-writer for story


Please, let me know if you're interested, or have any ideas. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and I want to make this as perfect as possible, but I do understand that because we are not a professional studio, some things may have to be cut or may not work out entirely as planned.

On a side note: Outlast may also be a good platform for this game, but I'm not terribly familiar with its modding base and how easy it is to mod it.


Thanks for reading this!!

[The chaser]

The idea of applying an alien invasion is quite nice, in my opinion, but your idea, although it would suit Amnesia, it wouldn't at the same time:

What you are asking for (people that interact with you) is an INSANE amount of work, and I doubt a lot anyone does that for free (I can help in some models if you want, but not that much).

You could make a twist to your story, however:

You arrive to town, but there isn't anyone. You go to the relative's house and yet there isn't anyone, there's just blood. When you start to research, you find out that something has been in the town (aliens, the player doesn't know though).
So, you would have to search around in the town until you found some kind of super-secret futuristic installation, where aliens would have retreated. There, you would do something (up to you to decide, creator ).

[WALP]

You dont seem to have a lot of portfolio, I would personally not feel very confident joining a project like this.

[Reminiscity]

Hahaha this is hilarious.

I've been working on a mod for the past 6 months that is veeeery similiar to this. Inspired by the fourth kind and dark skies.

"I have a couple ideas here. The most likely setting would be in some kind of large mansion surrounded by woods, and maybe a small town down the road. I've been toying around with ideas as to logically why you're at a mansion during the start of the game. I didn't want to go the easy route and say it's your mansion, because that takes away some of the unfamiliarity of it."

I have basically the same setup xD But the backstory is most likely not going to be the same.

Also... the power is going out xD

[TravelMuffin]

You should check out some of Lovecraft's stories. His stories inspired much of Amnesia, Frictional even named their game engine after him (HPL Engine - H.P. Lovecraft). Lovecraft does a good job of creating otherworldly aliens that we can't even comprehend, and they always have malicious intentions. God dammit, now I want to go read some more of his stuff.

[daortir]

Yep, Lovecraft is some true inspiration. Some short stories could make pretty nice games. I immediatly thought about the Rats in the walls (because The Shadow over Innsmouth has been already used in Dark Cornes of the Earth, pretty brilliantly I have to say). You gave me a great idea !


*Gives TravelMufin a cookie*
Edit : The Colour out of space. I think I'll save that idea for later o_o.

[Rector]

I do like the idea with the story, it could do pretty well I believe.

A project like the one you described is huge, and I recon that it's a lot more work than you imagine, since even small projects with the basic models that Amnesia: TDD has can take quite some time to do.

I think the problem is that you're asking for people to help with a huge project, while you have not yet got used to the different tools and scripting, which those who read this can feel would be a work that others will do for you, and I believe that's not your intention.

I'd recommend that you begin doing some easier projects before going on this massive one. There are great tutorials out on YouTube that will get you started!

Also, don't give up on this, I think that once you've got used to level building and scripting, you'll be able to do this!

Cheers!