prologue - kawabart/Wodnik GitHub Wiki
We learn basic mechanics in the forest, following a wounded bore to help it. This is the deluxe version - feel free to cut it down when needed.
We're in the forest. We find blood on the ground, and we follow the trail. On the way, we learn basic mechanics. Each small sequence requires using one basic mechanic from us - dragging, pushing and throwing objects.
We reach a downed animal - a bore, lying in the middle of the meadow. The bore is alive, just injured and tired, lying on the ground with an arrow sticking from it's side. Or, more like some kind of primitive snare attached to his leg. As the player tries to approach the animal, it get's up and runs away trough the bushes, scared and panicked.
This is a strange behaviour to our nymph, cos usually other wild animals are pretty chill with her. But the player doesn't have to know any of that at this point, including the intentions of the nymph.
After running away, the boar lays down in a more secluded place, surounded by bushes, water and shadows. This is a stealth tutorial. Player needs to get to the boar unnoticed. If boar notices the player, it gets up and runs into the next, similarly secluded place, and player needs to try again.
Player needs to use all the types of cover to get to the animal. The boar sometimes raises it's head - thats when the player needs to remain hidden. When the boar lies down it's head, player has a small window to close the distance while uncovered. If the player manages to get to the boar unnoticed, they need to use the 'takedown' button. This makes player character jump onto the boar, freeing it from the trap.
Cutscene: The nymph looks at the snare with disgust. The boar relaxes, get's up, perhaps makes some thanking gesture towards the player (pokes with it's snout or whatever. From the nearby bushes emerges a small group of piglets, surrounding the player and their mother with curiosity. The boar gets up and walks away, with piglets following it. ...or whatever we'll have time and resources for, I guess...
Now, player needs to get back home. This can be gameplay - if we feel like having more tutorials or whatever.
Cutscene: Nymph arrives at their burrow in the tree, but something is not right. The appartment is empty and messy, like if there was a fight. Suddenly, the soldiers grab you. You notice your GF, in the cage, already loaded onto a carriage. There are soldiers and armed peasants all around. It's then when player meets one of the main villains of the game, Reeve Biezpraw. He comments on our looks, that noone would buy such an ugly animal. He raises his sword to kill us. Then, among the ruckus, the boar bursts into the scene, straight at Biezpraw. The prince gets knocked away, screaming in pain, with a huge, gushing wound from the boars tusk across his face. In the chaos, you get knocked out, perhaps part of the ceiling of the burrow falls down and covers you...
Cutscene: You wake up in the middle of your ruined house, as the boars wet snout touches your face gently. The soldiers left, with your caged loved one. Act I starts.
About the boar: the boar can also die, so that we just wake up alone in scene 4, next to the boars body. But then let's not make it a parent.
About the villain: maybe we don't need the villain. Or if we do - maybe we don't need to follow the ableist trope of villains having a disfigured face.
I've no idea how to make those cutscenes tastefully and cheaply. Im open to suggestions. Like - the scene with the boar, from topdown, I think it's worth it. But other stuff... Like even If those are just static images with narration, im not sure how to do it.
- Boar model, rigged
- Boar animations
- running hurt
- lying hurt
- standing up healed
- Player freeing boar from trap (unless we use default takedown animation)
- Some slides or whatever will be used to tell the story