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Note: this project statement does not accurately represent the final incarnation of Project 1: Smog of War. Numerous changes were made to the project goals and methods of implementation between the submission of this statement and the completion of the final project. Nevertheless, I am including this page unedited in order to show the creative decisions I had to make in the progress of this project. The project will be a story of a military cadet who has to lead a platoon through some sort of wilderness as part of his training. The writing will highlight the confusion and irreverency of conscripted soldiers who train in peacetime. The user will not have control over the direction of movement of the platoon. Instead, the user will have to do fun little things like tell the group to move on to the next checkpoint (which leaves the group open to attack), to advance slowly because the instructors may be preparing an ambush (which means no one in the group is looking at a map), to take a break (wastes time, but affects how good an officer he is), to return to the last checkpoint (you can get lost), to ask his sergeant for advice (vague, but sensible - asking too often is not good, not asking at all can lead to trouble), and asking his men for comments (just for fun, but they can get surly or really quiet). The cadet has a time limit to lead his men through. A 'mission timer' will count down the minutes he has left. Doing any action will take a specific amount of time, but just standing around wastes time too. If he cannot complete the mission in time, the game does not end, but every minute that he arrives late will affect his final rating as an officer. It is possible, that during one of the ambushes that the platoon will encounter, that the timer will break (someone dropped it) and no longer keep track of time. However, the game-time still continues. Strange things will happen if you are at a specific place at a specific time-range. For instance, a river may be infested with mosquitoes once the sun begins to set. The lexias will have important details in the text that will help the user make the correct decisions, so the user must read carefully while not taking too much time. The final screen will be a debriefing by the Commander, in which the user will find out how well the cadet performed. The story may end with the cadet having beers with his men or having to peel potatoes at the cookhouse. |