Project name: Euphoria or Starchild
Genre: Fantasy/Sci-fi
Medium: Video Game and Possible Web Comic
Entry Type: Personal
A Special Introduction
Ah where to start… This project, currently known as Project Euphoria, or Starchild (working titles), has been with me a very long time. It’s had many incarnations and revisions and is without a doubt my biggest, most elaborate story/game idea. This blog will most likely be about Starchild most of the time but don’t worry, I do other genres. The project is primarily designed to end up as a video game but I'm also open to doing a web comic if I can ever get my artwork passable. I've grown up with a few inspirations that have really stuck with me and evolved as I have grown older and depended less on existing formulas. Starchild is thus a synthesis of all I love about storytelling, interactive entertainment and things that I feel are simply fun without apology. I want to see this project succeed in some way more than any other and it is
Humble Origins
The project name is based on the setting (planet Euphoria) and the mythical "Starchild" character. One of the things that will become evident over the course of this blog (other than my chronic run-on sentences) is that I kind of suck at naming things. Euphoria was the original title and then Starchild seemed right for a while, but now I have no clue. If you come up with ideas for my piles of unnamed characters, settings and stories as I convey them, SPEAK UP! I need it. They say write about what you know, and, while no one can really know a fictional universe full of all kinds of creatures and magics, it's been in my mind's eye since age eight (I'm now 23). It debuted under the wonderfully elementary school name, "Magic World." It was basically an interactive video game that you acted out live. This was informal and before LARPing gained a solid following. I was always the narrator and the players played somewhat consistent characters that would make choices, perform challenges and figure themselves out of tough situations. There was very little story beyond "missions" and "quests," but the settings were there and the stories my friends played out contribute occasionally to characters and situations.
Eventually the game died out, but I never forgot the story that was truly mine. I was pretty socially awkward for most of my life and so the story became a kind of mental escape that I still use. As I internalized the story, I began to imagine myself in the situations and stories my friends had played and it eventually led to me becoming the main character. It stayed that way until I'd imagined all sorts of adventures, characters and places. There was little in the way of the current continuity and was more like day to day adventures. I still intend to keep much of the game/comic as a day in the life of a psychic, fox-boy with aliens and redemptive demons for friends (a slice of crazy, sci-fi life?) despite the plots and subplots that have popped up. The main character was and still is a lot like me, but he grew on his own as the scale of the fictional universe outpaced my expectations. Kit Kabbit is now more like an old friend I grew up with and he carries the best of my hopes, dreams. He's not ideal though, because he also carries my fears and nightmares.
In about 5th or 6th grade, my story took a huge turn. All the marvelous things I'd seen in my head up to that point weren't always original or anything to stand out from existing works. There's a line between inspiration and plagiarism that I always respected but the story had lost some of it's potency as it became more of a haphazard mish-mash of ideas that were just tacked on. I needed something to regain the adventurous spirit of my games and tie together the universe and boy did I get it. I had a newer group of friends at the time, and as RPG video games became more and more common, so did the desire for role playing in general. My world had then been recently rocked by the new JRPG Final Fantasy VII and my friends began to show an interest in live action play once again.
It happened like a fireball from the sky. I found everything I needed in the idea of a central plot. It tied everything together and made it a work of true originality and potential. It was like the original Star Wars movie in that the universe, action and special effects make it cool, but a solid story makes it so much more than the sum of it's parts. The story shaped itself in my mind and grew exponentially. I then had everything a good story needed. A kind but reluctant hero who must face a nightmarish nemesis who represents all he fears in himself in a good vs. evil epic that explores self-discover, forgiveness and revenge. A seemingly distant love interest that makes his heart ache and soar at the same time. An amazing and deep world and a quest to explore it. A huge cast of colorful and non-superficial characters who's destinies intertwine in intricate ways as they all seek the same thing: a resolution to the past and the fight for freedom and survival.
I believe that's enough for now but I'm always daydreaming and Euphoria is always evolving. Feel free to comment for a discussion on storytelling and Euphoria's strong and weak literary archetypes.
Humble Origins
The project name is based on the setting (planet Euphoria) and the mythical "Starchild" character. One of the things that will become evident over the course of this blog (other than my chronic run-on sentences) is that I kind of suck at naming things. Euphoria was the original title and then Starchild seemed right for a while, but now I have no clue. If you come up with ideas for my piles of unnamed characters, settings and stories as I convey them, SPEAK UP! I need it. They say write about what you know, and, while no one can really know a fictional universe full of all kinds of creatures and magics, it's been in my mind's eye since age eight (I'm now 23). It debuted under the wonderfully elementary school name, "Magic World." It was basically an interactive video game that you acted out live. This was informal and before LARPing gained a solid following. I was always the narrator and the players played somewhat consistent characters that would make choices, perform challenges and figure themselves out of tough situations. There was very little story beyond "missions" and "quests," but the settings were there and the stories my friends played out contribute occasionally to characters and situations.
Eventually the game died out, but I never forgot the story that was truly mine. I was pretty socially awkward for most of my life and so the story became a kind of mental escape that I still use. As I internalized the story, I began to imagine myself in the situations and stories my friends had played and it eventually led to me becoming the main character. It stayed that way until I'd imagined all sorts of adventures, characters and places. There was little in the way of the current continuity and was more like day to day adventures. I still intend to keep much of the game/comic as a day in the life of a psychic, fox-boy with aliens and redemptive demons for friends (a slice of crazy, sci-fi life?) despite the plots and subplots that have popped up. The main character was and still is a lot like me, but he grew on his own as the scale of the fictional universe outpaced my expectations. Kit Kabbit is now more like an old friend I grew up with and he carries the best of my hopes, dreams. He's not ideal though, because he also carries my fears and nightmares.
In about 5th or 6th grade, my story took a huge turn. All the marvelous things I'd seen in my head up to that point weren't always original or anything to stand out from existing works. There's a line between inspiration and plagiarism that I always respected but the story had lost some of it's potency as it became more of a haphazard mish-mash of ideas that were just tacked on. I needed something to regain the adventurous spirit of my games and tie together the universe and boy did I get it. I had a newer group of friends at the time, and as RPG video games became more and more common, so did the desire for role playing in general. My world had then been recently rocked by the new JRPG Final Fantasy VII and my friends began to show an interest in live action play once again.
It happened like a fireball from the sky. I found everything I needed in the idea of a central plot. It tied everything together and made it a work of true originality and potential. It was like the original Star Wars movie in that the universe, action and special effects make it cool, but a solid story makes it so much more than the sum of it's parts. The story shaped itself in my mind and grew exponentially. I then had everything a good story needed. A kind but reluctant hero who must face a nightmarish nemesis who represents all he fears in himself in a good vs. evil epic that explores self-discover, forgiveness and revenge. A seemingly distant love interest that makes his heart ache and soar at the same time. An amazing and deep world and a quest to explore it. A huge cast of colorful and non-superficial characters who's destinies intertwine in intricate ways as they all seek the same thing: a resolution to the past and the fight for freedom and survival.
I believe that's enough for now but I'm always daydreaming and Euphoria is always evolving. Feel free to comment for a discussion on storytelling and Euphoria's strong and weak literary archetypes.
