Unit 74 -
Task 2 - Creating a Story
Weekly Blog
Week 1-
This week I created a brainstorm of 3 ideas:
Idea 1: The first idea that I thought of is a military science fiction which introduces us to Sargent Frank Stone who has been tasked with conducting an operation along with his team which goes wrong while they are on duty. For the foreshadowing feature, i would highlight the fact that the same operation has been attempted before but everybody died while doing it.
Idea 2: The Second idea is a Robot sci-fi with the lead protagonist being AI called C.A.N.E which stands for 'Computer Automated Nano Electronics' and the main plot would be that people are trying to get him shut down because of fears he is too advanced and will overthrow humans.
Idea 3: My last idea is an alien invasion on earth which has Anthony Kruger who is an army veteran in the near future when the earth receives a strange signal which turns out to be aliens threatening earth/ trying to save the earth. A symbol of this will be when either some of the satellites start crashing or when sightings are seen but nothing is said about it.
I decided to go with idea number 3 because I can expand my views to what I want and I can also incorporate other ideas into it.
I
also found some concept art to help inspire me to write:
)
this will help me stick to what I want my
story to be instead of steering off on a tangent.
Week 2 -
Opening: For this part of my story I
will start off by introducing the main character and what his past is, I will
also include what he looks like along with his surroundings. I also hope to
include some foreshadowing whether that is stories of mysterious events on the
news or some kind of objects in the sky.
Rising Action: This
will follow straight from the opening and will contain some suspense within the
characters lives maybe a slight dilemma for the main character but not one that
will alter the story.
Climax: This will be the maximum point of
suspense of the story, this will be where the main theme for the story will be
revealed and the main character will have a big dilemma to solve.
Falling
Action: At this part, the story is slowly settling down and the story is
looking to end. The main character will have solved his dilemma and everything
will be looking to go to an end and everything should go back to normal.There
may also be a slight twist towards the end of the fall and change the story
slightly.
Week 3 – inspirational writing -
For my story, I will take inspiration from multiple sources
including some films and books. First would be H.G.Wells' 1898 sci-fi novel
'The War of the Worlds' which is his view on a Martian attack. I will then look
at several films that focus on what I would want my story to seem
like. Independence Day featuring Will Smith is a film that I will
look at and possibly take inspiration from. Another is the 2012 film Battleship
which is based on military figures coming together to battle aliens.
Week 4 - First Draft -
This is the first draft for my story I didn't add everything that
I would have liked, for example, more description on what he looks like and
more about his own background and what he has been through. Furthermore, more
my final piece I will go into more detail about some places and people instead
of skipping over a lot of the scenes.
Santa Clarita, California, 2023, 6 years into the future here on earth. Anthony Kruger is a 36-year-old, Caucasian, army veteran standing at 6 foot 2 who is now seven months out of the army and nine years clean from alcohol. He supports scars throughout his body but his most notable of these is his 4-inch-long slash across his left cheek which he got while on duty in Afghanistan but the one he remembers most is the smallest and most insignificant, it is about 2 centimetres in length on the inside of his right hand that he received when he was last drunk. Each time he sees it he is reminded of his struggle with alcohol and the rage and despair it has caused in the past.
He lives a quiet, sheltered life with his German shepherd
Max who is his four-year-old army dog who helps treat Anthony’s acute PTSD. His
house is situated in a very rural area in the hills away from the city life,
finding comfort in the leaves the trees and the grass. He keeps to himself,
rarely leaving his house and does not talk about his past life. Each day he
wanders into the beautifully green forest to hunt deer, elk and moose but also
to protect it from trophy hunters that want to disrupt the tranquillity and
peace of the forest.
August 13th - 0533hr - Seems like any other day, Anthony wakes up
to a barking dog at 5.37am, he drags himself up to see what Max is barking at
but there doesn't seem to be anything causing the outburst. Anthony decides to
let him out and as he does Max starts howling hysterically at the morning sky
but he quickly dismisses this as the birds so he decides to get a shower.
Whilst there his PTSD starts attacking him, throwing past experiences of the
sacrifices he's been through in his missions abroad. The men that have been
lost around him, not only friends but a bond that cannot be broken yet somehow
was because of a few wrong orders in the heat of battle, he feels that he
should have died with his brothers on the Cliffside. He awakes from the
flashback, collapsed on the tired bathtub the room temperature raised
drastically and shakes off the visions of the ghosts that still haunt him
wherever he goes.
0613hr – Dressed and dry he collects his porridge from the cupboard
accompanied by an apple and a glass of orange juice and feeds Max the usual
tinned, sloppy dog food which he receives generously. The warm porridge is
taken in at a slow pace as though trying to kill time, the days seem to get
longer for him as the years go on, and his past problems with alcohol torment
him with every passing minute, pushing him to take another sip from the bottle.
He ponders the events of the day shortly before the morning sun creeps over the
tall mountain range, maybe he’ll head into town and pick up a few things or he
may work on his shooting in the exquisite morning forest.
0658hr – Meanwhile, 1600 miles away in Houston, Texas, the Johnson
Space Centre are receiving signals which have not been created by any man-made
objects. The signals seem to be coming from somewhere near Saturn possibly one
of its surrounding moons, a mass panic sets around the offices as they are
trying to figure out whether this is a cleverly planned joke put out by the
higher ups. The signal is a series of beeps and pauses
which does not make sense to any of the NASA employees who are
rapidly trying to figure out what it could mean before any action is taken but
something must be done now.
The discoverer of the mysterious signal, a grey-haired expert who
has been working day in – day out for 29 years makes a distressed phone call to
General Mike Peel warning him of the strange signals. This is not the type of
morning anyone saw coming
0723hr – Word has reached the President of the United States but word of the alien signal is only spoken by very few people in hush tone and has been declared no hoax, there is a slight panic in the small collective of people that know. The President gathers the Vice President along with his generals come together in the situation room to decide how to deal with this and whether or not it should be broadcasted to the public as a warning. The escalating discussion is very back and forth on what we should do, the heated conversation is split in two, one-half saying that the news should be told to the general public but the other half say that this would cause fear within them. The President sits quietly throughout the chat, hands folded with his head slightly down, he then slowly stands up to voice his opinion. As he does so the room suddenly becomes silent, he says “We will release what we know to the public and let them know we are working on deciphering these signals. You will take no further questions and get back to work figuring out what the hell is going on” with that said everyone in the room scurries away to do what needs doing.
0804hr – News is released on a mysterious signal that is being
received from an unknown place, scientists are baffled as to what the signal
could possibly mean but they are positive that it is no hoax and coming from a
region in space close to Saturn. The hundreds of scientists working on – what
they suspect to be – an attempt at communication from the unknown. News
stations around the globe are going crazy at the discovery that was made.
France, Britain, Germany, Italy, every single country is giving out their own
interpretation on what this could possibly mean to the human race. Are they
coming for our natural material? Do they want to hurt us? Why us? Many, many
questions are being asked but not one can be answered which is a scary thought.
Week 5 -
I finished re-writing my story and it is
now complete.
Here is my final story for submission:
Santa Clarita, California, March 2023, six years into the future
on the forever deteriorating earth. Anthony Kruger is a 36-year-old army
veteran standing at six feet two inches tall. He is a Caucasian male who has
rough skin with a five o’clock shadow. He has short dark brown hair and a
typical army hair cut which he keeps despite it being seven months since his
honourable discharge after a communications error causes a blue on blue
accident which led to three of his friends being killed and left him severely
traumatised from the incident. He is now nine years sober from alcohol and is
tempted to go back to his old ways every waking day because he doesn’t think he
can make it through each day yet forces himself to. He supports several scars
across his body that he has collected like badges over the years. The most
notable of these is a four-inch-long slash that is sprayed across his left
cheek. It lies from the bridge of his nose towards his chin, he acquired this
while in Afghanistan when he was attacked by a lone extremist who was being
detained. Despite this, the one he remembers the most may be the smallest and
most insignificant to others, it is a slight mark about two centimetres in
length. It buries itself on the inside of his right hand where his thumb is. He
obtained this when he was last drunk and each time he looks at it, he is
reminded of his past indiscretions, struggle and the pain it caused not just to
him but to the people that were affected by his actions.
He lives a quiet, sheltered life with his German shepherd Max who
is his four-year-old army dog who helps treat Anthony’s acute PTSD. His house
is situated in a very rural area in the hills away from the city life, finding
comfort in the leaves the trees and the grass. He keeps to himself, rarely
leaving his house and does not talk about his past life. Each day he wanders
into the beautifully green forest to hunt deer, elk and moose but also to protect
it from trophy hunters that want to disrupt the tranquillity and peace of the
forest.
March 13th - 0533hr – Before the day has even begun before the sun
has risen over the horizon, the day seems like any other. Anthony is rudely
woken up at 5.33am by the bellowing howls and barks being released by a
seemingly distressed dog. He drags himself up from his bed to look at what Max
could possibly be barking at. Upon inspection, there doesn’t seem to be
anything causing this outburst by Max and so he decided to let him out into the
open land and as he does so Max begins letting off an infuriating howl along
with a menacing bark at the morning sky. Anthony decides to dismiss this due to
birds or some other kind of animal that he couldn’t get to so he chooses to go
and get a shower to freshen himself up. Mid-shower Anthony is attacked by a
hailstorm of past experiences, his PTSD does not care where he is or what he’s
doing when it hits him. The history and horror that he has endured not just
because of his sacrifices whilst on missions abroad and the brothers he has
lost while in combat but the regret of never being able to say goodbye to his
parents who were tragically lost in a car accident nine years ago. He still
believes that he could have done something, anything that may have altered the
events on that day. This is the reason he decided to go sober and get his life
on track by joining the marine core. He awakens from the nightmare collapsed
onto the tired bathtub on his hands and knees, his heart rate has a drastic
increase and can barely catch his breath in the heated room. Anthony lifts his
heavy head up from the excess water left from the shower with a large sigh of
relief that this is nothing but a memory and he does not have to relive these
ghosts that haunt him on a daily basis.
0613hr – Once he’s dressed and dry he decides to make himself a
warm bowl of porridge coupled with a fresh apple and a ripely poured glass
orange juice he then feeds Max his usual sloppy, tinned dog food which he
receives and devours generously. The humid, bland porridge is eaten at a very
slow pace so that as though he is attempting to pass the time. The days for
Anthony seem to get longer and longer as the months since his honourable
discharge from the military. The past problems that he suffers regarding the
alcohol abuse torment and bugs him with every passing minute enticing him to go
and take a large glassful from the unopened, clear bottle. He wonders about
what his plan for the day is not too long before the stunning, crisp, early
morning sun peaks over the high mountain range. He considers his day ahead, maybe
he’ll walk max into the town and pick up a few things or maybe practise on his
shooting in the gorgeous morning woods.
0658hr – Meanwhile, 1600 miles away in Houston, Texas, the Johnson
Space Centre are receiving signals which have not been created by any man-made
objects. The signals seem to be coming from somewhere near Saturn possibly one
of its surrounding moons, a mass panic sets around the offices as they are
trying to figure out whether this is a cleverly planned joke put out by the
higher ups. The incoming signal seems to be a continuous loop of
high-frequency beeps and occasional pauses, the mysterious noise does not seem
to make any sense to a single experienced employee who is rushing around
panicking on what this could mean to humanity and its continuous existence.
The man who discovered this shady, unnerving signal Dr Heinz
Schient who is a grey-haired expert who has been working for NASA for 29 years
makes a distressed phone call to his superior, General Mike Peel. A strict
looking figure with a very square jaw supporting a typical crew cut haircut
with the sides beginning to turn a light grey. The phone call being very brief
and the General putting down the call once he had been informed of the possibly
tragic news.
0723hr – Word has reached the very worried President of the United
States along with other leaders of the world but word of the alien signal is
only spoken between very few, shocked people in hush tone and has been declared
no hoax, there is a slight panic in the small collective of people that know.
The President gathers the Vice President along with his generals come together
in the situation room to decide how to deal with this and whether or not it
should be broadcasted to the public as a warning. The escalating discussion is
very back and forth on what we should do, the heated conversation is split in
two, one-half saying that the news should be told to the general public but the
other half say that this would cause fear within them. The President sits
quietly throughout the chat, hands folded with his head slightly down, he then
slowly stands up to voice his opinion. As he does so the room suddenly becomes
silent, he says “We will release what we know to the public and let them know
we are working on deciphering these signals. You will take no further questions
and get back to work figuring out what the hell is going on” with that said
everyone in the room scurries away to do what needs doing.
0804hr – News is released on a
mysterious signal that is being received from an unknown place, scientists are
baffled as to what the signal could possibly mean but they are positive that it
is no hoax and coming from a region in space close to Saturn. The hundreds of
scientists working on – what they suspect to be – an attempt at communication
from the unknown. News stations around the globe are going crazy at the
discovery that was made. France, Britain, Germany, Italy, every single country
is giving out their own interpretation on what this could possibly mean to the
human race. Are they coming for our natural material? Do they want to hurt us?
Why us? Many, many questions are being asked but not one can be answered
which is a scary thought.
0834hr – Anthony who is none the wiser about anything that is
going on with no TV, no phone or any other way of communicating with the
outside world other than physical contact which is on the occasion either with
other hunters in the forest or when he socialises on his trips out. He finally
decides on heading to the market which is about a mile and a half away from his
home, he gets max’s lead from the hanger and plucks his coat from next to it.
He starts his long walk up the steep hill by picking up a stick and throwing it
for Max who proceeds to chase it.
Major
Subheadings
Purpose
-
For this assignment, we received a brief from Cloud Imperium Games explaining
how they want me to create a new story for the game 'Star Citizen'. In the
brief, they indicate what they want their game to include, they say 'There is a
prison ship taking criminals across the galaxy when disaster strikes'. After
reading this short brief I am told they want a sci-fi story but to make it
easier on myself I decided to make it a story on earth and bring the story to
here, therefore I can write about what I already know.
For my story, I looked at all different types of
game genres for different ages and where they sit among men and women to get a
better perspective at my target audience. In the picture below is an overview
of the game Crash Bandicoot, it gives the percentage of men against women as
well as the others. There is also the average age that this game is played
at which is 23. On the right, there is a percentile chart of where the
game stands on each.
Components -
In
all stories, they will have a main theme that the story will revolve around or
reoccurring themes. In films such as Braveheart and 300 focus on a battle,
films such as Blindside focus on Triumph over Adversity and cliche themes like
Good vs Evil are shown everywhere such as Star Wars, James Bond, Die Hard. A
lot of game stories also follow this when creating a story. Most popular in my
opinion would be Heero or Heroism which features an abundance of games like
Duke Nukem, Lara Croft in Tomb Raider and Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series.
The
main theme that I will focus on for my story will be the word 'Faith' and the
characters having faith in what's to come or in someone else. The setting for
my sci-fi will be earth possibly America and 6 years from now, so 2023.
There
are a few backstories that I could possibly go with for my main character, the
first being a man that is down on his luck, he has lost his job and his home so
has to live with his parents.
The
second idea is an army veteran who suffers from PTSD and a long lasting stance
against alcohol. He lost his friends while overseas.
Another
conception of a backstory is a rich African American man who grew up through
struggle and now owns his own company and sees many people as beneath him
because they don't work hard enough.
Plot Devices -
MacGuffin - A MacGuffin is an object that
is the main theme behind the film. An example of this is the infinity stones that
are used in a multitude of films in the Marvel universe, films like 'Guardians
of the Galaxy' and 'The Avengers' use these objects to base a story around.
Each of the stones possess a certain power that is very valuable and the stones
allow the company to create upcoming films as the series can follow their
story. Another film to use a MacGuffin would be the 'Star Wars' franchise, they
use the 'force' as an idea to base the series from. It is used to explain
things that otherwise can’t be explained.
Deus Ex Machina - Another plot device that i looked at was Deus Ex Machina, this is when your character is on a cliffhanger and is saved from an unlikely source. This scenario is mainly used in ending situations in a lot of films and TV shows to save the main character. An example of this would be in the Deadpool movie when at the end Ajax is fighting with Deadpool and he is in a situatuion where he could possibly die and it takes copycat to save him. This has turned into somewhat of a cliche now in the film industry as some people can see it coming very easily.
Red Herring - A red herring is a clue within a film
that is put there to be misleading or distracting to the viewer. An example of a red herring would be in the novel 'The Da Vinci Code' in which we assume that Bishop Aringarosa is part of the main plot surrounding the conspiracy yet we find out that he had been fooled by the real villain in the end. If you also translate the bishops name you find that 'Aringa' = herring and rosa = red.
Character Devices -
The antagonist is the main villain that goes against the hero of the story. The antagonist may have apposing views to the hero which makes them think of themselves as their own hero like in Xmen: apocalypse where Apocalypse see's himself as trying to fix the lost human race by destroying the world and rebuilding it. The antagonist from a film isn't always a person out to get the hero, it can also be from nature like in the film Jaws where the shark is the main villain. However some films don't have an antagonist to follow such as in Castaway and Forrest Gump.
The antagonist is the main villain that goes against the hero of the story. The antagonist may have apposing views to the hero which makes them think of themselves as their own hero like in Xmen: apocalypse where Apocalypse see's himself as trying to fix the lost human race by destroying the world and rebuilding it. The antagonist from a film isn't always a person out to get the hero, it can also be from nature like in the film Jaws where the shark is the main villain. However some films don't have an antagonist to follow such as in Castaway and Forrest Gump.
Another character type that i looked at is the protagonist. This character is the hero of the story or who the main story will revolve around. S/he is the person that will embark on the hero's journey in films, games and books. like in the film 'Mad Max'. During the story, they will usually have to overcome obstacles which is usually the traps of the villain. The protagonist will sometimes have a sidekick with them like in the batman comic and TV series.
Non-Playable
Characters (NPC’s) are characters in games that allow you feel like you’re in
an actual world as it takes you to a store or something. For my game the playable character would be the main protagonist and everyone else would be the NPC's such as the villains and the civilians.
Character Backstories -
Physical – Male, 6ft 2", 36, 15st-ish, a
typical John Doe dark-brown hair and brown eyes, he stands straight as a symbol
of his army past and is polite, deep, rough voice as though he needs to cough.
Sociological – small circle of friends, no
siblings parents died in a car crash 6 years ago, all finances in order,
accountant, and very good grades at good schools, gave up on alcohol and joined
the army once his parents died when he was 22. Lives isolated, away from the
city because of the stress is caused.
Psychological - Atheist,
PTSD has him stressed, looks for the silver lining, and doesn’t really look at
the bad. Random outbursts of anger from time to time.
Issues of representation – has no real issues with people
judging him.
Character growth - During the course of the story I hope
to include a sub-story where the main character has to overcome his isolation
with other people, he may make some friends with the people he meets along the way.
He has a strong will and people feed off this meaning he can help others
overcome their fears.
Narrative Flow -
The narrative flow would be how the story flows from one event to the next. An example of this would be the objectives give to the main character to get through his quest. An example of this is in the campaign for call of duty where you have tasks to complete before moving onto the next mission. This type of system works very well and is long standing for a reason.. because it works. One of the earliest games, Mario, uses this technique in its games, in which you must complete levels to move to the next, collecting coins before rescuing the princess.
The narrative flow doesn't always go this way however, as it can come from decisions that the player/character makes during the story, In games such as the walking dead series allows you to decide what to do and how to answer questions etc.
The narrative flow would be how the story flows from one event to the next. An example of this would be the objectives give to the main character to get through his quest. An example of this is in the campaign for call of duty where you have tasks to complete before moving onto the next mission. This type of system works very well and is long standing for a reason.. because it works. One of the earliest games, Mario, uses this technique in its games, in which you must complete levels to move to the next, collecting coins before rescuing the princess.
The narrative flow doesn't always go this way however, as it can come from decisions that the player/character makes during the story, In games such as the walking dead series allows you to decide what to do and how to answer questions etc.
Industry Practice -
When you are creating a story, there are certain industry practises to go along with. The primary focus would be to identify the meaning behind the story, this is whether you are creating the story for a game, film or book. In my case i am creating a story for a game and therefore i would look to put options in where the player can choose the next move for the character to make them feel more immersed in the game.
When you are creating a story, there are certain industry practises to go along with. The primary focus would be to identify the meaning behind the story, this is whether you are creating the story for a game, film or book. In my case i am creating a story for a game and therefore i would look to put options in where the player can choose the next move for the character to make them feel more immersed in the game.
Reflection - The reflection aspect after creating a story would be to look at what went well in the story as well as what could be improved during a second draft or the second time you write the story. This can be anything from changing the dialogue to the surroundings of the character.
When I first set out after brainstorming my ideas were to create a story which follows a socially awkward man who hides away from people but then has to overcome this to fight the unknown. Once finished with my story I was quite pleased with my final piece, I think it contains everything I would have liked to add and everything my story needs.
When I first set out after brainstorming my ideas were to create a story which follows a socially awkward man who hides away from people but then has to overcome this to fight the unknown. Once finished with my story I was quite pleased with my final piece, I think it contains everything I would have liked to add and everything my story needs.
Production - The production feature is how well you coped with the time and workflow during the creation of your story. When writing a story, you are sometimes set a deadline to follow which mean the time has to be set out to draft, write and re-write a story. Once given my
brief I feel that I set myself enough time to plan, create and finalise my
story with all the needed components. I feel through the weeks my story has
progressed and became better as the weeks passed by.
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