Simon versus Jack the Ripper
It'll do until I can think of a better title.
I like steampunk, and I like the concept of almost magical technological devices as a toolkit to solve problems. And let's face it - virtually all Interactive Fiction is puzzle solving.
If all goes well, I'll do a series of semi-comedic adventures with Simon the Technomage. Because he's basically the first original character I thought of (although he's based on someone else's IP setting) — Peter Cobcroft 13/03/2006 14:36
Plot
Introduction of character
Introduction of setting
Example puzzle (fixing the engine)
Cut To: Jack's first crime (Shadow offer)
Simon's arrival (crash in gardens)
Side quest #1 that leads to public social event
Cut To: Jack's second crime
Discovery of body by Simon and subsequent incarceration/mistaken identity
Plot A: Simon escapes before the next body turns up
Plot B: Simon stays in jail until the next body turns up.
A: Fugitive Simon must track clues by himself
B: Innocent Simon must gather evidence for the constabulary
A: Confrontation with Jack
B: Entrapment and escape (Vorlon)
B: Confrontation with Jack (similar to A: above) (Vorlon)
Finish
Set pieces
Simon
The Technomage Toolkit
Microphone and small loudhailer for Voice of Authority ™
Smokebomb for mysterious disappearances (shortly followed by mysterious coughing and hacking, and mysterious hiding around corners or running really fast)
Wizard's staff for hitting things with (sometimes this is intentional) and zapping things (requires recharginge each time)
Illusion powers
A robe of keeping sharp hurty things from being sharp and hurty
A black spaceship. Called Kewl. Capable of time travel, occasionally does so while Simon is in it.
Crystal ball. For looking at locations where a probe is hidden.
Probe. Microscopic camera/microphone.
Other Characters
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Police Constable Larry McSweeney
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Lord Talbot Farnsworth and his wife, Lady Penelope
Vincent and Pansy a lovestruck, but unlucky, couple.
Locations
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Buck's Row a back street in Whitechapel two hundred yards from the London Hospital. First victim (
Mary Ann Nichols discovered at about 3:40 in the early morning of Friday, August 31, 1888)
Back yard of 29 Hanbury Street, Whitechapel. Second victim (
Annie Chapman discovered 6:00 on the morning of Saturday, September 8, 1888)
Dutfield's Yard, off Berner Street (since renamed Henriques Street) in Whitechapel (
Elizabeth Stride discovered close to 1:00 in the early morning of Sunday, September 30,)
Dark corner of Mitre Square (
Catherine Eddowes discovered at 1:44 in the early morning of Sunday, September 30, 1888)
Sewers
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Pilot's cabin
Quarters
Access corridor
Storage room
Airlock
Engine room
The Ball (Entrance quest and Side quest #1)
Entrance foyer
Dance hall
Buffet
Terrace
Bushes
NW Grounds
NE Grounds
SW Grounds
SE Grounds
Fountain
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Behind gravestone
Behind crypt
Pathway
Puzzles
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(8) non-puzzle, gathering clues from body
(9) Escape from jail
(10a) Getting in to the scene of the crime without being arrested
(10b) Getting past obnoxious Londoners to gather clues
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Objects
Should be an object-light game as Technomages come with their own toolkits :)
The tricky part is to creatively come up with negatives to most of the toolkit in situations it isn't meant to be used.
Code