Before I going into any game descriptions I'd like to say you have a nice site; I've seen quite a few sites with the same concept behind them but never with this much participation. Anyways enough of the kudos and onto the ideas. Now I assume that some of you have played Out Of This World. It was published by Interplay back in 1990 (or somewhere thereabouts), and conceived by Eric Chai. I think there was a sequel sometime after, but I never saw it anywhere (for the PC anyway), so the game story i'm about to give does'nt take the sequel into much account.

In the original game we had our typical genius/scientist/protagonist in the person of Conrad B. Hart. In the intro from first game we see him conducting some grand experiment, something to do with advanced temporal/spatial physics I pressume. In any case, it so happens that he was conducting the experiment during an electrical storm. A storm which, as sometimes occurs during the course of science, became one of those unseen factors which can send an experiment awry, which of course it did. SO during the course of he experiment poor Dr. Hart finds himself caught in a blast of nerve-racking light and cackling energy , and within the next instant finds himself and a huge chunk of his machine in a pool of water. Instinctively he strikes out for the surface. As his machine sinks he suddenly sees tentacles enveloping it and pulling it further into the murky depths of the pool. The sight hastens his efforts to get out of the pool before those tentacles start reaching for him (actually the player gets to swim him out of the pool for those of you who remeber the game). When out of the water he catches his breath and looks up into an unfamiliar blue sky where two moons overlap each other. For those of you who have played the game you know that Conrad eventually gets captured and placed in a cell where he befriends some alien and later you both conspire to achieve freedom. Personally I loved this game, I thought it was great for it's time. Though the graphics where low-end even at the time (16-colors(4-bits), 2d-polygon graphics) the creators managed a certain level of player immersion with the use of cut-scenes and ingeniuos puzzles that made for a great experience. I want to take the game a few steps further.

First let's expand the World:
At the end of game you and your alien friend had escaped on a winged alien beast and flew off into the unknown. Supposedly there was sequel which followed. So my story takes place some 10 years later. Conrad had kept a journal of his findings in the first game, but other than being a part of the instruction booklet that came in the game box it did'nt have any other use. In my take on this saga however it plays an integral part of the story as it is (in part) through his journal that Dr. Hart will reveal the plot as it unfolds thoughout the game. Like I said before O.O.T.W.F(Out Of This World Final) is set ten years after Hart's first adventure. Since then he has mastered the Alien language and has come understand a good deal of their technology and their ideologies (we get some insight into this Alien culture through his journals/narative). The Alien with whom he escaped is a part of a rebellion movement against the rulers of Triad.

A bit of History Now:
The Triad is an exploitive empire that spans 3-galaxies(maybe I should make that 3 solar systems instead). Most of the worlds in these galaxies consist of slave races who produce and mine goods and resources for export to the few commerce planets run by the regal overlords sanctioned by some of the Royal Houses who in turn answer to the Sovereign who sits at the very apex of the Triad. This race of people call themselves the Geh-lasy. The Sovereign reigns from the ThroneWorld Geh-lac where, outside his circle of overlords, he hides these acts of atrocity from the remaining governing bodies. Those who have chanced to discover his evil deeds are usually quickly silenced; with the trail of their dissapperance littered with political propaganda. So the truth remains hidden from the people of Geh-lac who believe they have good relations with the peoples of the "Servient" worlds. The same people who if they knew the truth could unseat the Sovreign as is their right. Evil like this however can't stay hidden for long, eventually a good royal house had discovered the truth and sought to expose it. The Head of this house was some great general and he had stationed his armies and their families (for protection) on an off-world. From there he had hoped to stage a coup. He was betrayed however and while the bulk of his forces were drawn into a asteroid feild and dessimated, the off-world which was home to the soilder's families, was blasted with a ray from some new experimental technology, created by the Soveriegn's scientist. The weapon was originally designed to clear harsh-planets of harm-full substances that would otherwise impede mining. In this case however the ray was tweeked so as to destroy all organic life on the off-world. In the aftermath of the ray every bit of organic life on the planet was crystalized, cold remnants of what would seem then like a lost cause. The few survivors from the skirmish in the asteroid belt were sent off to penal colonies throughout the Triadic realm (some would escape to reignite the fires of the rebellion). It so happens that one of those rebels was the Alien that Dr.Hart befriended. So guess what that means, good old Dr.Hart is now a part of what would become a re-estabished rebellion. Out of the Pot and into the Fire:

Now here's where it gets worse. On one of their recon missions(later in the game) the rebel forces managed to retrieve a hologram that dates back some 5 years prior. The rebel leaders on viewing the hologram could make nothing of it. It showed a group of the Alien scientists recovering something from a pool of water. But when Conrad saw the hologram he was struck by horror. It was the very same pool that he was transported into when he conducted his fateful experiment. That fact alone would have been no cause for alarm had he not seen what the hologram showed next : the alien scientists were salvaging his machine!! IF this was five years ago then given their advanced technology they would be well on their way to figuring out how to create a trans/spatial/temporal machine for themselves. And that would mean the enslavement of other planets..even worse the Triad could enslave earth!

GamePlay:
In the original game Conrad's only tool/weapon was a lazer gun. It was unique however, in that it had three uses. A quick tap of the fire button and it would fire a lazer, hold down the fire button a little longer and a bubble of energy would form at the nuzzle of the gun and when released would create a temporary laser force field. If you held the fire button for longer still, a bigger charge would form and when released could blast through weak enough walls and well as deal with the occassional run in with multiple enemies. Though the laser gun was the only weapon used by Conrad it wasn't the only one featured in the game. At the start of the game when Conrad was running from that black lion-like beast, he bumped into a Alien Guard (who later captured him) with a big launcher looking weapon (imagine my surprise when it was only used to stun Conrad and the lion-like beast). O.O.T.W.F could have this weapon among others in Conrad's arsenal(I remember seeing a screenshot somewhere from OOTW 2 with the Alien guy using what looked like a taser/lazer whip of some sort, that could also be included). You could also have something of a Tech (technology or techniques) Points system where Conrad having acquired a new weapon or alien gadget could master it's use and scientific theories behind it, and later apply that knowledge to the creation of new weapons/gadgets. Think of it as Conrad's human inginuity in the place of a synthesist shop. Given the scope of the gameworld; the player will have the ability to travel to various worlds to gather info on the Triad and recruit more members into the cause all the while fighting agents of the Triad, in the form of bounty hunters, mercenarys, soilders, assassins, overlords, concubines(he heh for those of you played that last level from OOTW 1 you know what I mean) etc.. Along the way I suppose you could play as a number of characters from these different worlds (with Conrad and his Alien buddy as the only constants) establishing a network of support for the rebellion.

More Story stuff:
I'm writing this thing on the fly, so I'm making this thing up as I go. I just got another bolt of inspiration. As the plot developes Conrad and his Alien buddy goes to the off-world planet that was zapped by the laser, Now called "Fuah-Gyu Xia" (Translation: Land of the silent dead). Now remeber everthing is crystalized, and this is the first time Conrad's alien friend has been back to the planet since his capture in the dog fight in the asteroid belt (could probably show flashback sequences of his ship being damaged). Now for the first time he faces the horror of what has happened to the planet...and to his family. As he reaches slowly to touch the crystaline corpses of his wife and child, they shattered before him in a heart wrenching moment of dispair. This would have Conrad taking on a narrative tone in his journal. I figure that sometime near the end of the game Conrad will be forced to make a choice when he gets to the throneworld where the construction of the temporal/spatial machine based on his technology is being developed. He will have the opportunity to either opt to abandon the rebellion , a cause that Conrad has been a part of for the past ten earth years or forsake an oppurtunity to go home, a dream he had long given up on.

WrapUp:
So you have the twin missions of bringing a terrible truth to light(the tyranny of the Triad) and preventing even further harm by the Triad plus the possibility of a return home all wrapped into one neat game. Now this is just a rough (very rough :)) draft of what this game could be. Now if I could only get in touch with the original creator Eric Chai. I think he might go for the idea.

PS:
Other game ideas to come:
Pygmy Dragon: "There is nothing new under the sun" is a phrase that would best describe the video game industry at present. Still I believe that this idea may offer a rather unique take and combination of ideas that may surprise and entertain even the most experienced gamers (at least in storyline anyway :). Gnome Realm(tentative title): This one is my baby. I doubt I'll post it here since I hope to get it published someday. But I have a few sketches and paintings of the main charater I might be willing to share. O.K.A.K.: The title for this one sounds so cool to me that I don't want to spell it out, lest someone steals it ;). But right now the story has'nt quite gotten of the ground yet.

Out Of This World Final based on the Interplay original Another World
Xegnma
xegnma@hotmail.com

Another World, which is the name of the game here in Europe, has a very special place in my hart. The game is just magic, need I say more? And you're right, there was a sequel made named Flashback, awesome game by the way. Actually there was a third game made for Playstation called Fade to Black. It was quite good, and I don't blame it for all its faults, as it was kind of a pioneer for the third person 3D adventure games, even before the mighty Tomb Raider. I gave your idea a Discovery Boy for bringing back so many good memories :)

Idea Reviewer:
-Vegard Aure-