EXT. TOWN - ENTRANCE - NIGHT
(align:"==>")[SYSTEM CONTROLS CAMERA]
The camera is fixed on a night sky scattered with auroras and a full moon. Then reveal card:
<blockquote>The infant's wail won't pierce the morning light;
Noon breezes fade, no more on plains to play;
The evening hush won't cloak the starry night.
Some see paradox, some see truth's bright ray,
Right and wrong in circles, night and day.</blockquote>\
The camera slowly fall from the sky and lands on the player's gaming perspective.
Under the glow of the full moon, a blazing fire ignites every house and every corner of the entire village.
*Camera performance: uncontrolled shaking, infrequent blurring.*
The voice of Te'Murphy rings in the center of your mind.
(align:"=><=")[TE'MURPHY]\
(align:"=><=")[(O.S.)]\
(align:"<==")+(box:"=XX=")[Hey, are you alright?]\
Your vision blurs. You just managed to stand still.
*Camera backs normal.*
(align:"==>")[PLAYER CONTROLS CAMERA]
(align:"=><=")[TE'MURPHY]\
(align:"=><=")[(O.S.)]\
(align:"<==")+(box:"=XX=")[Looks like you made it. (Grasps) The monsters suddenly all rushed in together and took over the town. I brought everyone to the hills west of the church. They're safe there for now.]\
A cabin not far away suddenly collapsed in flames.
(align:"=><=")[YOU]\
(align:"<==")+(box:"=XX=")[What is going on?]\
After your words, A dragon ROAR suddenly comes from the air, and a flying dragon with a dark red body sweeps through the low sky. It flies from outside the town towards the church.
*The camera pushes forward a short distance and zooms in to the flight of the dragon until it approaches the church. Then zooms out and returns to normal.*
(align:"=><=")[TE'MURPHY]\
(align:"=><=")[(O.S.)]\
(align:"<==")+(box:"=XX=")[Lord of Calamity......It headed toward the church.]\
(align:"=><=")[YOU]\
(align:"<==")+(box:"=XX=")[Solve it and it's all over, right?]\
(align:"=><=")[TE'MURPHY]\
(align:"=><=")[(O.S.)]\
(align:"<==")+(box:"=XX=")[Yes, but I have to go and take everyone further. Be careful on your way.]\
(link: "Keep going")[==\
At the intersection ahead, two hounds whose skin emitted black smoke were tearing at the bloody flesh beneath them. Underneath those flesh and blood was a pile of ghastly white bones.
(align:"=><=")+(text-style:"underline")[Combat (unavoidable): Two hounds]\
(click: "Combat (unavoidable): Two hounds")[You win the battle.
Continue and enter:
[[Street]]
]
EXT. STREET - NIGHT
It consists of two rows of low Nordic-style houses with pitched roofs extending vertically. Most of the houses are wooden and have red painted roofs. The residential buildings were of varying heights of 2 or 3 storeys.
These houses have been ignited by the fire, half of them have been burnt to charcoal black, and the whole house is difficult to maintain the original structure and gradually collapsed. In a few of the houses, glowing colored oil was seeping out of the cracks.
While entering, a house on one side collapses.
*Camera focuses on the collapsing house.*
(align:"=><=")[YOU]\
(align:"=><=")[(murmuring)]\
(align:"<==")+(box:"=XX=")[Malle...Isabeau...Mr. Dickson...]\
Continue ahead to see the fountain, but the road to it has collapsed and is inaccessible.
(link: "Continue to the other way")[==
Continuing on the other road, there is a huge stone mill on one side, and a back door where the mill is closed and locked.
(set: $StoneMillUnlock to 0)\
(align:"=><=")+(text-style:"underline")[Interaction: Door]\
(click-rerun: "Interaction: Door")\
[(if: $StoneMillUnlock is 1)[You unlock the door. Continue and enter:
[[Stone Mill]]]
(if: $StoneMillUnlock is 0)[The door is locked.]]
(link: "Keep searching")[==
Continuing upwards along this path, a tall monster is guarding the way at an unassuming corner.
(align:"=><=")+(text-style:"underline")[Combat (unavoidable): Monster]\
(click: "Combat (unavoidable): Monster")[(set: $StoneMillUnlock to 1)As a fight breaks out, the monster crashes into the sloping mountain, and a tree above it is broken and falls sideways, blocking the way onward and upward.
The monster talks.
(align:"=><=")[Monster]\
(align:"<==")+(box:"=XX=")[I must wait them...]\
You defeat him.
As he falls, you get a key from him.
(click: "key")[<blockquote>A key, carried by its owner. Both in life and in death.
</blockquote>
]
]
INT. STONE MILL - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
The overall construction of the stone mill is dominated by stone, so the interior is no longer on fire, but the collapsed house next to it hides the main entrance.
Take the stairs to the second floor of the mill.
(link: "Go to the second floor")[==
EXT. STONE MILL - SECOND FLOOW - NIGHT
The roof of the second floor had collapsed completely, exposing the entire second floor.
On the other edge of the roof, a slope had been formed by the collapse of the house. On one side of the slope lay a ladder that had fallen sideways, allowing the ladder to be pushed out.
(click: "pushed out")[Follow the ladder down the collapsed slope to the next area.
[[Fountain]]
]EXT. FOUNTAIN - NIGHT
Here stands a not-so-large fountain that would have been topped by a statue of a goat-headed man carrying a large hourglass on his shoulders. However, due to vandalism, it is no longer in use and no water spouts from it. But there is still a steady stream of water coming from the base of the fountain.
At the fountain, there are two low humanoid monsters that are peering into the center of the fountain. Upon approaching, they will be detected and trigger a fight.
(align:"=><=")+(text-style:"underline")[Combat (proximity trigger): Two monsters]\
(click: "Combat (proximity trigger): Two monsters")[You defeat them. What are they looking at? (click-replace: "What are they looking at?")[If you stand at the angle where the monsters are probing and looking, you can catch a glimpse of a hole into which water from a fountain is flowing. There is a faint colored glow visible deep within the gap.
(align:"=><=")[YOU]\
(align:"=><=")[(suspiciously)]\
(align:"<==")+(box:"=XX=")[Is there a lot of room underground?]]]\
At the end of the area where the fountain is located, there is a larger stone house.
Continue to enter:
[[Large Stone House]]
Looking ahead at the fountain, two different diagonal paths to the left and right are divided by the stone house.
Continue to:
[[Residential Area]]
or
[[Narrow Path]]Return to the last area:
[[Fountain]]
INT. STONE HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
A house more spacious than the average residential house, the whole of which was composed of stone, without the use of any semblance of wood. A remarkable quantity of colored glowing oil oozed from the fine cracks of the house. Most of the woodwork in the house was charred, but many of the woodwork at the edges of the rooms, including the doors, showed no signs of fire due to the use of stone.
A monster is standing in front of the bedroom door, trying to open it. It hasn't noticed you yet.
(align:"=><=")+(text-style:"underline")[Combat (no active trigger): A monsters]\
(click: "Combat (no active trigger): A monsters")[You defeat it. Continue to:
(link: "enter bedroom.")[==
INT. STONE HOUSE - BEDROOM
(set: $BedroomPuzzleSolved to 0)\
(set:_t to 0)\
There are no signs of fire damage in the bedroom. The room is medium sized and furnished with a nightbed, a desk, and a closet.
(click: "nightbed")[(text-style:"underline")[Bed:] Neat white sheets were spread on the bed.
(click: "sheets")[(set: $BedroomPuzzleSolved to 1)The sheets were lifted, but nothing was found. But as you leave, you touched the round copper decorative ball on the bed headboard. DONG, something triggers.]]
(click: "desk")[(text-style:"underline")[Desk:] There were books, an oil lamp turned off, a fountain pen, and a picture frame. (click: "picture frame")[A group photo of 8 people with a strange polygonal device floating vaguely behind them. And open the frame up, a note apears. (click: "note")[It writes: "May the Will carry on."]]]
(click-rerun: "closet")[(text-style:"underline")[Closet:] (set:_t to it+1)You (nth:_t, "open the closet. The interior is empty.","close the closet.")
(if: $BedroomPuzzleSolved is 1)[But the bottom dissection pops out. A document appears: *CT2013 Guidelines on the Use of Dark Matter*.]]]Return to the last area:
[[Fountain]]
EXT. NARROW PATH - NIGHT
It's a path that runs up against a hill and is sandwiched right in the middle by a hillside and the backs of houses.
On the way to the staircase, glowing colored oils seeped through the cracks of the stone houses next to it.
In one of them, there is an obvious architectural cleft that can accommodate one person.
Walk into the [[Split]]
In one of all the houses, the wall of a house is knocked down in its entirety, creating a ramp that allows access to the house.
Go into [[Dilapidated House]]
At the end of the path, there is a staircase leading directly to the church at the top of the hill.
Go [[Deeper in Narrow Path]]Return to the last area:
[[Fountain]]
EXT. RESITENTIAL AREA - NIGHT
This one is narrower than the main road. The overall construction converges with the pedestrianized street, both with houses on both sides.
The path onward was blocked by collapsed rubble, with only a gap in one corner that could be drilled through.
Go [[Deeper in the Area]]
Return to the last area:
[[Residential Area]]
EXT. RESIDENTIAL AREA - NIGHT
(if: $HoundDecoyTriggered is not 1)[On one side of the road, a hound is standing in front of \
(if: $PileBoardsCollapsed is 1)[the [[Split]]]\
(if: $PileBoardsCollapsed is not 1)[a stacked pile of boards]\
making rustling noises. After the hound sees you, it suddenly flees to the opposite side of the road and into an alley.]\
(if: $HoundDecoyTriggered is 1)[There is no hound standing here anymore.
(if: $PileBoardsCollapsed is 1)[The [[Split]] is at the side of the road.] ]\
(set: $HoundDecoyTriggered to 1)
Go into the [[Alley]]
or
continue to the [[Church]]Return to the last area:
[[Deeper in the Area]]
EXT. RESIDENTIAL AREA - ALLEY - NIGHT
There is hardly any light in the alley, and it is only possible to move forward in the pitch blackness where it was nearly impossible to distinguish objects.
The inside of the alley becomes narrower and narrower as it progressed. At the end of the alley, a gaping hole opens up into a larger enclosed space.
(link: "Keep going")[==
EXT. RESIDENTIAL AREA - ALLEY SPACE
The hound parks violently at you.
(align:"=><=")+(text-style:"underline")[Combat (get caught up): A hound]\
(click: "Combat (get caught up): A hound")[After tackling the hounds, move forward. At the end of the alley lay the body of a woman who had been torn to death by the hounds, her eyes and mouth wide open. The corpse wears a golden earring in one of her ears.
(click: "earring")[<blockquote>One of the earrings, in the shape of a moon.</blockquote>\
(if: $EarringStar is 1)[(link: "Gift the other earring")[You place the star earrings in her hands, and brush her eyes shut with your hand.\
(align:"=><=")[YOU]\
(align:"<==")+(box:"=XX=")[Poor family...]\
(align:"=><=")[TE'MURPHY]\
(align:"=><=")[(O.S.)]\
(align:"<==")+(box:"=XX=")[Perhaps she could have avoided it.]]]]
There is a one-way gap at the wall at the end of the alley that allows a person to cross.
Go into:
[[Deeper in the Area]]
]EXT. CHURCH - ENTRANCE - NIGHT
The front door of the church is closed.
(align:"=><=")[TE'MURPHY]\
(align:"<==")+(box:"=XX=")[The Lord of Calamity is just ahead, after all this effort, don't make any more mistakes.]\
(link: "Push the door.")[==\
INT. CHURCH - NIGHT
The church's zenith is damaged, and the moonlight hit directly into the interior of the hall. The dragon paces forward from the shadows of the innermost part of the church, his form gradually becoming visible in the moonlight.
(align:"=><=")+(text-style:"underline")[Combat: Lord of Calamity]
(click: "Combat: Lord of Calamity")[In the midst of a fierce battle with the dragon, the dragon pulls back and jumps away, and then quickly takes to the air again, skimming in your direction. But space is tight, and it charges the wall behind you, smashing it right into the ground. It knocks you back and carries you outside.
EXT. SIDE OF CHURCH
So, you continu the battle in the open space outside.
(link: "End it.")[==
You give that dragon one last fatal attack.
(align:"==>")[SYSTEM CONTROLS CAMERA]
It collapses, its body turning into smoke and dust that drifts off in a diagonal direction, smoke and dust that looks like small, dark blue, transparent wafers when you look closely.
You gasp for air and plunge your sword into the ground. You watch as the dragon fades forever with its last wail. You are physically exhausted, but the corners of your face are slightly upturned.
(align:"=><=")[YOU]\
(align:"=><=")[(shout)]\
(align:"<==")+(box:"=XX=")[That's it, right?]\
You turn around the look at the town.
(align:"=><=")[YOU]\
(align:"<==")+(box:"=XX=")[And then what?]\
A loud BANG of a house collapsing is accompanied by a blistering BLAST of geyser eruption, and the town houses are swept away by a massive gush of the black, viscous substance. Your smile disappears and your expression freezes.
EXT. MOUNTAINSIDE - NIGHT
TE'MURPHY (21) walks up to a clearing on a mountain on the side of the village, holding a BOY (7) in her hands. You turn your head and see them, with a grim expression.
EXT. MOUNTAINSIDE
Te'Murphy half tilts her head without any expression. The boy suddenly hugs Te'Murphy and buries his head in her. Te'Murphy shakes her head slowly.
EXT. SIDE OF CHURCH
You can't make any more sounds, you stop all movement and just stand there.
EXT. MOUNTAINSIDE
Te'Murphy holds out her left hand, revealing the ring on her index finger. With her palm up, she points her finger towards you. Then, gently hooks her finger. Your body lost its balance and slammed down, not moving again as if you are losing your mind.
Te'Murphy breathed a long sigh of relief. The boy hugs Te'Murphy tightly and buries his face in Te'Murphy. Te'Murphy pushes the boy away with the palm of her left hand and places it on the boy's forehead.
(align:"=><=")[YOU]\
(align:"<==")+(box:"=XX=")[What will you bring me this time?]\
The boy looks to Te'Murphy, his eyes glowing faintly.
(align:"=><=")+(text-style:"underline")[THE END OF DEMO]
]Return to the last area:
[[Narrow Path]]
EXT. NARROW PATH - NIGHT
Walking straight towards the steps, as you approach, you find a huge monster stationed on the path you must take.
(align:"=><=")+(text-style:"underline")[Combat (unavoidable): Giant monster]
(click: "Combat (unavoidable): Giant monster")[You won the harsh battle. May continue to:
[[Church]]]Return to the last area:
[[Narrow Path]]
EXT. SPLIT - NIGHT
After drilling into the rift, the width inside the rift becomes narrower and narrower, and a bottle of perfume is on the ground in the center of this split.
(click: "perfume")[The exterior of the perfume bottle had a star and moon pattern. Smell it. (click-replace: "Smell it.")[<blockquote>The scent of the perfume, which was normally used to add fragrance and flavor, was so distasteful to the monsters. If sprayed on body, the monsters might not attack the person. But the bottle had been broken.</blockquote>]]
The end of this split is blocked by a collapsed pile of boards. It can be kicked open with brute force.
(click: "kicked")[(set:$PileBoardsCollapsed to 1)The boards collapse. Continue to:
[[Deeper in the Area]]
]Return to the last area:
[[Narrow Path]]
INT. DILAPIDATED HOUSE - NIGHT
The house is somewhat larger than the other houses around it, and the walls are made mainly of stone. The roof, which is made of wood, had been burned to the ground. The walls connecting the house to the other houses are still intact, as the house was built in a row with other residential houses.
The interior is a studio arrangement with a desk, a closet, and a bed.
(click: "desk")[(text-style:"underline")[Desk:] A golden earring rested on the table. (click: "earring")[(set: $EarringStar to 1)<blockquote>A single earring made of solid gold in the shape of a star. You take it with you.</blockquote>]]
(click: "closet")[(text-style:"underline")[Closet:] It is slightly tilted and the door could not be closed completely. A small slit is opened, but the interior is too dark to be seen.]
(click: "bed")[(text-style:"underline")[Bed:] The mattress had been burned, with large sections burned to black carbon. The bed frame had two legs burned off. On the bed was the body of a girl, burned to black carbon, huddled against the wall in a corner of the bed. The posture was hideous, the expression ghastly.
(align:"=><=")[YOU]\
(align:"<==")+(box:"=XX=")[My God, she burned right here.]\
(align:"=><=")[TE'MURPHY]\
(align:"=><=")[(O.S.)]\
(align:"<==")+(box:"=XX=")[We couldn't save everyone.]\
]
**Please note: **
This is an interactive presentation of the narrative design of the prologue of Project 416.
Project 416 is an unannounced ARPG, but all combat and gameplay contents will be omitted from this text-only demo, highlighting only its narrative design.
Redistributing this file with no prior agreement from the studio of Project 416 is aginst the non-disclosure agreement of this demo. By continue playing, you agree to this agreement.
This text-only demo was developed using Twine, by Zhuolong (Shannon) Li.
For any further information, please contact me at: zl4061@nyu.edu.
Oct. 24, 2024
(link: "I understand.")[==
Start playing from the first scene: [[Town Entrance]]