N&T Laboratories has just completed testing on its newest creation: the AdLearnBot. It is a first generation cyborg, a robot able to blend into human society. It is unique in that unlike its predecessors that were strictly robots (and looked the part) it has been not been configured to follow any set laws. It is a free being, able to make decisions based upon its own discoveries just as any other human. Some may call the scientists at N&T mad for unleashing a “super human” with no restraints on the world but what no one expected was that the mysterious head of N&T simply wanted to in a humanitarian effort as he puts it, “discover the true value of the human species”.
In Mission Inevitable the user plays the part of the newly activated AdLearnBot Generation 1.0. Through a series of prompts, “Ad” embarks on a journey to discover what type of world it has woken to. Although Ad is supplied with a wealth of knowledge it is still missing many terms, experiences, and some common sense. Ad is not a fixed being though. Throughout the course of the game Ad will face some everyday and some not so everyday human experiences and be given the opportunity to make choices or if preferred ignore the situations altogether. These choices and actions will shape and change Ad, giving Ad more of an identity, even if that identity is nothing more than a unisex unfeeling robot.
While Ad is given free reign over its existence, it does not realize that it is being heavily observed. N&T are recording all of Ad’s movements. They have no intention to intervene with any of Ad’s actions (come what may) but it is through this observation that N&T hopes to view the world through objectified eyes. Strangely enough N&T head begin to change their search from “value of the human species” to “worth of the human species” eventually settling on “is the human species worth it…” Unknown to all, the future of the world rests uneasily on AdLearnBot’s journey to discover what exactly “it” is.
Mission Inevitable has a few different endings; some are similar changing slightly based on the user’s actions in the game. It functions more like a digital CYOA, being heavily text based and following more of a storyline than a typical text adventure would. Assuming that the user makes it to one o the main endings, the argument culminates. It takes the stance that the human Utopia is the cyborg’s Dystopia and vice versa. Again depending upon the user’s actions, a side will be taken even if Ad has not had any development since being activated, hence the title of the game Mission Inevitable.
2 comments:
This is more of an overview of the game, wasn't quite sure how to make a rough draft.
The plot seems reasonably interesting, although obviously you aren't providing many details. One might argue that it's very conventional, but then, we rarely expect games to have shockingly innovative plots.
What we do invariably look for in games - at least I do - is gameplay. Ideally, a game might have an interesting plot - but inevitably (to steal your world) it needs to be fun to play.
So here's my only real question at this point: why is this a game rather than a CYOA or simply a story? What about the gameplay itself helps make it more effective (either as fun, or as some kind of intellectual or artistic statement)? Why is the game a game, and what is it supposed to be like?
The plot is clearly about freedom and self-discovery, or even self-invention. Cool. How can you reflect that in the way that the game itself works (in a week, none the less!)?
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