Cowan

Keepin' Hope Alive

2009-03-10T13:13:00.008-04:00

Fear not, Cowan is still alive and well and some big news will be announced shortly--although, I can now confirm that, yes, there will most defo be more cowbell.

I've been in the land of the rising sun for the past little while and, while there, I interviewed with a game developer, Unicon Products, for a planner (English translation: designer) position and, as part of the application process, had to propose a game design based on a conveyor sushi restaurant. I came up with a WiiWare title that would be 4-player cooperative featuring a mix of action/arcade, sim, and RPG elements. They liked me, and though they ended up going with someone else, it was a good experience. It's interesting because a U.S. company would almost never request a design as part of an application process as they'd be too afraid about potential copyright troubles. The design had to be presented in the form of a PowerPoint presentation and below you'll find a handful of the 50+ slides contained in the full presentation.

Download the whole PowerPoint presentation here: !ta-Chan's

And, below that, Tony's first draft of a Cowan design doc (made with the aid of a design doc template found online) can be seen--take a peek.

Again, Cowan project announcements will be forthcoming soon. Stay tuned, peoples.

COWAN
DESIGN DOCUMENT
VERSION 1.0
NOVEMBER 19, 2008

GAME OVERVIEW
What is this game about?
Cowan is a 1st person shooter about a kid that finds himself in the middle of an underground crime and sex ring run by cultists. The story revolves around a young man named Dan O’Brien, who doesn’t realize it at first but has a family linked directly with the early 70’s child kidnappings of Michigan.

After a brief couple of levels about the past of Detroit and the crime that ensued, involving Dan’s uncle Mike O’Brien, the game is brought back to the present where Dan has a troubling dream about KKK-like cultists in the woods and a haunting vision of a divine presence. Dan’s main goal in the game is to eventually solve the mystery and bring these evildoers to justice, whether by the help of the law or brute force.

GAME DETAILS
Description
The Game is based off of many standard First Person Shooter Models. The uniqueness of this game comes from its risqué storyline and material that few have delved into in a game.

Your Character, Mike O’Brien, battles his way through various levels and finds items to complete his objectives in bringing an underground child pornography cult to justice.
Game genre?
First Person Action / Shooter
Is this single-player or multiplayer game?
Single Player, with the option of Multiplayer later
Is this 2D or 3D?
3D
Where does the game take place? (world)
The game takes place in Michigan, with its primary focus on several cities spread out through the lower and central parts.
What do I control? How many characters? Can I use vehicles?
The game play focuses on the main character and his ability to use both melee and projectile weapons. Throughout the game, the transitions from one scene to another may involve or show the character in a car or on some sort of vehicle, but for the initial run, the primary focus will be on what the character can do.

In later versions of the game, the ability to switch between 3rd person and 1st person as well as use cars and other vehicle types may be implemented, depending on the needs of the game play.
What is the main focus?
The main focus of the game is to guide your character through linear levels, fighting off enemies while solving puzzles and collecting clues which progress the story and game play.
How long the game lasts? Or how long game matches last?
The game is intended to involve the character in each stage for a period of fifteen minutes to an hour. Each Chapter consists of several stages, and there are two chapters for the initial run. The overall play time of Cowan should take about three to five hours to complete the two chapters set forth.

As the game develops and future versions are released, further chapters will be implemented in the game, adding more depth and play time for the casual and advanced gamer.
Comparison
[List 3 similar games and tell how this game is different from those]
What is unique?
The game play is relatively standard to other games of the genre (Half Life, Unreal Tournament, Doom, etc.)

In later chapters that will be released, though, it may be possible to switch between planes of reality for the user, from a dream world to the real world.
Why create this game?
While the game play doesn’t vary much from its predecessors, the real gem is the content and story of the game, tackling a very risqué subject matter. It delves into the inner matter of the human psyche, and follows the story of a family that is fighting a secret society. The subject matter has never been touched in a game before, and may offend some people, but there is much historical significance from Michigan and the Child Kidnappings of the early 70’s that the game is based upon. While the game is a work of fiction, the purpose of creating the game is to let others know about these issues as well as entertain.
REVIEWS
Game reviews
[Put any game reviews in this section - you can use brief quotes if you want. ]
Player comments
[Put player comments & quotes here.]

BUSINESS
Competitive strategies
[list 3 competitors and explain how this game will competete against them]
3 Reasons why would people buy this game?
[Give 3 reasons why people would buy this game.]
Business model
[will the game have add-ons? will it be monthly payment? what?]

FEATURE SET
General features
PLAYER FUNCTIONALITY:
- ADVANCED: First Person engine where camera views are exact implementation of character's facing; for example, if the character dives, the camera would show the ground rushing beneath as a character dives, then the screen would roll as a character rolls.
- ADVANCED: Player view separates between 3rd person and 1st person as character does feats, like dive, slide, roll, roll and fire.
- ADVANCED: For special actions, camera would slow down to emphasize dramatic move.
- View: Standard first person view, with all of the bells and whistles; crouch, crawl, walk, run, jump; view of weapon in hand and possibly view of arm or hand holding weapon.
- Character would be given a real-world carrying capacity of weapons; maybe room for two small weapons and a larger weapon (ie. hand gun, knife and shotgun; machete, Uzi, and rifle; etc.)
- Ability to dual-wield weapons at cost of accuracy for firepower
- Character able to interact with world, including use items laying around a room, push and pull things, break stuff, turn lights, tv's and other electronics on and off, and use the environment to his or her advantage.
- Player conversations can be initiated by pressing a button near potential NPC's throughout the game.
- Players should have a choice of how their conversations play out with NPC's, either leading them to vital information or possible confrontation based on the interaction and choices made during the conversation.

NPC's AND NPC INTERACTION WITH PLAYER AND ENVIRONMENT:
- ADVANCED: All NPC's in the game will function based on a generic AI functionality script and a goal script. The goal script would be an advanced functionality that gives NPC's their own agendas in the game, anything from walking up and down a street to hunting down the main character and killing him, or more advanced scripts like convincing other NPC's to join them in an attack or shooting other NPC's to scare others.
- Simple script driven play that has the enemy following orders based on their objectives in a level and allowing them to access a generic AI interaction/fight script when player arrives.
- NPC's will follow general paths around a stage until they are interacted with.
- Interaction scripts will run once when the player interacts with an NPC for the first time. After the initial interaction, a default script will run based on the final answer/conclusion the NPC and the Character came to.

SKILLS AND ABILITIES:
- The character will progress through the game and find items or weapons that he can carry which will allow him to do things he normally can’t do.
- ADVANCED: In later versions, the character may have the ability to learn skills and abilities as he progresses through the game, allowing him to achieve more or solve puzzles that normally couldn’t have been solved earlier.
- Such skills may include: Improved Jump, Sharpshooter, roundhouse kick, nose smash, dive and cover, roll, improved swim, improved health, inventory increase, throw, and possibly even flying (Should the game include the ability to switch between dream and reality)

MINI GAMES AND PUZZLES:
- Throughout the game, the player may come across mini games or puzzles that may take them to an interactive screen different from the first person perspective. Through these screens, different challenges will present themselves to the player, for instance, a code lock to a safe, or some sort of slider puzzle that you have to form a picture out of 15 blocks.
- ADVANCED: puzzles and mini games are part of the environment; an item that the character picks up or sees laying on the desk is interacted with right there; so the sliding puzzle for example would actually work without going to a different screen. It would be affluent with the flow of the game. A person trying to figure out a puzzle in hand may have to throw the puzzle down or divert their attention if a bad guy comes into the same room and starts shooting at them.

Multiplayer features
Not Included
Editor
Not Included
Gameplay
See Above

THE GAME WORLD
Overview
The Game world takes place mostly in the State of Michigan, and many of the stages will be modeled after authentic places in Michigan. A few cities will be researched and documented and modeled for the stages.
Key locations
Oscoda, Michigan
Grand Haven, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Lansing, Michigan
Travel
For the extent of the first two chapters, the primary method of traveling will be on foot. In later versions and chapters to be released, the character may be able to drive cars, swim, and ride other vehicles.
Scale
The scale of the world will be normal: the character sizes and stages will be true to life. Each stage is small enough for the player to complete the objective within a reasonable amount of time.
Objects
Many of the objects in the game world can be interacted with in some way. Boxes, bins, any loose crates, cans, and many other smaller objects can be knocked around, punched, kicked, shot, blown up and interacted with on an attack-level basis. A standard physics model will handle the “destruction” and the movement of the objects placed in the world.
Weather
The weather model will be specific to the stages. Each stage is depicted at a certain time of the year, mostly throughout the winter. The outdoor levels will contain a drop off distance, where the 3D objects appear as grey shadows. Some stages will contain falling snow, which will be rendered as 2D objects in a 3D world (small icons with transparency). Because the stages are handled in real time (no acceleration of normal time throughout the game), weather will rarely change throughout the level.
Day and night
Day and Night will be depicted on a level-to-level basis depending on the current setting of the level. Night stages will have less direct light and more ambient light to highlight objects as they become relevant. Items and weapons, on the other hand, will have their own illumination, and not be dependent on the environmental status.
Time
Time flows as real time does. Some stages may be time-sensitive, but other than that, it flows as real time does, and events will be based on the time specific to the stage and its setting.
Water
Water will be dynamic, and react according to NPC’s and objects as it hits an area related to it. For example, as footsteps go through a puddle, the puddle will move out in waves from the point of impact. For computers that are less powerful than others, the dynamicity of water can be reduced to animated 2D mipmaps.
Other elements
Certain objects will be fixed to other objects, but will react when the character stands within a certain radius and hits the action button. In this case, the object will morph to the new dimensions to indicate a status change. For example, When the character stands next to a ladder that is too high to reach, he can hit the action button to attempt to lower it.
CAMERA
Overview
The camera view will work in a typical style of 1st Person Shooter; perspective from the 1st person point of view, and will be sticky to the movements of the mouse and keyboard inputs of the user.

Variations on the camera will include a sniper-style view, and the dreamworld sequences. In sniper view, the camera will zoom in to get a close-up perspective of the object on screen. In the Dreamworld view, the camera lens will have a hazy effect, blurring the edges and keeping the focus on the center of the screen while the entire screen distorts in a wave-like pattern.

GAME CHARACTERS
Overview
The characters in Cowan are specific to the story, as each has its role and importance on the flow of the game, the interaction with the main character and the outcome of possible events. There is a host of general bad guys that will attempt to kill the main character given what weapons they are spawned with at the beginning of each stage, and from these random spawns, a pseudo-random AI script will be chosen for each bad guy as it pertains to the NPC’s spawn point and random weapon.

The main characters in the game will each have their own custom palettes and graphics associated with them, and will spawn in the level at the specific location they are designated.
Character creation
The game is centered on the main character(s), and will not have an option of creating a character.
Enemies and monsters
See attached pages with concept art and descriptions.
USER INTERFACE
Overview
The user interface is fairly simple, as most of the action will center on a more realistic medium-paced action-adventure. With this in mind, the user will have hotkeys assigned from the options menu that they can press which will bring up a quick item menu for swapping useable items. This will keep the pace of the game while not pausing the game constantly to vamp through items or weapons, respectively.
Details
- In the lower-left hand corner, the character’s selected weapon and ammo will be displayed.
- The view of the character’s weapon will be visible on the center lower half of the screen, along with a compass and ping of objectives and objects/NPC’s that can be interacted with.
- In the lower right-hand corner, the character’s selected item will be displayed in an icon style, along with the amount of that item the character has on him.
- Pressing the pause button (default “esc” or selected by player) will trigger the main menu for the game, which during play will have the options, continue game, exit game, save game, load game, and quit game options. Before starting the game, The main splash screen will contain the same options, as well as a replay scene, trailers/bonus features.
- The control

OBJECTS
Overview
Throughout the game, objects will play a major role. Due to the Medium-pace of this shooter, its required that your character is given enough time to think and react to the hostile environment he is in. Because of this, Not only is he shooting at enemies, but if he can, he is using his surroundings to his advantage.

This gives the game more depth when it comes to engagements with the enemy. If the player is taking cover behind a box, the character can push against the box to gain an advantage has he closes in on the enemy.

Also, for this certain amount of interactivity with various objects in the world, the objects will take damage after being fired upon so many times. A canister, for example, after being shot so many times, will change its shape to a more destroyed version. The objects are not physically changing in real time, but have a life meter which, as it goes down, reaches certain markers that will trigger a swap from one rendered model to another. When an object runs out of its own health, a final model will be displayed, and its usefulness will have been fulfilled.
Weapons
- There will be an assortment of melee and ranged weapons that the character can acquire throughout the game.
- The weapons that are used will leave visible marks on the environment where they hit, for example, bullets will leave bullet holes and knives and sharp objects may leave cut marks.
- The character may at some point acquire an ability which will allow him to dual wield weapons, for instance, two knives or two guns at the same time.
- Melee weapons: shank, knife, cleaver, machete, sword/katana, stick, rock, pipe, spear
- Ranged Weapons: Slingshot, rock, blow dart, pistol, shotgun, uzi, spear, AK-47, M-16, Rocket Launcher

Items
- Health could be as simple as medical packs, crosses, or eating food. It may be as difficult as no health at all, and the only way to get healed is to get to a hospital or use a field kit to dress your own wounds.
- Certain items may be acquirable which allow the character to perform super human acts or do things that they normally couldn’t do.
- Items may have special affects which affect the environment in some way or allow the character to enter new areas.
- Items: health, food, ammo, clue pieces, body armor, story specific items.
- Items will rotate when laying on the ground, and give off a faint glow relative to their primary color
- After walking over an item, the item will disappear and a message will be displayed in the text area and a sound FX will play, depending on the item.
- An item will appear on the ground spot where an NPC dies, a box or crate is broken, or at specified locations throughout the stage depending on the part of the story or mission that the character has to complete.

Equipment
There is no equipment, per se, within the world of Cowan. All of the equipment is handled as an item; if your character comes across a bullet-proof vest, the bullet-proof vest will have a number, indicating the health of said bullet-proof vest. See Items for more details.
Objects
- Objects in the game, like crates, boxes, bins, canisters, drum barrels and other container like items will sometimes hold items in them, if the user chooses to break them open.
- Certain static objects, for example, a back-alley fire exit, can be interacted with changing or “morphing” its state to a new state. For example, a ladder would descend from the back-alley fire exit. More objects will be listed here as stage design progresses. Some examples would be a locked chest, a door, a light switch, a television set, a toilet, and a ceiling fan.
- Objects can be stood upon, kicked around, punched, shot, opened, blown apart, interacted with (morphed), pushed, and other wise be affected by the game physics and the world physics (gravity, wind resistance, floating in water, etc.)
MUSIC AND SOUNDS EFFECTS
Overview
The music and sound within Cowan will lean towards a darker, almost gothic feel with contemporary motifs to create a unique sound experience for the player.
Details
The music and sound effects in the game are detailed and oriented towards a darker, gritty theme of 70’s Detroit crime and cult-style music. The opening theme will be reminiscent of gothic music with splashes of 70’s guitar funk and current electro styles. Voices of children will outline the main theme as it plays for the player when they first start the game, setting the tone of the game, as well as the pace of the game. This will be done subtly and almost on a subconscious level, not apparent to the player but instilling it through the use of motifs in the actual music.

For sound effects, a standard sound bank of common and free sound effects will be used as well as custom-made sound effects by the Sound team.

Music tracks
- Cowan Main Theme
- The Chase theme during 70’s sequence when main character chases down drug dealers for information
- Pop/Rock background music in Car scene, preferably something contemporary
- Radio in opening stage in a room of the building being raided will be playing several 70’s Funk tracks which the player can turn on and off.
- “Fireside Chant” in dream sequence
- Techno Music and/or Rap Music during party sequence
- Metallica or Some sort of 80’s to 90’s rock music playing in background at bar in Grand Haven.
Sound effects
- Kick
- Punch
- Scream (small boy, small girl)
- Death cry (small boy, small girl, man * 4, women * 4, Main characters)
- Blade swish (knife, katana, cleaver, stick, other melee objects)
- Grunt (man * 8, woman * 8, boy * 3, girl * 3)
- Foot steps (grass, pavement, woods, tile, rock)
- Glass breaking
- Box falling on ground
- Canister falling on ground
- Wood shattering
- Metal scraping
- Door open, close
- Various TV clips for background TV’s
- Dialogue
- Fire burning
- Small clicks and clanks for various thrown objects and other small object interactions with environment
- Book Page turning
- Body falling to ground
- Gun shots (pitched for various weapons, shortened and lengthened depending on type of weapon)
- Explosions * 8
- Car starting
- Car ambient engine running
- Car Door opening / closing
- Gulping / swallowing noise
- Glass being put on table / bar
- Random chatter
- Pool balls breaking
- Twigs and sticks breaking
- Car horn
- Breathing / huffing
- Water dripping
- Water spraying
- Engine motors passing by
- clapping
3D sound
- All sound effects will be 3D positional.
Other

ART
What kind of style will be used in the game?
The Art style in the game will push more towards a realistic feel, where faces and characters will mimic and look like real world people.
Needed building models
- Oscoda Ranch
- Drug House building (Detroit)
- Police HQ (inside)
- Dungeon Layout
- Various Detroit Buildings popular in 70’s and now
- Church
-
Scenery models
- Trees * 12
- Bushes * 12
- Fences
- Wall
- Lamp Posts
- Signs
- Boxes
- Bins
- Crates
- Garbage Cans
- Canisters
- Dumpster
- Mail box
- Bike
- Lawn mower
- Tool sheds
- TV
- Radio
- Overhead Lamp
- Computers
- Desks
- Chairs
- Book cases
- Couches
- Lamps
- Beds
- Small center pieces
-
Character models
- Cult Leader (70’s and Now)
- Cult Master (70’s and Now)
- Cult Lieutenant (70’s and Now)
- Cult Thug (70’s and Now)
- Drug Dealer
- Main Characters
- Random Punks * 3
- Civilians * 8 (Male and Female)
- Cop Lieutenant
- Cop Chief
- Cop Secretary
- Detective
- Party Goers * 8 (Male and Female)
- Bar Patrons * 4 (Male and Female)
- Bar Tender
- Bar Waitress
-
Vehicle models
- Main Vehicle (70’s and Now)
- Bus
- Van
- Civilian Car
- Broken Car
-

Particle effects
Coming Soon
Other

SINGLE-PLAYER GAME
Overview
The Single-Player game is a story driven action sequence, with the character using weapons and the environment to his advantage as he fights his way through each stage to the end. There will usually be a boss or an end puzzle that the character must solve to complete each scene and move on to the next.
Details

Victory conditions
Each stage will have certain victory conditions that must be accomplished before completing the stage and moving on to the next stage. As more of the story is revealed, the victory conditions for each stage will be written off here.
MULTIPLAYER GAME
Overview
Not implemented.
Max players
Not Implemented.
Servers
Not implemented.
Customization
Not Implemented.
Is the world persistent or not
Not Implemented.
Saving and loading
Not Implemented.
Scores
[What kind of scoring system there will be? And will there be online high scores or ranks? How do you get points or ranks?]

Chatting
[How do you chat with other players in the game? Is there game lobby? Rooms? In-game chat?]
Clans
[Can players create clans or tribes in the game?]

MODDING
Overview
As of now, there are now plans to allow mods of the game, as in fact this is already a Mod of the unreal Tournament Engine.
Different languages
[What languages there will be? Can you add your own language in the game?]
Game graphics and sound
[Can you change the graphics? Textures? Models? Sounds?]
Game play
[Can you affect on gameplay - like mod weapon effects?]
RESOURCES & LINKS
Links to related resources
http://cowan.blogspot.com

EXTRA MISCELLANEOUS STUFF
Overview
Crazy ideas
[If you have really crazy ideas - this is the place to put them]

Oh, Canada

2008-12-05T20:38:00.006-05:00

Courtesy of Cowan concepter extradonnaire, Chris, that's a concept of our first scene; from the story outline:

1) 1976
i) Detroit
(1) Brightmoor

(a) Drug House
(i) Mike O’Brien and partner Barry Odinga are found, taking cover behind their unmarked patrol car, engaged in a shootout with suspected cocaine and heroin traffickers. Many low-level hoods, thugs, and dealers are taken out by the pair of detectives, but one suspect, wearing a strange looking mask, escapes, though, only after he is forced to abandon a briefcase. After the shootout, victorious, the pair of detectives discover mass quantities of heroin and cocaine, as well as the abandoned briefcase, its contents unceremoniously scattered on the floor. Among the stacks of cash spilled out from the briefcase, there are photographs of young boys and girls, ranging in age from pre- to early-teens, some bound and gagged, with others either in sexually explicit poses or shown being abused. Mike and Barry are filled with disgust and express regret that they weren’t able to kill all of the suspects at the scene.

In other news, we're hard at work on the design doc and hope to have a draft done real soon--stay tuned.

P.S.

The queen of England suspended Canada's government today. From the Reuter's article:

"...the representative of Queen Elizabeth, Canada's head of state -- agreed to Harper's request to shut down Parliament until Jan 26."

Canada, still to this day, is nothing but a glorified colony. The queen runs the show in 16 different countries (if you can call them that); sad, but true. People say that she's just a ceremonial figurehead and that the power resides with parliament and, if they just switched their order around, I'd have to agree.

P.P.S.

Yes, Diana really was murdered.

Phase 3

2008-11-22T14:54:00.023-05:00

I haven't officially announced this on the blog yet, though I'm sure most everyone already knows this. But, here it is anyways: We're definitely using Unreal 3 and will definitely be entering into the Make Something Unreal Contest. We're targeting to enter into Phases 3 and 4 of the contest and will be entering into multiple categories as allowed under the rules of the contest.

We'll enter Cowan into every category that could apply to us (i.e. Best Level for Game Mod, Best New Character/Customization Pack, Best Graphics in Map, and Best New Weapon Set), but our main targets are Best FPS Game Mod and Best Machinima. The Best FPS Game Mod is an obvious target for us, but the Best Machinima category is one that we'll also be able to contend in due to the strong story content and characters of Cowan--we'll be able to simply enter Cowan's cut scenes or maybe even craft new machinima side stories or a prologue or epilogue, which would all be very cool; assuming we have time to do so, of course.

And, this is all just for Phase 3, the deadline of which is May 15th. After that, Phase 4 on August 21st and, with luck, dedication, and hard work, the Grand Motherfuckin' Finals (maybe they're just called the Grand Finals, actually--my mistake), tentatively scheduled for one year from now. Also, we can re-enter the same categories in Phase 4 as we did in Phase 3, so our entry for Phase 4 would be essentially the same, just a whole lot more polished and hopefully a whole lot more prize worthy.

The grand prize is an Unreal Engine 3 license, which, if we won, would pretty much make us a professional outfit overnight. Also, I think everyone can agree that it'd be real nice to win some cash money--I'll do my best to equitably split up any winnings and I'll be grateful to have to deal with that high-class problem. So, ganbaro!

P.S.

In other news, today's the 45th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy and there are also demonstrations today outside of Federal Reserve branches all across the country. Check it out: endthefed.us.

Phase 3

Friday, May 15, 2009	1st Place	2nd Place	3rd Place	4th Place	5th Place
Best FPS Game Mod	$7,500	$5,000	$2,500	$1,500	$1,000
Best Non-FPS Game Mod	$7,500	$5,000	$2,500	$1,500	$1,000
Best New Character/Customization Pack	$2,500	$2,000	$1,500	$1,000	$500
Best Deathmatch or CTF Level	$2,500	$2,000	$1,500	$1,000	$500
Best vCTF or Warfare Leve	$2,500	$2,000	$1,500	$1,000	$500
Best Level for Game Mod	$2,500	$2,000	$1,500	$1,000	$500
Best Machinima	$2,500	$2,000	$1,500	$1,000	$500
Best New Weapon Set	$2,500	$2,000	$1,500	$1,000	$500
Best Graphics in Map	$5,000	$2,000	$1,500	$1,000	$500
Best Use of Physics	$2,500	$2,000	$1,500	$1,000	$500

The Next Episode

2008-11-17T21:59:00.004-05:00

All righty. Here's the other half of Cowan's story outline. The first half can be considered Episode 0 or 1, with this one being, of course, Episode 1 or 2--neat how that works, innit?

2) 2009
a) Kalamazoo
i) Dan Michael O’Brien’s Dream

(1) Dark Woods
(a) Dan finds himself in a pitch black wood, surrounded on all sides save for a path ahead, where a faintly glowing light promises some sort of destination. Dan proceeds down the path and discovers the source of the light—through the gaps in the trees ahead, it’s made out that there is a large bonfire with a group of robed and hooded men gathered around. Coming right up to the fire, Dan can see that the men are wearing the hood and robes reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan, except that these ones are dark red in color. Also, there is a young child bound and writhing on a table near the fire, with one of the nearby cultists brandishing a large, ritualistic looking dagger. Suddenly, all of the cultists turn and notice Dan and scream: “Cowan!” The group of cultists then charge towards Dan with great speed, when, just before reaching him, time freezes and everyone stops in motion, including Dan. Two giant-size, outstretched hands appear between and before Dan and the cultists, separating them—one holding a flaming sword, the other a lamb; the player’s choice to make. No matter which the player chooses, a deep, disembodied voice says: “I see,” and the action resumes, the hands having gone as suddenly as they came. If the lamb is chosen, then the cultists will have free rein to murder Dan, leaving the player defenseless until overtaken. If the sword is chosen, then the player has the opportunity to wield a powerful and fantastic weapon and can smite [Awesome use of the word ‘smite’, huh? –Nick] all of the cultists. After the smiting [Again, awesome. –Nick] is done, a dimensional rift rips the fabric of the sky open in front of the player and a Baphomet-like demon ushers forth. Before the player can react, the demon shoots a beam of light out of its forehead, instantly causing Dan’s head to explode. Fade to red.

ii) Student Ghetto

(1) Dan’s Bedroom - Thursday Night
(a) Dan jolts awake, bolting upright on his bed—a TV left on in his room can be seen showing some stupid show with, on the bottom of the screen, a news ticker scrolling by, reading: “New child victim found dead. Third child found dead in Michigan in two months. Police fear serial killer at work. Governor calls news conference for Sunday morning.” Josh sticks his head in Dan’s room and asks if he had another one of his fucked up dreams and then, without waiting for a response, says that they’re late for the party. Dan says it’s early yet, but Josh reminds him that the pre-party already started a while ago. Dan assents and gets up.

(2) The Party
(a) Dan and Josh are at the party, mingling with their peers until Josh tells Dan that some crazy kid is talking about some really weird stuff. Dan walks over to hear what he has to say. The crazy kid says that he heard that freemasons in Grand Haven, MI kill kids in their basement. Josh says that there’s a big festival going on in Grand Haven that weekend and that it will be the official beginning of summer too and that they should go check out the festival. Dan says that he has a journalism assignment for homework and that maybe they can investigate the story as his assignment. They both agree that they want to go and decide to skip their Friday classes to get a head start on their trip.

iii) US-131 N – Saturday Afternoon

(1) Dan’s Car
(a) Dan and Josh are in the car, driving to Grand Haven. Dan says that they probably shouldn’t have skipped their Friday classes, since they ended up leaving on Saturday anyway and only played video games, watched fifty movies and ate pizza all day instead—they were too lazy even to drink, Dan says. Josh pulls a gun out of his backpack and shows it to Dan, explaining that he brought it just in case. Dan asks him what the hell is wrong with him and then Josh says that they should probably unload it and put it in the trunk, but, anyways, he’s also got an unregistered .22; again, just in case. As Dan’s shock starts turning into anger, his cell phone rings—Dan’s dad is giving him a call. Dan’s dad says that he has to tell him something, but then the connection gets cut off. Dan tries to call his dad back, but it goes straight to voicemail and he and Josh continue driving.

iv) Oscoda

(1) O’Brien Family Home
(a) Dan’s dad is looking at his lack of a cell phone signal and says: “Shit.” A chant/scream of: “Cowan! Cowan! Cowan!” booms forth from a megaphone just outside the house. Through the window, Dan’s dad can see several cultists dressed in the same cloak and mask as his brother Mike encountered over three decades ago--Dan’s dad hurriedly loads his shotgun. The cultists storm the house and Dan’s dad dispatches a number of them before escaping.

v) Grand Haven

(1) Theatre Bar
(a) Dan and Josh are drinking martinis, looking very out of place and feeling very uncomfortable. Josh is looking real worried, saying that this place is giving him the creeps. Dan says, with a nervous laugh, that maybe they shouldn’t have asked the bartender about the child sacrifice rumor. Josh and Dan notice that the bar is quickly emptying of any and all patrons. The bartender comes by and offers them two more drinks on the house. Dan and Josh both look at the drinks and then at each other. Josh says that he needs to go to the bathroom and Dan says that he does too. In the bathroom Josh pulls two guns out and hands one to Dan, with Dan refusing it, shoving it back into Josh’s hands, calling him a fucking psycho. As the two are arguing, the bathroom door busts open and a pair of men wearing suits and tragedy and comedy masks burst in, both holding large knives. Dan takes one of the guns back from Josh and they both blow the two guys away and run out the back of the now completely deserted bar.

(2) Movie Theater
(a) Dan and Josh, after traversing a crowded, festival holding street, enter a packed movie theatre and take seats. Dark shadowy figures appear at all of the exits and all of the other audience members of the theater quickly exit. The film on the screen displays cigarette burns until dissolving away to whiteness before presenting a large ‘COWAN’ on an all dark red background. The figures, now revealed as wearing the same outfit as the cultists that attacked Dan’s dad, have firearms and attack. Dan and Josh fight their way out of the theatre and into the street.

(3) Deserted Downtown
(a) Dan and Josh emerge from the theatre into a formerly bustling, but now completely empty and deserted downtown. Cultists attack and the pair fight their way back to Dan’s car and escape.

vi) Lansing – 12:45 AM Sunday Morning

(1) Governor’s Mansion
(a) Governor Odinga and the state Attorney General give a press conference on the serial killer. They explain that they wouldn’t have held it at such a late hour, save for some breaking news. The pair announce that they are now seeking Dan and Josh as the suspects in the child killings. The end. For now.

'Sleepy' & 'Scratch' - Scumbags Supreme

2008-11-14T14:13:00.004-05:00

These two fine pieces of artwork come courtesy of Cowan concepter Brendan. Sleepy's going to be the dealer that Mike and Barry interrogate in the Evergreen scene of the story outline. These guys are a couple of real winners; their profiles and concepts are below:

Matt ‘Sleepy’ Smalls

-32-year-old black male
-heroin dealer in the Detroit of the late ‘70s
-5’9”, very thin
-brown eyes, black hair
-wearing ‘70s street clothes
-thinks his gun is awesome; sells drugs to kids and has them sell drugs; is a complete and total scumbag

Adam ‘Scratch’ Gist

-24-year-old white male
-is late '70s suburban-Detroit’s main heroin distributor; works with Sleepy
-5’11”, overweight
-brown hair, blue eyes
-wears ‘70s punk clothes
-doesn’t carry a gun; really likes his knife; sells drugs to suburban kids and has them distribute it throughout metro-Detroit high schools; is a complete and total scumbag

Story Outline - Detroit 1976

2008-11-12T14:43:00.007-05:00

Here's a draft of Cowan's story outline--it's the first half of the game, taking place in 1976 Detroit (nicely pictured in the shot above). The second half takes us all the way into the present day. This isn't a very happy story and the first half doesn't have a very happy ending--then again, the second half doesn't really either; not because it's particularly sad, but because it's a cliffhanger, suckas! FRANCHISE.

P.S.

When searching for pics of Detroit in 1976 I came across talk of Detroit's Red Devil--never heard tell of such a thing before. Interesting: The Nain Rouge

Cowan

1) 1976
i) Detroit
(1) Brightmoor

(a) Drug House
(i) Mike O’Brien and partner Barry Odinga are found, taking cover behind their unmarked patrol car, engaged in a shootout with suspected cocaine and heroin traffickers. Many low-level hoods, thugs, and dealers are taken out by the pair of detectives, but one suspect, wearing a strange looking mask, escapes, though, only after he is forced to abandon a briefcase. After the shootout, victorious, the pair of detectives discover mass quantities of heroin and cocaine, as well as the abandoned briefcase, its contents unceremoniously scattered on the floor. Among the stacks of cash spilled out from the briefcase, there are photographs of young boys and girls, ranging in age from pre- to early-teens, some bound and gagged, with others either in sexually explicit poses or shown being abused. Mike and Barry are filled with disgust and express regret that they weren’t able to kill all of the suspects at the scene.

(2) Cass Corridor

(a) The Old Miami
(i) Later that night, Mike’s seated at the counter of his favorite bar, The Old Miami, talking to his good friend Ronnie Underway. Ronnie and Mike have a nice chat. Mike gets a call from Barry, dialing the bar’s phone, and informs Mike that they think they’ve identified one of the kids in the pictures. Mike leaves to meet Barry.

(3) Southfield

(a) Parking lot of an office building at Ten Mile Road and Greenfield
(i) Mike arrives to meet Barry and the numerous other county and city authorities. Mike sees a sheet draped over a snow bank, giving the approximate size and shape of a child, not yet quite a teen. Barry’s feeling fucked up and Mike just gets angrier. Barry informs Mike that he believes it’s Matt Webb of Ferndale, reported missing by his family just four days ago. Mike says it’s time to go find out who the guy in the mask that dropped the briefcase is and he and Barry take off.

(4) Brightmoor 11:30 PM

(a) Evergreen
(i) Mike and Barry see a dealer standing on the street corner and pull up next to him. The dealer pulls a gun and fires at the pair of detectives. Mike and Barry give chase through the neighborhood, as the dealer’s gang member buddies try to take the cops out. The dealer is eventually caught and Mike extracts the info out of him that his connection is based out of the Cass Corridor—some white guys that like kids, white and black, the dealer says. The dealer also tells that he knows his connection has been abusing black kids in the city for some time now and that they frequently work out of a bike shop in the Corridor. Mike thinks about killing him. Barry tells Mike that he needs to get back to his family and then they part ways, with Mike falling asleep in his car nearby the Cass Corridor bike shop.

(5) Cass Corridor 3:00 AM

(a) Bike Shop
(i) Mike wakes up to the noise of the bike shop’s security grate being unlocked and sees two men enter the shop. Mike watches them walk downstairs and, after a minute, Mike begins to hear some kids faintly screaming. Mike smashes through the glass door and charges down the stairs after them. In the store’s basement, there are kids locked in cages like animals and the two men are now wearing dark ritualistic robes and masks. One pulls a gun on Mike, who proceeds to blow him away, while the other triggers a hidden switch and a secret passage reveals itself in the wall and the surviving member of the pair escapes down the passage. Mike frees the kids and goes upstairs to call Barry over and to request backup. Mike charges down the secret passage.

(b) Secret Passage
(i) The passage is full of cultists wearing robes and masks similar to that of the fleeing suspect. Mike dispatches them all and corners the suspect. Mike rips the masks off of the suspect and is visibly shocked and upset by what he sees. Barry appears on the scene, with Mike almost mistaking him for a cultist. Barry explains that he knows who it is that was hiding under the mask and that he has a family to think about and shoots Mike in the back, killing him.

Barry-san

2008-11-10T19:52:00.010-05:00

Those are Bryan's latest with my profile below.

Barry's Mike's partner--Barry's going to betray Mike. Ain't that about a bitch?

Barry Odinga

-33-year-old black male detective of the Detroit Police Department (light complexion)
- Lives and works in the Detroit of 1976-1977
-Brown suit
-mustache
-regulation firearm
-full black hair, brown eyes, 6’, ½”, thin, but healthy build, trim
-smokes
-family man, married, father of three
-ostensibly strong, but lacks solid moral foundation

Complex

2008-11-07T14:23:00.003-05:00

That issue of Complex that I mentioned briefly in the Game Industry Career Mish Mash post is on newsstands now. You can click the pic above for a quick preview of the issue (there's a blurb about my article, 'Sex & Violence: History's Most Brutal Video Games', down the page a bit). The story's not online and is print only, so you'll have to spend some hard earned cash money on it--or, at least, sit down at the book store's cafe while you read the parts that interest you. It's available at most newsstands nationwide and should be found at all Borders and Barnes & Nobles stores. And, Complex's editorial staff got their grubby mitts all over the article too, so if there's any part of the article that you find not sufficiently witty or offensive, then, they wrote it.

P.S.

I just noticed that the story made a cover mention--that's a first for me. Yeehaw.

Art Director Search and Bryan's Concept

2008-11-05T14:30:00.012-05:00

Cowan is now seeking an Art Director and I put the word out at gamedev.net, deviantart.com, conceptart.org, polycount.com, gamecareerguide.com, moddb.com, game-artist.net and craigslist.com. This is an integral part of the team and, if anyone already involved is interested, please take a look at the gamedev ad and apply.

Also, another concept of an enemy foot soldier from Bryan, the latest concept artist to join our team, can be seen in a nice progressive tableau below.

Finally, for our concept artists, I noticed a neat contest over at moddb.com. It's a concept art competition for Left 4 Dead with some nice little prizes and, of course, the possibility of most useful recognition. If any of Cowan's concepters decide to compete (assuming it won't distract you too much from working on our mod, right?), please holla and I'd be happy to post your entry into the contest on the blog. You've got ten days till the contest closes, so get crackin' crackas. Peace, y'all.

They Live, We Sleep

2008-11-04T13:00:00.002-05:00

We've seen just exactly what an unpopular, illegitimate president can accomplish, who knows what joys await our glorious nation when we have a genuine man of the people in office--it's morning in America.

Another from Zach and Game Industry Career Mish Mash

2008-10-22T16:26:00.008-04:00

Yo. That's another piece from Zach and I'd figure that I would talk a bit about working in the game industry.

I know many of the people involved with this project are looking to gain practical industry experience and are pursuing a career in the game industry, just like me. This project, with an appropriate amount of effort, should provide all of the experience and resumé fodder that one needs to get their foot in that first door.

I'm actually already working in the industry, as a writer, and have been since high school--I'll have a small piece (The Top 25 Most Violent Video Games and The Top 10 Most Sex-Filled Games--very highbrow stuff) in the November issue of Complex magazine. I've been to E3 a few times and experienced the largesse of the industry as a reviewer, but, I done graduated from school and am now intent on a more serious role within the game industry and, after learning more about the inner workings of game development, realized that producer is the perfect role for me; though, I still want to write some, too.

The past few weeks I had been interviewing with Prima Games to be an Associate Product Manager (basically an associate producer of strategy guides) and I made it quite far into the interviewing process. They had over 100 applicants and selected 22 for phone interviews; the first interview went great and I was one of a handful that moved onto a second one. That one went just as well and, until just this past Sunday night, I was waiting to hear back on whether they were going to fly me out for a face-to-face interview. Unfortunately, I didn't get it (but, if I did, this project would definitely still stay a priority until we've completed it), but it's cool, because I know that as long as I keep my grind on and stay focused, then it's an inevitability. The game industry is always short of talent and, if you've got the skills, then you can pay the bills. It sucks that the industry doesn't offer anything remotely like an apprenticeship to entry-level candidates like most other, civilized industries do, but one free project's not so bad, right?

Anyways, since I've been working towards this goal, I've discovered different resources available to those such as ourselves and figured that I'd share them with everybody.

Some links:

http://www.gamecareerguide.com
This is an indispensable site for the novice industry aspirant. There's plenty of informative articles and interviews with members of all of the different industry disciplines and much, much more.

http://www.gamasutra.com
The big boys' (and girls') site that serves the already established industry professionals and is the sister site of Game Developer magazine. Also houses the main job board for the entire industry.

http://www.gamedev.net
A nice site for beginning game developers and experienced professionals alike, especially the forums, where one can find many different projects to get involved with and recruit alike--many of our team members have and will come from posting and messaging here.

http://www.edge-online.com
The premier industry news site--a live bookmark is essential; just like for our own site, of course.

http://www.gamejobs.com
A nice little supplemental job board--it's where I found the Prima job.

Magazines:

Game Developer
http://www.gdmag.com
Essential reading for all game industry professionals, especially the project Postmortems.

Edge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_Magazine
Pretty much the only literate gaming mag out there and, though it's based out of the UK, it's still available at most any decent book store or newsstand in the U.S.

Books:

Paid to Play or the revised edition, Video Game Careers by Alice Rush, David Hodgson, and Bryan Stratton
http://www.amazon.com/Video-Careers-Prima-Official-Guides/dp/0761557059/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224708934&sr=8-2
This is great for an overview of each individual position on a modern game development team--a knowledge of not just your own, but of how every position works and operates on a development team is very useful as it will increase understanding across the team and make working together much easier.

The Game Producer's Handbook by Dan Irish
http://www.amazon.com/Game-Producers-Handbook-Dan-Irish/dp/1592006175/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224709466&sr=1-1
This title is written by a senior producer that worked on the Homeworld and Myst series. It relates solely to my work and position on the team, but it's proving to be a tremendous help (pretty much teaching me how to do my job) and I figured that I'd share where I'm learning from.

Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing by Wendy Despain
http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Techniques-Video-Game-Writing/dp/156881416X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224709709&sr=1-1
I'm writing the story for Cowan as well and, though I'm a published writer and have been writing for years, it's been mostly journalism and I have to learn the proper scriptwriting formats.

There are tons of different game development books available, covering most every possible topic, program, and discipline out there and you're sure to find one that will teach you exactly what you need to know. And, if you're trying to save some money, check out your local or area libraries, you might be surprised at the titles they have--for those in the Detroit-area, the Canton Public Library rocks pretty hard.

Organizations

IGDA
http://www.igdadetroit.org/?p=84
Every serious game developer should join. I linked to the Detroit chapter--the next meeting is on Wednesday, October 29th from 6-9 pm (or so) at the U of M-Dearborn campus. If anyone wants to go, let me know and I'll be happy to meet you there.

These are just the different resources available that I pulled off the top of my head and there are undoubtedly many other great sources of information. Please feel free to share any others that I might have missed in the comments. Bottom line, if we work hard, learn what we need to, and make a nice project, we get jobs. Sounds good, huh?

If Handlebars Could Kill... You'd Be Dead!

2008-10-17T16:10:00.004-04:00

Say hello to Mike O'Brien--he's one of our protagonists; scummy, but not completely so. And, below: Mel Crooks Masterson--he's not one of our protagonists; scummy, and completely so. Both of these nice guys were drawn to life by Chris-san. Above the pictures are the short character profiles that I wrote and that Chris concepted from. Also, we're feeling better and better about the Unreal 3 engine and that contest. Don't you feel better already?

Mike O’Brien

-43 year-old white male detective of the Detroit Police Department
-Lives and works in the Detroit of 1976-1977
-Wears a long beige trench coat
-full brown hair, green eyes, 6’ tall, medium build, slightly overweight
-thick mustache
-smokes Honduran Churchill-size cigars
-regulation firearm

Mel Crooks Masterson

-68 year–old white male
-1976 era
-professional suit and tie
-glasses
-slightly-thinning white hair
-6’ medium build, average weight

A Quick Sketch

2008-10-15T14:05:00.002-04:00

Here's a sketch from Zach, another one of our new concept artists.

One Million Dollars

2008-10-13T19:39:00.005-04:00

What do you folks think? Obviously, it means we'd be using Unreal 3 instead of Source, but the idea of a contest is very intriguing, right? We'd enter for Phase 3 of the contest which has as its deadline May 15, 2009--plenty of time for us to make something awesome or, at least, make something unreal. If we win the category of Best FPS mod, then we get $7500 smackers and if we win the grand finals we get $50 large and, if the grand prize is won, a $700,000 Unreal 3 engine license (which would officially make us a professional team, which would be pretty fucking sweet). Now, it's highly unlikely that we'd win everything, but, I have to imagine, that if we work hard on this like we're planning to, then we definitely have a good shot of making a very strong showing and maybe even winning our Phase 3 category. I know artists like Unreal... Whatcha all think?

Click the pic for details.

Now, I must return to Final Fantasy XII--I've been playing it since March and am over 80 hours into and it shows no signs of slowing; it's outta control.

Chris' Stuff

2008-10-10T20:14:00.003-04:00

These are from another one of our new concept artists, Chris. They're real nice and I especially like the boss man at the bottom. Chris had this to say about his work:

"I've come up with a foot solider cultist character, triangle shoulder robes of that on a mason, this is mixed with a hood and custom designed mask. I thought it would be good to have the bottom half as a suit like the masked goons that guard the doors at black mass in 'eyes wide shut' (ews). I don't know if your looking for foot soilders that you can mass produce under the same dress code or have a range of customizations to add to each one, for example different masks etc. my second one I labelled 'the creeper', this is another foot solider or could be a special character or boss. The mask is taken from that guy in the bellcony in e,w,s black mass. the rest I kind of made up around the corporate look. suit case and uzi the boss I did in long coat with robes and covered in gold stitching. I could of totally ripped of the black mass leaders robes in ews but thought it would be good to give him a little more character. also designed a sash that goes across his chest with different symbols stitched in gold or yellow. walking cane that fires a shell. mask in gold and white."

Take a gander:

The Venetian

2008-10-08T18:29:00.005-04:00

This one's from Ryan, one of our new concept artists. I don't know; I like this one. A lot.

Also, some of you may already be aware of the game, but I just played Passage and it's pretty incredible. Check it out: http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage/ It's quick and free and awesome. And, I love the retro music--new video game music just ain't got the same soul. Seriously, I can remember the music for a ton of old-school NES games, but any new game, it just doesn't happen; the music is the same as in movies and TV. I'd like to see us try to use an old-school style of music for our game, but I'm not sure how that'd work and I'm starting to see why. Any ideas?

When the Going Gets Weird...

2008-10-04T21:57:00.004-04:00

Autumn: time of falling leaves, changing temperatures, and pumpkin pie. Or as Hunter S. Thompson, writing in his 2004 book, Hey Rube, would have it: “The autumn months are never a calm time in America… There is always a rash of kidnapping and abductions of schoolchildren in the football months. Preteens of both sexes are traditionally seized and grabbed off the streets by gangs of organized perverts who traditionally give them as Christmas gifts to each other to be personal sex slaves and playthings.”

And, some more from Tony:

Mo' Concepts

2008-09-29T22:00:00.009-04:00

There's some more from Jim below. I've also put out ads seeking some dedicated concept artists for our team. I put listings up at gamedev.net, deviantart.com, conceptart.org, polycount.com and good old craigslist.com. We've gotten a couple nibbles, but we'll have to wait and see what comes of them.

And, it's amazing that democracy actually happened today and the bailout was defeated (not that I think our treasury really stands too much of a chance from being looted one way or another in the very near future; it's a crisis, remember?; and order always seems to somehow emerge from chaos)--I honestly can't think of another time within my political life that we the people spoke and our representatives listened. I called my rep Thad and told his people to tell him to vote no; I had already read that he was vocally against it (which, I'm sure, about 65% of that was nothing more than election year posturing), but I wanted to make sure that the point was gotten across. His people asked: "Is there a comment that you'd like to leave?" "Yeah," I said. "Let them eat cake."

It's a Mod

2008-09-24T12:51:00.004-04:00

So after seeking advice from a couple producers with Blue Fang Games and Firaxis and talking with Jonathan (one of our programmers): we're doing a mod. The reasons being: we'll be able to complete the project around 50% faster (which, with our time and resources, is basically an offer that we can't refuse), the end result of the project will definitely be something that's much more polished and fun to play than anything that we could hope to accomplish with an original engine, and, in terms of giving me practical production job experience, there's no difference between doing a mod versus an original engine.

Now, what kind of mod shall it be? The subject is open to suggestions, so, please comment here or e-mail me and have your say and please offer your input and advice. I'm not necessarily sold on any particular engine, but Source is popular, looks nice, and as one of the producers that I talked to advised: "Source is fine if you can make it shine." Shit rhymes, yo.

The Reptilian

2008-09-22T22:40:00.007-04:00

Is a touch of V in order? Could be fun--take a look at Tony's concept below; the second one, of course. The first is Sarah Palin getting her human suit ready for a press conference--I have to say, though, she should really get a new make-up artist, 'cause that wildly teased '80s hair gives it all away.

The Design Doc - Rough Draft

2008-09-18T23:04:00.003-04:00

Clarke, the Lead Designer (and only designer right now), recently came through with the beginnings of the design document. Below is the first draft--it's only partially completed and is but a taste of the finished product. It tastes good, though, huh?

The Design Doc - Rough Draft:

Nick

Here is what I have so far. In the description section I tried to narrate what a possible encounter might be like and to describe the skill system. Feel free to edit in any way and make sure to let me know what you like and don’t like about the content and style.

Cowan

Introduction: Cowan is a 1st or 3rd person action shooter, for the PC, that plunges the player into the dark world of secrets. There are societies, ideas, and technologies that exist in a hidden world, a world of secrets. Some wish to use these secrets as a means of power; doing any thing imaginable to protect these secrets. Others valiantly try to illuminate this dark world. Cowan will allow you to discover these truths and all that goes along with it.

Background: To be determined later… (I plan on including relevant information about existing platforms in the event of a mod or will describe the tools/engines used in a ground up build.)

Description: You begin your journey as a typical college undergrad. You are a free spirit that has for the most part of your life been going with the flow. College parties, girlfriends and occasional work are your norm. You stay under the radar but aren't a total loner. Ever since 9/11 and the wars in the Middle East you’ve begun to questions things; never able to shake your gut feeling that the world just doesn't seem right. You know their will always be injustices but there is something else. It's in your face, everywhere you look. You know you can't be the only one that sees it...

...As you limp past the cloaked figure you just killed with a machete your careful not to step in his blood. You're not sure if he was alone and leaving a trail of bloody footprints will surely lead them straight to you. You glance down at your leg and realize that the buck shot in your leg has to come out now; luckily you found a patch of bushes that should conceal you from anyone that comes looking for the man you just killed. You notice that treating your wounds has become easier; saving priceless time that you use to reload your pistol and count how many flares you have left for your flare gun. You pause for a moment and reflect on the past week. Never in your wildest dreams did you think a camping trip would turn out this way. There was no way to know. You adjusted quickly though. The first time you killed someone it was hard for you. Mentally you had to accept, no decide that these are not men you are killing, they gave up the right to be called that a long time ago. Physically you had to learn how to fight, how to kill. The first time it was so hard, you mortally wounded him but he was still alive. You saw him crawling away, heard his raspy last breaths. You had no choice but to finish him, to put him out of his misery; however, the truth is you were just scared he might attract others if he continued to die so loudly. It's not like that any more, you can kill a man with a single blow or decimate multiple opponents with a flurry of precise strikes. Not to mention you’ve become quite handy with the steel. You’ve noticed other changes as well. You can run longer, faster, carry more equipment and take a considerable more amount of damage before needing to treat yourself. You’ve spent enough time reminiscing back to your unfortunate task...

As you leave the cover provided by the hedgerow you pause. Lights ahead of you suddenly become brighter and you hear the noise of a truck approaching. Quickly you duck back into your cover and wait to see who approaches. Once you realize that your new guests are here for you decide its now or never. The truck comes to a stop and 4 cloaked men jump out of the bed. A fifth cloaked man sits in the passenger seat, this one looks different though, and issues orders to the others.
Before they even have time to organize you jump from the bushes and fire a flare right into the face of one of the cloaked men. His robes instantly ignite in a blaze and the bright flames momentarily blind the other men. Now is not the time for stealth so you go straight for your pistol and take down 2 of the cloaks. The unfamiliar looking man gets out of the passenger seat of the truck and begins chanting in an unrecognizable language. You have no idea what he is saying but it drives a fear into your heart. You shoot him directly in the heart and he drops. After finishing off the rest of the group with your machete to conserve ammo you rummage through the truck and find a gps and a map. You want to leave but you find yourself drawn to the strange figure. You walk over to him and see that his robes have shifted revealing Masonic imagery branded into his skin. You’ve seen enough and continue through the pine forest with your new map and gps...

...This building was marked on the map and as you get closer you can see why. A large gothic building covered in moss and vines stands before you with unholy imagery assaulting you from every direction. You want to go in the front door and settle it once and for all especially since you relieved that mac 10 from the guard you caught sleeping. But you might need the ammo later so you decide to climb up to a second story window and have a better look. Once you are inside you pull out your trusty machete and begin stealthily searching the rooms...

Key features: Melee and ranged weapons(realistic or futuristic) with realistic ballistics and properties
melee
Baseball bat
Machete
Samurai sword
*Light saber

Ranged
Flare gun
Pistol
Magnum
Shotgun
Mac 10
Hunting rifle
Carbine
Flamethrower
Bazooka
*Laser/plasma weapons
*Mystical weapons

* as needed

Unique character building that emphasizes on skills
Skills
First aid
Melee weapons
Ranged weapons
Conditioning
Electronics
Lore

Multiple damage points on enemies

Genre: Cowan is a modern action adventure shooter set within the occult/secret society realm of possibilites

Concept Art

2008-09-16T16:28:00.003-04:00

Here's some concept art from Jim, Cowan's resident animator. I've pasted the direction that I provided in an e-mail to Jim below:

"I've attached some reference materials for you [These reference materials were assorted pictures of KKK guys and Freemasons and such--I might throw them up in another post]. The subject matter of the game is pretty dark, so I hope that you'll be ok with it. Right now, I'd like to get some concept sketches of our main NPC/bad guy--this will be a secret society type and will essentially be the main enemy (foot soldier) that players will encounter in the game. Take a look at the pictures and you'll get an idea of what we're going for--it can be very similar to what's in the pictures or a new creation of your own in the same general theme. I've got an idea of what kind of art direction that I'm thinking of, but I'd like to see what you'll do before I get any more specific. These first concept sketches don't have to be super polished as that won't be necessary until we're decided on a specific enemy look and art direction. So, if you can provide two or three different sketches/takes on the main enemy NPC, I'll take a look at them and give some specific feedback."

Storyboards

2008-09-11T23:13:00.005-04:00

Okey dokey. I'm going to start posting the assets that we have from the project as they come in. I'm starting from the beginning and the first tangible asset that we have for the project are these storyboards. The first (extremely rough) one is my doing and the rest are the work of my man Tony, the audio/music/concept art guy. Keep in mind that I'm posting everything on the site so everyone involved in the project can see what we have at any given time and that what's posted may not necessarily be anything that we use in the project--everything is always subject to revision or iteration.

P.S.

The Klan dudes are the bad guys and the swastikas are theirs as well--so don't get it twisted people.

The Vision

2008-08-30T17:56:00.003-04:00

The goal of this project can be summed up in two words: experience and completion. Though we will always strive for quality and put forth our best effort, the idea is not to create the most fun game or the best mod, but simply to complete the project that we've set out to create and gain valuable and practical industry experience.

Whether or not we choose to pursue the professional employment of the skills that we have developed and honed throughout the course of this project as artists, designers, musicians, programmers, writers, or producers is irrelevant, as we will all have learned a great deal and will be the better for it. And, if we do, then this can be seen simply as the beginning.

The Craigslist Ad

2008-08-20T22:27:00.000-04:00

detroit metro craigslist > creative gigs

Video Game Development - Designers, Programmers, and Artists Wanted (Novi)

Reply to: gigs-805796629@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-08-20, 10:27PM EDT

Development is beginning on a new video game project. We are currently looking for designers, programmers, and artists (2D, 3D, etc.) of all types who are interested in getting involved with a video game production. This project is being undertaken as a means to learn about the video game development process and gain valuable and practical, hands-on industry experience.

These are not paid positions and are completely voluntary; we're looking for people who are interested in game development and are looking for a professional project to get involved with. Though it is greatly appreciated, experience is not required, only a serious commitment to develop a game and see a project through to completion is needed. A minimum of a 10-hour a week commitment is required to join the development team.

The current team is not composed of individuals currently employed in the industry, but all are interested in game development and are in it for the fun, experience, and challenge of the project and so, others of a like mind are sought. Everyone is working full-time at other jobs, so it is perfectly acceptable if you are too, or if not, that's obviously ok as well.

If you have experience in design, programming, or art, or are currently working in one of these fields, or simply want to pursue any of these fields and think that you'd be good at them, and you're serious about getting involved in a professional project, then get in touch. Now.

Location: Novi
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
Compensation: no pay

PostingID: 805796629

Coming Soon

2008-08-18T22:46:00.000-04:00

Watch this space.