Since this month is an even-numbered month, the game idea of the month is going to be a large one. And since this one is big, it’s going to last a whole week. For this month, I’ll share my favorite of the original game ideas, Winter Island. Winter Island is an action-adventure game where the gameplay is inspired by the older 3D Zelda games, and the cutscenes are inspired by the Disney Renaissance. While most of my original game ideas are set in the United States within the 21st Century, this one takes place back in the 20th Century on a fictional island over the Pacific Ocean.
Winter Island – General Ideas:
Winter Island is about a devout Christian girl who worked for the largest church of the island and came to save the island from an eternal winter and religious extremism. It is set on the island of Terra Vita (Latin for “Land of Life”), which was an island consisting of democratic city-states created by US Colonists. It has been a peaceful island for 100 years. But then, in 1936, the snowy weather that covered the island during the winter has not thawed, even by the summer. And by September, one of the church staff members decided to fight against the winter.
The main character of the game is Jennifer Marie Star, a 16-year-old girl who worked as the minister’s primary advisor. Her boss is James Benedict Pride, who is the main antagonist of the game. James believed that the eternal winter started because of some ice sorcerer, but he did not want his advisor leaving the town she lived in. But when Jenny left the town, she learned about a dangerous cult called “The Order”, who were responsible for all organized crime on the island. Believing that the eternal winter was an act of divine retribution for impersonation of God, Jenny decided to fight against the cult while looking for more power.
Genre:
Regarding the theme of the game, religion is the top subject. In some areas of the game and in some of the cutscenes, Latin chanting and Old World church music is played. There are also some Biblical lessons taught every once in a while, and some Christian symbolism. For instance, the surnames of the three main characters (Jenny Star, Andrew Cross, Charlotte Sky) were all related to the life of Jesus, who was born under a star, died on a cross, and rose to the sky. Likewise, the surname of James is Pride, the very sin that separated Satan from God. There are also three references to the Seven Seals in the Book of Revelations (the ongoing troubles on Terra Vita, the number of dungeons in the game, and the number of statues you awaken in the final dungeon), all of them referring to three of the four different views of the Seven Seals.
Aside to the Christian themes, the primary theme of the game is the Winter theme. You’ll see talking snowmen, presents, a snowmobile, Christmas lights, and ice creatures. The Christmas theme, Arctic theme, winter sports theme, and the white wilderness theme are all fused. Another thing is that all five cities on the island of Terra Vita are based on different regions of the United States, with Aurora Village (the mountain town in the east) representing the Northwestern United States, Palm City (the desert town in the south) representing the Southwestern United States, Agrarian Beach (the agricultural beaches in the west) representing the Midwestern United States, Moonlight Harbor (the seaport in the north) representing the Northeastern United States, and Lumen City (the large city in the center) representing the Southern United States.
As for video game genre, it’s an older style Action-Adventure game, where you have a weapon you keep forever, fight enemies, explore places, gather items, and return them. But if we’re talking about the cutscenes, the ones with songs are akin to stage musicals, which Disney did for an entire decade at one point in time.
Characters:
Although more details will be revealed about the characters, I will give you a synopsis of each.
- The main character is Jenny Star, the oldest daughter of the richest family on the island, and lead advisor of the Palm City Cathedral, the most powerful church on Terra Vita. Being raised by two rich parents that are strict, raised by a father figure who taught her the importance of family, and employed by an abusive Christian extremist, she has became a very strict person on her own who wouldn’t dare to defy instructions. But as the game goes by, she mellowed out and learned when it’s acceptable to defy instruction. Her primary weapon is a large metal staff shaped and painted like a candy cane, which has the power to glow too.
- The secondary character is Charlotte Sky, the first of the two friends Jenny rescued and one of the three playable characters. She is very nice and sweet, and the most caring of the trio. Her mother was a weather control scientist who froze the peak of the mountain and the caves, and her father was a snowmobile seller.
- The tertiary character is Andrew Cross, the second of the two friends Jenny rescued and one of the three playable characters. Unlike Charlotte, he is mean and rude, who was also a bully who has no regard of the rules. The only rules he has are to love Jesus, accept him as his savior, and to believe God exists. Often times, he is selfish, but he would never let even bigger threats hurt others.
- The primary helper character is George Tyler Barquoy, the mayor of Lumen City, and Jenny’s father figure. When he was a kid, he had a miserable life due to being abused by his father and being bullied by everyone at his school. But after finding a new family to raise him, his life started turning around, and he became the most popular man on Terra Vita. His most notable features are his weight (since he is fat) and his beard. He was a nice loving person towards Jenny.
- The main antagonist is James Benedict Pride. At the beginning, he was the minister of the Palm City Cathedral and ruler of Terra Vita. When he had control of the island, he turned it into a Christian theocracy. Outside his duties as the minister, he was also the leader of “The Order”, the cult that was responsible for organized crimes on the island.
Setting:
The game is set on a fictional island of Terra Vita, which was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It consists of five city-states with the names of Palm City, Lumen City, Moonlight Harbor, Agrarian Beach, and Aurora Village. When James had control, he turned it into a united theocracy, even though each cities had democracies. But at the end of the game, it turned into a united republic with freedom of religion and democracy.
Each city had their own distinct features. Palm City took up the entire desert region south of Lumen City, but much of the land was an empty desert where the only actual “city” parts were the five areas called “districts”, all being far apart. Lumen City took up the entire plateau in the center. It was the most urban-like city on the island, with influences from Houston, New Orleans, Savannah, and Charleston. Moonlight Harbor was along the bay north of Lumen City. West of the bay was thinly populated but had an amusement park. East of the bay was more densely populated. Agrarian Beach was west of Lumen City. It took up the entire shores, but most of the shores were farmland with only a few city-like aspects. Aurora Village was the small town on the heights of Terra Vita, east of Lumen City.
The game took place between September to November of 1936. Despite its 1930’s setting, there was a mix of timelines. The Palm City Cathedral was still lit by candles like if it was from the 15th century, but had surround sound installed, just like a 21st century entertainment facility. Lighting across the island was either done by candles (most commonly used by the poor) or by LEDs (most commonly used by the rich). In some of the cities, people still use horse-drawn carriages while there exists motorboats that can cross the entire Pacific Ocean in 12 hours without capsizing. Jenny’s snowmobile is a futuristic snowmobile too.
Story:
The game begins in Palm City where Jenny had to get ready for church, while also supervising her younger sisters and another family’s sons. Because of the winter weather that lingered since the previous December, Jenny had to discuss it with James. Her father then told her that she has an overdue library book, which she needed to turn in, or she will be grounded.
The overdue library book was the missing nail to the horseshoe in the plot, because had Jenny not had an overdue book, she wouldn’t have known about what’s going on. Her need to get to Lumen City has rescued Charlotte, but then she learned that the library has burned down. She took a detour to investigate who was responsible for the fire, only to learn about a dangerous cult that was threatening the island. But James wouldn’t let her leave Palm City. After repeated violations, combined with suppressing cult activities in Palm City, she was expelled from the Palm City Cathedral and banned from attending any other church or leaving the island. Because of that, she sought revenge by learning more about his dark past while continuing to investigate the cult and their activities. When they found out James was the leader of the cult, Jenny, Charlotte, and Andrew reported him to the church staff, getting him kicked out while Jenny was welcome back in.
James’ expulsion from the Palm City Cathedral made Terra Vita worse. The second half of the game was about his curses on the other villages. While continuing to abuse his followers in Lumen City, the other cities were in trouble. Jenny then learned that James had a magical treasure chest that gave him powers. If she can destroy the chest, she can weaken his powers. But she needed more power to do that. So she went to each of the four cities and collected power, while breaking the curses to each town. She then broke the chest, stripping James of his powers, and thus ending the eternal winter over Terra Vita.
After the eternal winter ended, James ran away, but Jenny, Charlotte, and Andrew wouldn’t let him because of all of the acts of terror he done on the island. They found him in a mysterious temple from a dimension he hid in. He was ultimately defeated, then dragged off to Hell. After coming back, Jenny was given the title of the hero and became the new minister of the Palm City Cathedral.
Gameplay:
As repeatedly said, the gameplay of the game is an Action-Adventure. It’s very much like the older Zelda games, where you explore dungeons, collect new tools, defeat enemies, and collect what’s needed. Meanwhile, you have other sidequests that can upgrade your gadgets or expand your health. One thing you’ll have is a mission log, where you have different missions to complete. The ones that simply require gathering knowledge will also have an incentive where you have to collect a certain items and which items to get before you can progress further.
You have three playable characters, with focus on one character. Jenny is the main one, but Charlotte and Andrew are your backups when you get to a mission that needs them. For instance, there is a time where James grounds Jenny in Palm City and refuses to let her leave the cathedral. While Jenny is kept at the church, Charlotte can be used to collect data on investigating the library fire.
Sidequests come in three kinds. One of them is Present Worlds, which are very similar, with the same gameplay, to the Secret Stages in Super Mario Sunshine and Time Rifts in A Hat in Time. If you break a large golden present, you will be sent inside the mysterious dimension. When you get to the end, you will open a treasure chest that unlocks a new upgrade. Another is collecting the golden snowflakes. All over the island, you can collect golden snowflakes, which can be used to upgrade any storage or meters you have. And then, you have other side missions, which you can do to collect items beneficial for your quest (like to-go boxes).
One gameplay gimmick is the player light (which I have for a few other games). You can make your candy cane staff glow to cast light. You can also change the color of the light, so you can activate flashing light sensors (an idea that I used for making some levels in LittleBigPlanet 2). But you can only have your staff glow for a short period of time.
My Confidence in this game:
Although I would like to make this game, show it to the world, and play it, I don’t think it will be one of the best games ever, nor will it be super popular. The thing here is that when gamers play games, they are often looking for something new. But what I have planned for this game isn’t groundbreaking or innovative. Not even the stage musical cutscenes would cut it. But I may never know how it would go.
I do have a reason to allude to real religion instead of making up a fictional one. It’s because I believe that making up a fake one would tempt idol worship. There’s already a part of the Star Wars fandom that follows a fictional religion made up for Star Wars. I would not want to do the same for Winter Island. I would also try to avoid making a mockery of religion.
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