Notes:

• This game writing project was made streamlined as the level design of Black Puddle was made, so the playtesting phase on the level design directly affects the workflow and the game writing progress.

Overall View

Straight up, I need to make a portfolio to enter the game industry. And, since I’m new to this field (I started to learn about gamedev back in mid-2023), it’ll be more effective if I start by making something familiar to me: linear storytelling with mystery, crime, psychological & a bit philosophical genres. I also incorporated Indonesian culture and language into the story and monster universe named Taksa Semesta.

The first idea for this project came when I was exercising top-down layout to make a level design. It’s an ordinary detective game where you come to a crime scene, investigate a murder case, combat, and run so the monsters don’t catch you. But it has a twist where the human environment changes into a monster-like universe where death people covered in white clothes are levitating on the road like a cult.

The idea of cult-like monsters mixed with crime investigation piques my interest, so I continue to develop this idea until it finally becomes Taksa Semesta, which is heavily inspired by the dark sides of human and Indonesian cultures.

To equalize these monster aspects, I make the player become a human detective investigating the disappearing people cases (which turns out these were caused by sudden appearances of Taksa Semesta objects). The player also encounters the monsters and experiences the effect when the human universe (earth) fuses with a fragment of the Taksa Semesta.

Worldbuilding: Taksa Semesta

I want to make two universes: human and monster. For the human universe, I used a familiar setting for the crime-mystery detective genre, which takes place in an American/European country and uses English as its main language. That means the monster universe should be distinguishable from those concepts. Then, I remember, I’m Indonesian. Indonesia has TONS of differences with those countries.

I also have adequate resources and the capability to adapt Indonesia-related data into story ideas while lowering the risk of misinterpretation or disrespect caused by a language barrier. So, it’s decided, the monsters universe will take inspiration from Indonesian-related data.

To make the story understandable for the player, I decided to use a more general theme for the bigger picture for this monster's universe: the dark side of humanity. I did this to make sure everything has a deeper meaning, which later can be used to expand the story.

After some research, I decided to subtly show the monsters characteristics through the name of the monsters universe itself: Taksa Semesta.

Taksa = mempunyai makna lebih dari satu (Bahasa Indonesia), which translates to it has more than one meaning.

Semesta = sinonim dari alam/dunia (Bahasa Indonesia), which translates to synonym of nature/universe.

Inspiration From Musics

Beside brainstorming, I did tons of research to make the story have a deeper meaning than what only appears on the surface. I notice the morality conflict that becomes the fundamental in this universe is fitting with the concept of 7 deadly sins and 7 heavenly virtues, so further improvement can be done as long as it follows those categories. I also found some good music that greatly inspired me:

.Feast - Gugatan Rakyat Semesta

Inspiration for: the start of revolution from the kind monsters by collaborating with humans to kill the corrupted monster leader and it's undelings because of their immoral nature.

Alan Wake 2 OST - Ahti - Yötön Yö

Inspiration for: humans have intelligence and emotion, which makes them better beings than the pure-blooded Taksa Semesta monsters, that's why they're getting stronger when they eat humans.

Unlike Pluto - Oh Raven

Inspiration for: the butterfly effect from people in the past who eradicated the descendant of humans who made packs with Taksa Semesta monsters. It becomes an irony when, in the present time, the remaining descendant must save the lineage of the people who killed their ancestors.

Lathi ~ Weird Genius ft. Sara Fajira

Inspiration for: only the descendants of humans who made packs with Taksa Semesta monsters understand the meaning of the monster's plaudit, while normal humans can only hear it but don't understand the meaning.

Nathan Wagner - Paranoia

Inspiration for: weak mental state from becoming an owner of Taksa Semesta’s object, and when the descendants of humans who made packs with Taksa Semesta monsters awakened their powers.

Taksa Semesta Backstories

First of all, I must establish the history to give the bigger picture about the monsters tendencies and how they impact their civilization. Mostly, the inspirations came from different ideologies, where the core difference is their moral compass, which continues to have the polar opposite approach to ideas, problem solving, and everything else. I was also inspired by some political concepts about power tendencies and the conflict elevation between two different parties.

I continue to design the next bigger picture: the conflict between The Earth and Taksa Semesta. Taksa Semesta’s monsters know about this history since they have a long lifespan, but it’s a long-forgotten history for humans. So, when the monsters invade the earth for the second time in this story, the player as the protagonist doesn’t know anything about it, and it becomes one of the main missions in the main game: uncover the history and finds out why it was hidden from modern human civilization.

Since humans who made packs with kind intelligent monsters play a big part in the storyline, I detailed the explanation from both perspectives. They share similar goals and were in the same dire positions, that's why they made pack- which turns out to be successful.

From the monsters perspective, the contract is very advantageous for them since they can achieve their goals by only giving half of their power to the humans, and these pacts were passed down to the human’s descendants, it’s hitting two birds with one stone.

On the other side, humans were on the disadvantage side of the contract. They did get immersive powers, but the prices were too heavy and permanent, which were not suitable for the long run. But, since it's their only way to survive, they didn't have any choice.

The helpful traits of having each other’s backs vanished when the monsters left the earth, and they're replaced by the arrogance and terrible nature of humans. The normal human got blinded by fear and eradicated the collaborators descendant, but this action bit them back in the long run.

Then, to make it easier to understand, I made a flowchart of how intelligence monsters are born.

Black Puddle is a pitch-black liquid with tar-like characteristics, but it has a pungent and horrendous smell that is different for each person who smells it.

Taksa Semesta Monsters

There are two kinds of monsters: monsters that are made by the Good Side and Bad Side (pure-blooded) and intelligence monsters which reborn from humans (mixed-blood). The intelligence monsters are inspired by Indonesian cultures and have human-like features. The visual can be changed as long as it’s following the character’s design intention.

Mix-Blood Monsters

While the names and smells are inspired by Indonesia-related things, intelligence monster appearances are the representation of rebirth stages of humans to become more wise: when they died → buried underground → reborn in their prime age → become older and wiser.

Kandidat is inspired by Indonesian folklore named Joko Bodo, where the protagonist drowns his mom and himself to death because of his lack of knowledge, so it has characteristics of a dead, drowned human.

Penyembah is inspired by an Indonesian mystical creature named Pocong. It’s a ghost of someone who died with regret and haunted a certain place using their burial state— body wrapped in a white fabric (kain kafan) and bound at its head, feet, and neck.

Peniru is inspired by an Indonesian belief named Jin Qorin. In short, it’s a doppleganger of someone who’s still alive, but they live in the supernatural world, which often intertwines with the human world.

Utusan is inspired by Indonesian traditional social hierarchy, where the older you are, the more people will respect you because you have more life experiences. This tradition caused the opinions of the elders to be listened to more than those of the younger ones.

Player & Human NPC Concept

Player Name: Nathan Miller

Age: 28 years old

Nathan is a promising detective with high-analytic thinking and meticulousness. He doesn't have good social skills, but he's very good at handling strategic-related jobs behind the scenes, leading him to always handle reports and coordination from the police station for his team members on the field.

• He's to the point, confrontational, and sarcastic, causing some people to openly hate him, especially the older men who are full of themselves.

• Being overworked with handling behind-the-scenes jobs alone for a long time, causing him to be very efficient and hate people who can't do their work properly.

• He's good at shooting and handling fights, but he prefers to avoid physical confrontation and do a more strategic approach before fighting.

• He's wary and observant, always connecting the dots of clues inside his head, but he keeps his thoughts to himself and is not hasty to make a decision.

Eyewitness: Liam Scott

Age: 31 years old

Personality: cowardly, socially anxious, has anger issues

Liam is a failed film producer that drowns his depression and sorrow in weeds. After long self-isolation, he became socially anxious and paranoid. His cowardly personality mixed with unstable emotions, anger issues, and opium use makes him a ticking time bomb.

Receptionist: Owen Campbell

Age: 30 years old

Personality: friendly, caring, sensitive to other people’s emotions

Owen is a sensitive and caring mother figure which sometimes went overboard with her attentiveness. Despite that, she’s loved and respected by a lot of people because she didn’t discriminate and treats everyone with kindness.

Admin 1: Ava Turner

Age: 27 years old

Personality: expressive, easy to panic, people-pleasing,

Ava is the typical unorganized, expressive friend that troubles others because of his clumsiness. She has the habit of relying on others while pressuring them to help her. Not a fun person to be around because of her unconsciously manipulative tendencies.

Admin 2: Noah Peterson

Age: 28 years old

Personality: likes to tease people, comedic, relaxed

Noah is a relaxed person who's good at handling people. She doesn't take the spotlight, as she likes to be under the radar. She’s a loyal friend and concerned about others. She often helpss her other people, even if it’s annoying.

Officer 1: Olly Brooks

Age: 48 years old

Personality: grumpy old man, unloyal, self-centered

Olly is a grumpy old man that loathes others behind their backs. He likes to abuse his power to make his team work harder while he’s doing nothing. Everyone knows this, but they stay quiet because he’s the longest person who’s been working there.

Officer 2: Jody Sanders

Age: 38 years old

Personality: complains a lot, stubborn, gossiper

Jody is a stubborn person that complains a lot even if it’s only a small inconvenience. He doesn’t like being told what to do and loves to talk about other people behind their back. Typical annoying backstabber that lingers around people like a leech.

Chief: Redall Walker

Age: 46 years old

Personality: hard-working, responsible, logical

Logan is a hardworking, logical, and reliable chief, but the situation pressures him to make hard decisions that made some people hate him. He has the quality to rise to a higher position, but his idealism made him hard to adapt to the political aspect of it.

Story Progression

Since it's an Intro to Act 1, the story will focus on introducing the player, their motivation, and the backstories to give the player an overall understanding before entering the main game. I aimed to give a lingering feeling of surprise and confusion, like ‘Huh? What is that? How?’ In the story. Sudden ambience and tension changes will be crucial aspects in here.

Areas Scope

Because I use this story for my Level Design Project, the entire events that happen should be feasible with my Level Design skill So, I keep it simple by making the story an Intro to Act 1, and everything happen inside a medium-size building.

Mission Flow Version 1

Besides encountering the monsters and transitioning to Taksa Semesta and the Black Puddle, the mission was designed to highlight the player's positive personality and how 'unfortunate' he is to experience those things even though he's a good man. The missions were made to be suitable with the first building flowchart.

After both them were done, I continued to make the first version of the script. In the process of making it, I realize the pace is too fast and doesn’t deliver the intended feeling of the story. So, it must be repaired on the next version.

The entire story happened in the present timeline, so there is no flashback scene or visual that shows something from the past. This way, the player will have first-hand experience of all strange things related to Black Puddle and Taksa Semesta.

The beginning act was used to introduce the player to the character and the backstories, and the tension only grows slowly. But it marginally increases as soon as the conflict arises, when the eyewitness increase transforms into a Black Puddle right in front of the player.

Game Beats Version 1

Mission Flow Version 2

Showing the character's personality is important, but I realized it can be optimized in the scriptwriting process rather than directly put into the mission design.

So, in this version, the mission was made to show more effects of the Black Puddle and Taksa Semesta on the normal world by leading the player to compare their experience when the world is still normal & when it got affected by Taksa Semesta.

Making a script based on the first story beat made me realize the story progression is way too fast and there is too much given information in one go, so it doesn't let the player deeply feel the psychological effects of Taksa Semesta.

And so, this second beat is focused on slowing down the story, reducing the amount of information given to the player, while intensifying the peculiarities of Taksa Semesta to give memorable psychological gameplay.

Game Beats Version 2

Script & Barks

These are some brainstorming notes that I made while making the script. Pardon the unrelated scribbles on the scribbles, as I made them in my collective gamedev sketchbook.

Things I’ve Learned

• All stories and narrative ideas will be an important baseline for the further game development process, so make sure it's feasible and achievable by the team's skills. Be innovative yet grounded all the time.

• Making a story within a theme that we know well works like a wonder. It cuts off the research time and can automatically deepen the narrative. But stay grounded. Keep the curiosity alive, ego can kill ideas.

• Combining real-life cultural aspects is both interesting and tricky. Make sure to deliver the information respectfully without pointing fingers or trashing them to avoid future problems.

• Deepening the story and narrative through exploration and collecting indirect information is gold. Those naturally build the tension and are more interesting compared to laying everything on golden plates.

• Slamming a completely opposite story & narrative of what the player’s accustomed to caused it to become memorable. Use it wisely to accentuate the importance of certain events.

• Planting doubt, such as “There’s no way that happened,” in the player’s mind is often necessary to deepen the tension of the story, especially if the setting heavily leans towards logical thinking.