Classic Evil and Modern Justification
by Aaron Weingartner · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 04/29/2008 (1:51 am) · 1 replies
Well to put this simply i will just start with a run-down then an explanation.
Plot: Psycho scientist discovers a virus which gets picked up for government research and something goes awry, letting the virus loose throughout facility and leaving everyone locked within, seeking a way out as they fight each other and their own mind.
Details: The virus or disease, whatever it ends up being specifically, is a highly adaptive and mostly accidental invention/discovery. It's sources like many viruses came from a less hostile strain that shared a host with another virus/disease (V/D). The two separate parts mingled to form a new virus/disease (V/D) that initially was only observably able to infect humans, though without much or any effect. The V/D quickly however began to settle, infecting it's inventor/discoverer and affecting it's mind. The V/D's effects still weren't very obvious, but they deteriorated the scientist's mind, shifting his personality similar to Phineas Gage.
As a highly intelligent and prior level headed individual, the scientist knew of this shift, noting developed quirks such as a loss of compassion or general sense of interest and an increased feeling of restlessness and desire for physical action which resulted in twitching when not active. What this lead to was a quick quarantine of the V/D and the test subjects as he spent his time studying the effects the virus had upon himself. He quickly found that the lack of compassion and desire lead to an increasingly amoral thought pattern which he had no power to control, and also saw the problem it may pose for himself should he need to interact with the greater public.
Painstakingly, he learned to regulate how he behaved by constantly placing reason before action, though this was only to be used as a mask to publish his study on the V/D and receive government funding to develop the virus. His personal intentions being to create several strains of the virus that he may use to infect others, both to find entertainment as well as begin the future obliteration and replacement of world order. To escape with the virus , the scientist makes sure the facility has a full lock down system and routes that he can bypass the system in order to escape before support can move in to secure the facility.
Plot: Psycho scientist discovers a virus which gets picked up for government research and something goes awry, letting the virus loose throughout facility and leaving everyone locked within, seeking a way out as they fight each other and their own mind.
Details: The virus or disease, whatever it ends up being specifically, is a highly adaptive and mostly accidental invention/discovery. It's sources like many viruses came from a less hostile strain that shared a host with another virus/disease (V/D). The two separate parts mingled to form a new virus/disease (V/D) that initially was only observably able to infect humans, though without much or any effect. The V/D quickly however began to settle, infecting it's inventor/discoverer and affecting it's mind. The V/D's effects still weren't very obvious, but they deteriorated the scientist's mind, shifting his personality similar to Phineas Gage.
As a highly intelligent and prior level headed individual, the scientist knew of this shift, noting developed quirks such as a loss of compassion or general sense of interest and an increased feeling of restlessness and desire for physical action which resulted in twitching when not active. What this lead to was a quick quarantine of the V/D and the test subjects as he spent his time studying the effects the virus had upon himself. He quickly found that the lack of compassion and desire lead to an increasingly amoral thought pattern which he had no power to control, and also saw the problem it may pose for himself should he need to interact with the greater public.
Painstakingly, he learned to regulate how he behaved by constantly placing reason before action, though this was only to be used as a mask to publish his study on the V/D and receive government funding to develop the virus. His personal intentions being to create several strains of the virus that he may use to infect others, both to find entertainment as well as begin the future obliteration and replacement of world order. To escape with the virus , the scientist makes sure the facility has a full lock down system and routes that he can bypass the system in order to escape before support can move in to secure the facility.
About the author
Aaron Weingartner
Now to describe the two main plot devices.
The V/D: more or less what we see out of most viruses and diseases, just taken to an elevated level in that it is more adaptive and divisible than other real life ones. The main thing to note is that once someone is infected with the V/D, they can not be infected with alternate versions of the strain. Initially the virus does very little and it is hard to notice it's effects, which is the version that affects the scientist. The later version of the strain that gets released in the facility has the same basic effects, but is much stronger because it has time to evolve. Future strains incorporate other things like rapid physical mutations and environmental infection. Never does the V/D remove the individuals ability to think on one level or another, they are left with at least basic logic capacity in comparison to something like zombies which only tend to have an overriding sense of hunger and aggression. The aggression displayed by others quite frequently have to be incited or is actually not real but instead another perceiving a threat due to the V/D clouding their mind.
Scientist: The situation here is that the person is relatively balanced in that they are intelligent and have a good common sense and sense of self. What happens is a very subtle and slight decay of the scientist's personality which makes him in general more apathetic to most things while emphasizing certain aspects of his personality which lends themselves comparably to the psyche found in sadists and those with antisocial disorder. As the V/D spreads and settles within the scientist, he becomes both aware and accepting of it, becoming a wholly more evil individual. This leads to the plan of developing the virus further and then using it to both torment and rule over others.
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You would play as one of the more or less unsuspecting test subjects, getting infected like everyone else when the scientist triggers the facility lock down. As your main goal is to escape, the goal would be used to put you on a similar path to the one the scientist is using, which means you find out about what he has planned, which would then turn the situation into a hunt for the scientist as well as a hunt for the escape as everything you know about the world crumbles around you.
As is I actually plan this as a series, so the scientist actually escapes and the world does more or less become corrupted, but not without hope. The main intention then following the scientist and his spiral down into both a mental and physical form of hell personalized to his taste. I will also factor in the concept that some people may be resilient to the V/D and see minimized impact or immunity and how that will affect the outcome of the plot progression.