Carnival Ages
Quest sample
Premise
A futuristic world with a carnival-esque and circus aesthetic where people need applause to live.
It will be a first-person game in which the protagonist’s conflict forces her to remove the makeup from the clowns’ faces with a micellar water gun(FPS).
Backstory
This world is inhabited by beings that are similar to humans but they feed on applause. It’s a specific movement, not just any applause, and not everyone can perform it correctly. Thus, there have always been groups of people dedicated to distributing these applause.
Due to an Arctic thaw, a bacteria known as Antas began to reproduce uncontrollably, causing, upon contact with the air, erosion of the skin and severe hormonal imbalances. These effects brought profound depression to the world, leading to an economy centralized around protection against this bacteria. The most effective measures were full suits, masks, stockings, wigs, etc. Consequently, not wearing enough layers or having large masks over the years became a symbol of sickness and low status.
At a certain point, technological advances allowed for the development of antaproof makeup. From the late Victorian era onwards, makeup and disguise became the only acceptable ways to dress one’s face in public. The less human and more spectacular one appeared, the better.
Culturally, hormonal imbalances upon exposure to the bacteria changed everyone’s character to a much more irritable and depressive one, whose dopamine was completely dependent on laughter. That was the reason why circuses became the center of all public life. Performing, comedy, clowns were all one could aspire to.
Gradually, everything that changed due to the existence of Anta became irrefutable dogmas revered by society. Centuries passed, and the world turned into a big circus: any activity, no matter how small, could never be done without a joke or a trick. It was absolutely necessary because laughter prevented irritability and, if they didn’t laugh or make others laugh… they could die.
The economy has grown around laughter and applause. Their excess or lack determines how much longer they can live, so it’s vital to follow the standards of what’s amusing. Over the past centuries, those who have decided these standards are the clowns, who have ascended the laughter chain to achieve the highest honor: learning the art of applause. Few have this immense power, but they all gather in what they call The Company, and this, in turn, dictates the world’s rules.
Conflict
For centuries, The Company has been transmitting its dogmas based on the effects of Anta on all the planet’s inhabitants. But in the midst of a technological revolution, a girl named Alma is born, and she doesn’t seem to have irritability issues neither enjoy the average comedy. Her family only wants her to become a clown like her grandfather, but everything changes with her first big performance at 16. During that performance, she falls off the trampoline and breaks her mask, revealing to the audience that she doesn’t have any makeup or instant burns after exposure to the bacteria. This causes uproar among the spectators, who now question the need for makeup and masks. Even the need for laughter to receive applause.
The Company silences the incident, and Alma is forced to flee. From this moment on, she changes her mask to continue receiving applause while escaping from the clowns. Over the years, she discovers another case like hers and begins to wonder if Anta is still a problem and what The Company is hiding. At 27, she founds a refuge group for those immune individuals like her, pursued with the intention of revealing what the clowns are hiding.
Factions
Refugees
Resistance group against the laws established by The Company. This group created by Alma seeks to defend themselves from the exclusive and conditional distribution of applause. Its objective is to ensure that all beings have access to food and that their punishment is not to starve to death.
In this organization there are Company defectors who help them move in the shadows. There are also people with abnormal resistance to Anta.
To achieve their goal they will free the prisoners of the regime and overthrow the elitist system built by The Company.
The Company
Those who have ascended the laughter chain and have mastered the art of applause are invited to become members of The Company. This institution have the power to dictate laws and distribute applause to the ‘public’ (the average inhabitants). Since they don’t teach the art of clapping to just anyone, they control who has access to them. So if you don’t follow their mandates your punishment is to starve to death.
In addition, they are currently using those children who are resistant to the Anta to experiment in search of other substances for them to monopolize.
Summary
Alma receives information about a circus that has «collapsed» and goes herself to investigate if it’s related to another immune individual. There, she tries to move among the debris when she finds a wounded person who, grateful, tells her that he heard groans coming from the stage.
On her way, a patrol of clowns tries to cut her off as they intend to take away all the survivors to silence them. Once she manages to reach the stage, she finds an immune boy, Nico, whom she convinces to flee. Finally, she has to defeat more clowns while covering the child to get out. Upon succeeding, Nico tells her that there are many more children like them held captive in The Company’s offices.
Mood
The catastrophic atmosphere should be as impressive as it is unsettling for the player: even though they know the objective, the field of vision is not clear, so the player should feel like a prey and a hunter at the same time. As they interact with Nico, the player will go from feeling hopeful upon finding him to feeling even more horrified by The Company’s actions.
Characters
- ALMA
- VICTIM 1
- NICO
Flowchart
The conditions present in the gameplay cycle of this mission are:
- Interaction with characters or objects
- Killing enemies
- Avoiding enemies
- Covering a NPC
Parts of the quest
Part 1- Entrance
Alma arrives at the circus in question, but all she can see is dust, debris, and moans. A reddish light floods the area from the flames of the spotlights. In a low voice, she remarks how similar it is to her own accident years ago. A small collapse interrupts her thoughts, allowing her to hear moans from what used to be the entrance, now blocked by rubble. Alma searches for a way through the debris to reach the location of the victim.
Part 2- The victim
The victim is an elderly woman, whose leg has become trapped between the ticket booth at the entrance and the establishment’s rules sign. The woman desperately begs for help, but Alma can’t lift those debris alone, so she starts searching for something to use as a lever. Behind her, she finds a metal bar with which she manages to pry open the debris long enough to pull her out of there in a hurry. However, she barely manages it, catching her pants by the calf and tearing them. Her skin was exposed, yet unaffected by Anta. Upon seeing this, the victim becomes frightened and shouts that Alma is also a monster like the child on stage. Alma doesn’t have time to explain herself as the woman, limping, starts screaming for The Company while fleeing.
Part 3- The clowns patrol
Alma begins to walk in the opposite direction of the victim, following the lights that still point to the scene. She tries to be stealthy, but a group of four clowns has already spotted her. She avoids their shots using the debris as cover and takes out all four of them. Finally, she reaches the stage but doesn’t see anyone, just a hole in the center.
Part 4- Nico’s proof
As Alma ventures into the mezzanine, her first reaction is to search for something to illuminate with. She finds a broken flashlight along with more equipment from the theatre coworkers and sets off. She can feel someone around her, so she clarifies aloud that she comes in peace while shining her light around, following the sound of footsteps. At a certain moment, she finds the person with the light and asks them not to run away. It’s a young boy with a wounded arm, a broken mask, and an intact face. The boy asks who she is and if she also intends to harm him, but despite Alma’s assurance that she only wants to get him out of there, the boy doesn’t trust her since the clowns told him the same thing. Alma tells him she’s willing to do anything to prove she’s trustworthy and explains that she’s been through the same thing he has. The boy responds that if that’s true, she should take off her mask and give him her water gun so he can shoot her in the face and prove that her face isn’t affected if her makeup disappears. Alma agrees, and once he verifies that it was true, he reveals that his name is Nico. Feeling calmer, Alma asks him how he thinks is the best way to get out of that place.
Part 5- The escape
The best area to escape is through the dressing room exit, but to reach it, they’ll have to eliminate the clowns patrolling the stage area. Alma covers Nico with a piece of curtain and carries him from cover to cover while taking out all the clowns in the area. When they reach what’s left of the dressing rooms, they realize that the leader of those clowns is still there, so Alma will have to use the pieces of broken mirrors from the vanity tables to aim without causing any harm to Nico. Once they defeat him, they leave the remains of the circus and hide while Alma calls for a drive from her team.
Part 6- The disclosure
At the moment Alma calls for pick-up, Nico thanks her for everything she’s done and confesses that he didn’t want to end up in one of the company’s chambers. Surprised, Alma asks what that place is, and visibly frightened, Nico responds that many children have disappeared in the city. Rumors say that those who fail their debut are subjected to improvement procedures within The Company, and nobody knows what they do to them, but they’re never seen again. As Alma prepares to ask more, a car appears, telling them to get in quickly. Nico is terrified, so Alma looks at him tenderly and invites him to get in, assuring him that she’ll get to the bottom of all this.