Silent Hill: Promise :2:

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A while ago, a little bit before Silent Hills: Shattered Memories was announced, I came up with what I still think is a pretty good idea for a Silent Hill game. Its sat on the back burner for as long as it has, because, well, I’m no programmer. I can’t make games, and the energy it would take to learn would suck all the fun out of the project.

I toyed with a few different mediums to tell the story in. The easiest, for me, would have been straight novel/fiction form a medium I’m well acquainted with. The problem is the game was conceived as well, a game, I’d built the interactive element right into the premise, and taking it away, I feel, would take away from the story itself. For a while I resolved to do it as an Alternate Reality Game, a medium I love, and had had some success with in the past. Blog posts, photos, puzzles. But unfortunately, time and budget restraints have kept me from doing it like that.

So I’m thieving a gimmick. A few months ago I lucked onto one of the most amazing “webcomics” ever made. MS Paint Adventures: Problem Sleuth. I could spend a few paragraphs just praising that comic and it’s amazing author/illustrator, but this explanation is way too long already. Let me just say that it is one of my favorite pieces of fiction ever, and if you’re not familiar with it GO READ IT. It’s hilarious, and mind-boggling.
Anyway, MS Paint Adventures uses a format like an old text adventure game from the dawn of computer gaming. Except, instead of having the game all made with a set list of commands usable, he would set up a scene, and let the readers “type in commands” and he’d pick one to further the story. Rinse and repeat.

No one can steal MSPA’s unique brand of mind screw humor. But I’m going to be borrowing the format for a bit (and I’m not the first one) since the medium fits the story I have in mind like a glove. Interactive, but still serial.

So please, help me out. Enter a command.