Synopisis of my Video Game

The basic premise of the game is surrounded by the drive to survive the zombie apocalypse as you follow 2 protagonists who need to work together to eliminate the horde and find shelter and protection, as well as an answer to how the infection became a nationwide catastrophe. Narrative will see the protagonist’s character development towards each other progress so they are more perceptive to their emotions and find themselves connecting with the plot. Over the course of the game, more background information of the characters link to each other and the narrative will become clear, resulting in an eventful and surprising finale.

Reason for infection outbreak:

Zombies are most commonly known and represented in the media as re-animated corpses that feed on their desire for human flesh. With this, the concept of ‘apocalypse’ can take place as they are revered to feed off one human to the next in order to spread their infection, causing their victim to turn into a zombie themselves. The original infection normally spreads from a scientific experiment gone wrong and then the virus to accidently leave the laboratory or its containment, most normally a ‘cure’ for an incurable human disease such as Cancer or HIV/AIDs. I aim to follow this concept of plot development as the development of a lethal virus doesn’t just come from nowhere, but instead from scientific testing.

Plot:

Set in an entirely fictional urban city, a deadly virus will infect the population causing the majority to mutate into blood-craving monsters. The narrative finds our 2 protagonists stuck in the middle of the outbreak needing to fend for themselves. The introduction finds our 2 characters at a celebration parade on a populated street on a bright sunny day. They aren’t with each other, in fact at this point they are completely oblivious to each other’s existence, but are seen with family or friends enjoying their day. The female lead attempts conversation with the male as they stand in line to buy some food, but he turns her away and gets angry, so she storms off and is not seen again. At this point, the control of the protagonists can be taken over by the player and they can explore the surrounding area/buy food and drinks/play a couple of fair games, but when they reach a certain part of the map, a cut scene will appear to show the main character awareness of a woman being kidnapped by a shaded figure. A chase scene ensues during which the player regains control as you hunt down the kidnapper, eventually leading you to find her destroyed corpse at the end of an alleyway. Hooded over her body appears to be a human, but with a rotting smell and disfigured limbs and facial structure. As you approach they let out a terrifying scream and leap out of sight, so completely confused you get back to the parade and join your family. The next morning, you wake up in your home early in the morning and make your way to the kitchen for a drink, but the house is deadly silent so the player is given the freedom to search the home. As you approach your daughters room, you again hear mumbling and the sound of banging and dragging. You enter your daughter’s room and spread on the floor is your wife and child, in the same state as the woman in the alleyway – dead and mutilated. Over them is another deformed figure, but instead of retreating it attacks you. Now the player can use objects around the room to defeat the zombie ultimately by bashing its head in as the known way of killing the ‘dead’ is to destroy any brain functioning. A cut scene shows you rushing to your families side, but you hear more screaming from outside the window, resulting in your looking out onto the street and seeing fire and casualty everywhere and people lay dead in the streets and zombie roam everywhere. Suddenly you hear more fumbling from inside the house so you seize the opportunity to get out of the house instantly. Now the protagonist is making his way through the town with the objective to reach City Hall to find out information on what has happened to the town. The only choice of path is down the same street where the parade happened the day before and as you near the end you notice the alleyway where you chased down the kidnapped woman. You venture down to see if she’s still there, but as you reach the end the body is gone and signs of her body being dragged through its own blood is evidence. Out of the shadows you hear heavy and disgruntled breathing and as you approach it the woman who you saw dead yesterday is alive with a murderous look in her eye. She launches an attack at you and as she pins you to the floor, a loud gun shot is heard and the body falls limply on top of you. Standing in the entrance to the hallway is the woman you denied money to yesterday, and she helps you. She explains her recognition of you and how you seem completely lost and hopeless as you wondered down the street, so she followed you to see if you were okay. You thank her and see that you share the same problem, your families have been killed and you want to go to City Hall to get answers. From here until the end of the game, the 2 protagonists unite together to protect themselves against the zombie attack and find out what has happened to the town, it can be played through 3rd person singularly so the female character is computer controlled but still vital to your survival, or played in split-screen so a local player can join in the game and play together.

Split-screen gameplay in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction

The finale of the game shows their approach to City Hall and the discovery of the Mayor’s office, discriminating documents approving scientific research in the city are laid out on the desk and as you go to pick them up, the door bursts open and in comes the head of the Scientific Discovery Plant ‘CureTec’ with the Mayor on a dog lead in his hand. The Mayor is now clearly an infected member of the zombie horde and as you stare in horror the Scientist tells you all about his plans to save the human race of deadly disease but after he realised that human were greedy and selfish that he could get them to take whatever ‘cure’ he made, resulting in him creating a virus that reanimates the dead to come alive and attack the living. Eventually you have to fight the Mayor who appears to be a ‘special infected’ in the sense that he has smarter functioning, is much quicker and has more health that the average zombie you fought before. After severely wounding him and tossing his lifeless body to the side, you have to now fight the scientist who has injected the formula into himself and is now a hybrid mutated special infected. You fight with him until he dies. After the fight you go to help the Mayor but as you reach him he goes to bite the female lead on the wrist and jumps for the window. She shoots after him, killing him so he falls out of the high window and you take her up into your arms and go for the door, you discuss how you need to go to the Scientific Discovery Plant to find a cure for her before he mutates and as you kick open the City Hall doors, you see that that town you thought was completely dead or killing by your own hands, has in fact come back alive and are doubled in numbers. It then fades out and finishes.

This ending therefore levels the game open to a sequel in which you must make your way to the Discovery Plant.