Daria - the adventure game

OK, maybe opening a new thread will help. I want to create a Daria adventure game. The list at the end of this message contains my ideas so far. I don't mind designing most of the game myself but you have to give me at least some idea of what you want to see in that game. I don't want to spend my time creating a storyline that everyone considers crap afterwards (like leather-suit Daria looking for love). So, PLEASE, give me something to work with. What do you think about the time-travel idea? What about the trip-around-the-world idea? Any general ideas how to get Daria to do either? Any other ideas? I'm not going to stop nagging until someone gives me some feedback, even if it's only "Shut up, nobody wants a Daria adventure game. We want a Doom TC with Daria." MSB

List of ideas for Daria adventure game -Monkey Island style, i.e. old LucasArts style (this is a reality check. If ideas get more complicated than this, the project gets to complex for hobbyists) -Conversations like Sam and Max, i.e. you don't select the actual line to say but rather the direction of the conversation by clicking on a picture. -Monkey Island style fights with sarcastic remarks instead of insults.

-time travel like in Day of the Tentacle (DOTT) -journey around the world, all kinds of politically incorrect jokes and stereotypes about the countries she visits -a main part of solving the game should be clever teamwork between the game characters. These would be at least Daria and Jane. -Control would be either the Sam and Max way, i.e. Jane's a sidekick that follows you around and can be controlled only indirectly or the DOTT way, giving you full control over both. Maybe a mixture would be good. When they are separated you get to control of both, when they're together you control only Daria.

In article , [email] (Matthias Benkmann) wrote:

If you can, take a look at "Beavis and Butt-head in Virtual Stupidity." A very, very cool game that's as funny as a B&B episode, but this one you control.

The name is actually kind of misleading...there are some incredible puzzles and involved actions you need to go through in exact sequence to get anywhere in the game. If it wasn't for the gah-damn cheat sheet I wouldn't have gotten all the way to the ending of the game and seen Daria let Beavis and Butt-Head out of the trunk of Todd's car.

The way the two characters are controlled is actually kinda neat...there are things Butt-head does and things Beavis does, and you are never sure who's going to do what. Except for things that are integral to their nature...for one thing, there's a part where you have to get Beavis to drink gallons of coffee to turn into Cornholio to get something accomplished.

A Daria adventure game designed in a similar fashion, with good dialogue, funny situations and smart quips flying, would rule. Oh yeah, and you don't have to totally abandon the Daria Doom thing...just put in a "mini-game" where Daria gets to play a 1st person shooter and blow away Ms. Li, Upchuck and other annoyances. There are four such mini-games in "Virtual Stupidity."

Only catch: VS is OUT OF PRINT, because Viacom New Media was shut down something like two years ago. GT has optioned the four mini-games but AFAIK they haven't re-released the intact game.

--.\\<-H--

Yeah you'd have to use the internet or find it in a used software store or something. Of course some people (like me) probly have an old copy lying around that hasn't been used for years....

Ah, theres also a new one called something like B+B score with college, or something like that, if anyone's interested :)

Ummm... how well can you program? Point and click is hard. Very hard.... But, if you're that good :)

On Sun, 15 Aug 1999 19:41:08 +0100, "Greg Pallis" wrote:

Let's just say my graduation work for high-school was a simulator for molecular dynamics in 3D-space written in 100% pure assembly language (about 500 A4 sheets of paper when printed out). I did it in 6 months time completely from scratch, window system, mouse handling, x-mode graphics, texture-mapping, everything. And I'm talking about DOS here, i.e. no fancy .DLLs that do all the work for you. Please try the program. Even if you're not into physics it's a hell of a lot of fun to play with. You know, the particles are displayed as colorful smileys. Just load the example files that come with the program, push start and watch the show. It's so cute. And if you want to get a bit deeper into it, try the examples found at the end of the manual. You would do me a great favor by reading it, anyway. After all, it has taken me quite a lot of time to translate it into English. The program can be downloaded from http://www.cip.physik.uni-muenchen.de/~benkmann

MSB

p.s.: If you're running the program under Windows, you should make a link to it and configure it for full-screen. Do not task switch or allow the screensaver while running it. Some mediocre Windows graphics drivers cannot restore the mode-x I'm using in the program.

Stagger slightly, fall over :)

On Mon, 16 Aug 1999 15:49:56 +0100, "Greg Pallis" wrote:

Normally, I don't brag about my skills but I thought it might be necessary this time to convince everybody that this game is not just a silly idea by some over-ambitious fan who doesn't know what he's talking about. What I'm saying is that if this project doesn't become reality, it won't be a programming issue.

Okay, now that I've (hopefully) convinced everyone that I can create such a game, would somebody please give me some feedback on my storyline questions? MSB

On Sun, 15 Aug 1999 18:26:09 GMT, [email] (Matthias Benkmann) wrote:

Another idea for the game: -do it in Java for maximum portability. I haven't tried Java, yet, but as I understand it, it has everything you need for a LucasArts style game(i.e. graphics and mouse support) and since an adventure is not an action game it should be fast enough, too. This would also add the fascinating possibility of playing the game directly over the Internet with any modern web browser which is great for promoting the game. MSB (who hopes he can live without multiple inheritance)

On Mon, 16 Aug 1999 18:04:19 GMT, [email] (Matthias Benkmann) wrote:

One problem with Java: performance. Any significant program written in Java requires substantial resources (on the order of 128+ megs of RAM as a start) and a fast machine to be able to do anything more complicated than a battleship style game. That said I don't have a real answer to the portability issue unfortunately, considering there is a substantial number of people in this community running on Macs or Linux in addition to Windows. Anyone good at doing ports? :)

Damon Orca on #Stars!

In article , [email] (Damon Domjan) wrote:

Another possibility nobody has discussed: building the whole game in Macromedia Director. Director is cross-platform and has the possibility of "write once run anywhere" at least as far as Windows 16bit, Windows 32 bit and Mac is concerned.

I don't know about Director support for Linux but I suspect some Linux geek somewhere is working on it as we speak.

--.\\<-H--

In article , Michelle Klein-Hass wrote:

at the very least, if in the end you must go windoz only, check for compatability with the emulators such as virtual PC, etc.

On Mon, 16 Aug 1999 17:04:02 -0700, Invid Fan wrote:

To make this clear from the beginning. I WILL NOT develop for Windows. I have abandoned DOS not so long ago and faced with the decision of either moving to Linux or to Windows, I chose Linux. If this game ever gets made, it will be under Linux. Windows will be a port. MSB

[email] (Michelle Klein-Hass) wrote:

Actually, Director can output to Java as well-- but I think that there are Macromedia plug-ins and projectors for Linux, anyway.

And, if you're wondering, yes-- I've been fiddling with Director-- it's a great program for creating your own cartoons, too. IIRC, Spumco created their series of Jimmy The Idiot Boy cartoons using either Director or Flash... I forget.

animatedly, rich.

Quinn: I can't be a brain! My friends will hate me!

In article , [email] wrote:

Spumco used Flash 3 for the extant chapters of "Babysitting The Idiot".

--.\\<-H--

Okay... I'll provide some feedback :)

Matthias Benkmann wrote in message ...

Cool. But try to resist making it too linear. My fave LucasArts is Zak McKraccken from '88 simply because, evrytime you need to use an object with something, another object roughly the same shape worked fine. This was a good thing :)

Yeah! Good idea. There's loads of very good dialougers here, so...

See Daria Doom, really. A great subgame idea, but....

Definately! A "REAL" medieval fair would be fun :)

Sure okay, but having both might be hard....

Yeah, I like that :) All in all, sounds cool :) I'll help with any non-programmy bit that's needed, like plot or something.

Go Team Rocket! GoGoGo!

On Tue, 17 Aug 1999 09:50:09 +0100, "Greg Pallis" wrote:

My current plans are to do it similar to Maniac Mansion. At the beginning of the game you choose which team you want to play (DJ,DQ,DT,JQ,JT,TQ) and depending on that choice you'll have different ways of solving the puzzles (and most of all, different dialogs). I just hope I can find an at least somewhat plausible way of setting up Quinn and Trent storywise. But I think it would be cool. Trent- Hey, Daria's sister. Quinn- I have a name! Trent- Yeah, Daria's sister.

If you want both, I can arrange that. My deranged mind can find an explanation for everything.

Now seriously, I've opted for the trip-around-the-world idea. I'll push the 2 characters all around the globe with completely ridiculous plots. Want samples of my silly plot ideas? D&J somehow get to France where Daria is arrested for stealing the Mona Lisa. Other plot ideas include Jane joining a group of Libyan terrorists, Daria getting in bed with Trent (in the US version, nothing will happen, of course *taunt*), Quinn refusing to get in bed with Trent, Jane and Daria at a nude beach (not in the US version of the game, of course *provocate*) and and and.... These are just ideas. The actual plot will be different. It's just to show you the direction this will be going if you burden me with writing the complete storyline myself.

Good. Post any plot ideas (even small fragments) you have. MSB

course

Keep this up and no one will download the US version!

let's see plot ideas....plot ideas.....

-Whoever's w/ Quinn will have to occasionally get rid of the 3 j's (who will undoubtedly still be swarming around here, no matter where you take here)

-celebrity cameos whould be cool. We'd all like to see Leo DeCrappo get some abuse from Daria.

-teams I'd like to see: Helen/Jake (think of all the great arguements!) Mr. D/anybody! come on, who wouldn't want to see Mr. D go off!

On Tue, 17 Aug 1999 10:53:46 -0400, "Bob Ohler" wrote:

What? But I'm just trying to help US parents protect their kids :-) But seriously. This US-incited panic towards all kinds of nudity on the Internet is a real problem. Not even German providers of free webspace will allow nudity (at least not those that I've checked). It's ridiculous. I can't put material on a German website that I have digitized from German daytime tv. This means that unless I pay for webspace (which I won't) any nude scenes will be cut out of _any_ version that gets on the Internet. I think a lot of the folks here on atd would consider nudity inappropriate for a Daria game anyway.

Why get rid of them? USE them for something. That's a good idea for a Quinn specific puzzle. Unfortunately I really don't see how the 3 J's could follow Quinn. First of all they'd have to find out where Quinn is and then they'd have to pay a flight to get there. I think even they won't be that crazy. What do you think? But of course, they can be in the part of the game that plays in Lawndale.

Good idea. Write some dialog and I'll put it in. It shouldn't be hard to fit him into the game. He could be shooting a movie anywhere in the world.

I think writing puzzles and dialogs for 6 teams is more than enough. And for D,J,Q and T most of the plot can be reused with minor changes whereas Helen and Jake and adults in general would require completely different puzzles and storyline which would increase the effort tremendously. Of course, if YOU write their part of the game, I don't have a problem with it. MSB

You want story ideas MSB? Here's some:

-Daria and Jane go to Australia where they run into 'crocidile dundee' and get into missadventures dealing with kangaroos and Kiowala bears.

-In England, they must distract the palace guards (Quinn would use a short skirt, Daria would use sarcastic remarks, etc) They have to visit big ben, and ride on one of those double deck buses.

-In Paris a trip to the Eiffel Tower, Quinn being grossed out by girls w/ hairy armpits.

-In Japan, something involving Godzilla or Ninjas (we know Japan is just SWARMING with ninjas!)

-In Germany, they have to stop a hungry crowd at Octoberfest from consuming poisoned beer. (They need to find a dog who looks like a skunk, and then tell him about all the free beer and sausages), and the source of this...

-In Canada, they should meet up with Bob & Doug McKinnsey, put on hats, drink beer and eat backbaccon, and say 'eh' a lot.

-going back to the US, they could go to yellowstone park, Admire the auto flushing toilets, then end up on a busload of nuns. (hmm seen that one somewhere before)

-If you need an 'All over' plot (ie...WHY are they running all over the planet) Here's my idea for that...Brittany gets arrested because the authorities think she's "Carmen Sandiego" (I've never played one of these but I know she gets chased all over the globe) Remember in "Lab Brat when Brittany was wearing the hat & coat to go to Upchucks? She looked A LOT like Carmen! So Brittany is arrested on suspition of being Carmen, and Ms. Li demands that all LAWNDALE HIGH students (and staff) MUST try to clear Brittanys name.

OF course, if I wasn't so increadably lazy, I'd make a "Daria" Text adventure. That's about the level of my programing skills.

Good luck w/ the game!

Well, you could have the entire school go on a 2-3 week trip (Every year, advanced students in Spanish and French class took a trip to Spain and France respectively when I was in high school). Teachers, parents, etc. went along. So, you could work in any characters through this device. Maybe introduce a story line with Ms Li setting the trip up as a cover to smuggle weapons into the country after the dogs die or something...Anything to <ms li voice>bring honor to laawndale hiigh</ms li> Daria's job is to stop her. Anyway, I think it should be limited to Europe or a city in Europe (Or New York, for that matter\What if Val invited all of Lawndale to New York?). The backgrounds will probably be more work than expected (I'm no artist, but I've worked with them a number of times in that programmer-artist mode), and the more countries you have, the more backgrounds will have to be constructed. Plus, it needs an Austin Powers cameo <grin>

Larry

On 8/17/99, 10:31:36 PM, "Bob Ohler" wrote regarding Re: Daria - the adventure game:

and

short

ben,

w/

just

consuming

then

this...

hats,

auto

one

the

these

when

LOT

and Ms.

clear

On Wed, 18 Aug 1999 05:07:02 GMT, Larry Klein wrote:

But I like the all-around-the-world idea. I hope that once the whole game design is done, I'll find enough artists to help doing the backgrounds. MSB

On Tue, 17 Aug 1999 23:31:36 -0400, "Bob Ohler" wrote:

AT LAST! AT LAST! EUREKA! THANKS, PAL! <MSB hugs Bob violently>

I like that, I didn't have any ideas for down-under, yet.

Aren't these guys trained to withstand that?

I need more of those characteristic things for other countries.

Dammit, that joke again. I hear it on Jay Leno all the time, where does that crap come from. Our annual family trip is almost always to France and I never ever noticed any hairy armpits. Do you want to know what's really bad about French girls. They all smoke!

For Japan I thought about Yakuza (more likely than Ninja) and kinky sex (a Japanese might offer Daria money for posing in a schoolgirl or bunny costume).

Bavarian beer is the best in the world. It's brewed according to the toughest rules. You confuse Bavaria with Belgium and beer with Coke (I hope you've heard about that poisoned Coke scandal in Belgium, and the poisoned egg scandal they had and of course the child porn ring that included politicians). And besides. Even Daria could not stop _that_ crowd.

Could you explain that? What's so special about our dogs? And if there's one thing you WON'T find on the Oktoberfest, it's something FREE.

Could you explain that in more detail. Who are these guys?

auto-flushing toilets? Argh, you just remind me of those they have at the Cinema Muenchen. The sensor is too high, so everytime I move my head slightly this thing flushes underneath me. YUCK!

You should take a look at rec.arts.int-fiction and try one of the int.fic. authoring tools they talk about. The most advanced if I remember correctly is HTML-TADS which allows you to use HTML-tags to improve the output. And while you're trying TADS, take a look at "The Plant" which was made by the author of TADS. It's a great game. MSB

In article , [email] (Matthias Benkmann) wrote:

This is a reference to the movie "Beavis And Butt-Head Do America."

--.\\<-H--

EEEWWW! GET your Big, Sweaty hands off me!

the octoberfest theme was lifted from a movie called "Strange Brew" it was based on 2 characters created on SC-TV called Bob & Doug McKinnsey. It stared Rick Morranois & Dave Thomas (NOT the one who owns Wendys!)

I STILL think Brittany looks like Carmen Sandiogo.

That really is a top idea :) However, Doing it like that is bascically writing 6 different games, so why not make one game, but with an ever-changing line-up? Ferinstance, in Spain, Jane is gored by a bull and must go to hospital. But, the specialist is busy drinking, and won't come, so Daria calls Quinn, who's in the area, obviously, to get his attention. Thus now you're playing with DQ.... Then Jane recovers, but Daria is abducted by Potugeuse Stalinists, or whatever, so....

"Greg Pallis" wrote:

That sounds like a Most Excellent Idea-- that way, you can even have Daria and Brittany solving crimes in Kazakhstan, where they run into each other--- Daria is looking for Jane, who's off in Japan for some reason or another, and Brittany is insrtucting at a cheerleading camp in Kazakhstan, in an effort to spread cheer throughout the world, when they get the news that Kevin has wandered off in the general vicinity of the Cosmodrome, and they must stop him before he wanders onto the next rocket bound for Mir. ;-) (I said lunch, not launch! <g>)

This has the potential to get really twisted. ;-)

rich.

Jane: You're a twisted little cruller, ain't'cha?

[email] (paperpusher) wrote:

I just had a thought-- Jon, our resident Space Ranger, could even help us out WRT to that plotline. ;-) Only how Kevin would get inside the capsule of an Energia is beyond me...

rich.

Helen: Bureaucracy is the price we pay for impartiality.

Jake: Jefferson!

Helen: Stalin.

[email] wrote:

hehe.. I don't think Kevin would stand a snowball's chance in hades of getting anywhere close to a Russian launch site, they're not as open as the US.

I do see Kevin trying to enlist in the Space Rangers after reading our recruitment poster tho...

Kevin-"Look babe, it says 'We don't want airheads, we want people pulling a vacuum'. I'm a natural!".

On Wed, 18 Aug 1999 09:37:23 GMT, [email] wrote:

That depends. $10 can buy you a lot in poor Russia ("You wantink plutonium? I gettink plutonium for you. You wantink lead canister, too?") MSB

LOL A lot of the folks who work in my building are involved with the THAAD program, Theater High Altitude Area Defense. A defense against scud types of attacks. Whenever I read about X ammount of fissionable material was intercepted by some CIA type group, I want to send an e-mail to one of our mucky-mucks asking when we are going to start work on a Theater Briefcase Defense.

On Tue, 17 Aug 1999 21:29:47 GMT, [email] (paperpusher) wrote:

Though this may change with the weather, at the moment I'd prefer a less crazy storyline. I don't want the game to become too ridiculous. MSB

On Tue, 17 Aug 1999 19:37:38 +0100, "Greg Pallis" wrote:

Have you played Maniac Mansion? Most of the game stays the same (yoohoo, a rhyme, I like rhymes). The differences are only in the details. For instance, if a puzzle included convincing a band to take the team with them on their tour bus, Trent would solve that by talking to them about music, since he is a musician, too. Quinn would solve that same problem using her charms. As you see, the plot stays the same, only the dialogs differ. That way it remains possible to do this as part of a hobbyist project. About a changing line-up: I will write down that idea. If it can be fitted in logically I don't see any reason not to do it at some point. However, it would be kind of a problem for Quinn to get the money for a flight to Paris for instance (but she might get hired as a stewardess). But it would work with Trent, I think. On second thought, Quinn could be in Paris by chance. Sandi might have taken the whole fashion club to a field trip into one of the world's fashion capitals. I guess Sandi's mom might sponsor such a trip to show off how much money she makes and how much she supports her daughter. If I remember correctly, she does compete with Helen in these 2 respects. Yes, I think this fashion club trip is at least as plausible as some other stuff we've seen on the show, don't you agree?

This brings up an important topic. It is extremely hard for me to fit the show's characters into the trip-around-the-world storyline, so I need ideas, like the above for the fashion club, to do it. I also have an idea for Ms. Li. I thought about using a Ms. Li lookalike as head of the prison one of the characters ends up in. The Lanes are spread all about the globe anyway so fitting them in won't be a problem (I could pick up some threads from Lane Miserables). The whole thing will most likely take place during some school break so the teachers might spend their vacation somewhere (which countries/places would be most appropriate for whom? Tell me what you think.) Please, if anyone has ideas how to get any other characters involved, post them. MSB

Have you ever played any of the games out of the Zork series? In case you have not, Zork games generally use really strange logic to solve twisted puzzles and are often quite funny. In some Zork games (Return to Zork), the adventurer gets to communicate with other characters through emotions instead of actual words. All Zork games require the adventurer to use obscure objects to solve puzzles. (One of my favorite examples of this is borrowing a box of bras, burning it to get the underwire, and using the underwire to pick a lock in order to get the prize in a box of cereal inside the store! Don't ask...don't ask.) I think a mix between Zork and Monkey Island would be best suited to Daria.

-----> Violator's Toad <-----

On Tue, 17 Aug 1999 16:09:53 GMT, Violator's Toad wrote:

I started with the 1st one and I think I also tried the 3rd. Bored me to death after some minutes. Unless you have childhood-memories connected to them, I don't think they're fit for the 21st century. Note that this doesn't apply to the interactive fiction (i.e. text adventure) genre in general. I've played two very recent freeware titles (Photopia and The Plant, both (c)1998 I think) not so long ago. They are really good. Way better than anything Infocom ever produced, I'm sure (please, no flame war, especially not if you haven't tried Photopia and The Plant). MSB

In article ,

insults.

case

Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of the newer graphic oriented Zork games. I tried playing one of the text based ones once, and I didn't really like it a whole lot. Actually, Zork Nemesis was way too much like Myst and would probably be too complex anyway.

-----> Violator's Toad <-----

If anyone is looking for a really GOOD, and hilarious, freeware text adventure, my favorite is "Humbug." You can find it for download in numerous places on the web. It's downright addictive, and I still haven't finished it. Amazingly difficult game. Great replay value though. It's a British game, so it's got a lot of Brit humor in it--bizzare stuff. Made(Makes!) me laugh out loud constantly. For example, there's a giant clockwork shark named Kevin who you have to clean up your hair and nails for (must be spick 'n span! Oh, and say "Please!") before he'll let you take the fake ivory caddy off the table so you can get the toffee out of it and do--er, I forget, with it. :-D

--Jess.

I want to thank everyone who has posted in this thread so far. Even though no one posted any real storyline ideas (come on, you can do better, where are all those fanfic writers?), just the talking has given me a lot of new ideas. Please keep talking, guys. I need inspiration. MSB

I write this message to tell you that I have started working on the Trent/Quinn-plot. I do this one first because it is the biggest challenge and promises to be one of the highlights of the game. They're just the perfect couple.

Please help me fill in a few gaps in the storyline. First, let's start with the plot-skeleton so far: The player starts controlling Quinn and the game begins with a bit of her usual life in Lawndale. At some point the FC gets the idea to do a field trip to Milano or Paris (these are the world's two most important fashion capitals, aren't they?). The question is now, how to get the money for the trip. Possibility 1: use competition between Sandi's mom and Helen to make them sponsor the trip ("Sandi's mom supports her daughter's activities and being so successful she can afford to pay for that trip. Why can't you be more like her, mom?") Possibility 2: get money from somewhere (sub-plot) Possibility 3: get hired as a temporary stewardess (side note: in case someone hasn't noticed, yet, the game will be non-linear, so more than 1 possibility may be in the game)

Questions (I need your help, here!): a) Where will the FC stay? There has to be some adult watching over the kids, who will that be? Helen and Linda don't have time/motivation and the girl's are all under 18. Should I just invent some distant relative of Sandi,Tiffany or Stacy. What's Sandi's and Linda's accent meant to be anyway. If it's French, that would be a good reason for having relatives in France. Anyone got a better idea? b) What do we know about Tiffany's and Stacy's parents? I guess they're not poor, either, considering the fact that their daughters can afford a lot of clothes and Lawndale being a wealthy neighbourhood in general. What's your opinion? Will T and S both find a way to finance that trip? If not, a sub-plot of the game could be Quinn organizing a collection for getting the rest of the money.

In any case, for some reason Quinn misses the flight and gets to be alone at the airport (Of course Helen has an important meeting so that Daria has to drive Quinn, Q doesn't want D to get into the airport with her lest they might be seen together). Of course, Quinn doesn't just go home again. She decides to take another flight. There is no direct flight to Paris/Milano so she has to take a flight to Berlin where she'll have to stay for a day until the connection flight takes off (she doesn't realize that at this point, though!). Enter Trent: I haven't decided, yet, if Trent will get a Lawndale plot, too but in any case he ends up on that same plane. Again, I need your help. Why does Trent take a flight to Berlin? I thought about the following: c) The whole band might be going there. I don't have a plausible reason for it, yet, because flying the whole band there is not cheap. Anyone has ideas? d) One of the other Lanes could be there. Maybe Penny. After her native crafts stand in Costa Rica was wiped out by a Volcano (see #308) she might have picked up the crazy idea of selling Berlin-wall memorabilia to tourists (I think I could get some good jokes out of this). This still leaves open the question why Trent would have to go there. PLEASE think about it. Unlike idea c) we can reuse this plot for Jane which doubles its value (don't forget, the other teams need stories, too, we must try to keep the stories together, 6 different games are too much work!).

At this point we got Trent and Quinn together in the same plane in seats next to each other (I love that conversation already!). After they land in Berlin, Quinn is told that her connection flight to Paris/Milano takes off tomorrow. Reluctantly she joins Trent because it's the only thing she can do. After all she's a 15-year old girl who has to spend a day and a night in a foreign country. Now we're in the middle of the Berlin-plot that I'll work out later, depending on whether we go with c) or d) (or any better idea, if someone has one). At this point the player's control shifts from Quinn to Trent who has a really hard time watching over Quinn while getting his own stuff (see c) and d) above) done. I think everyone agrees with me that Trent will feel a certain responsibility for "Daria's sister" so he'll not just let her get into trouble.

Well, that's it for now. Please think about problems a)-d) and post ideas. Of course, I won't reject unrelated ideas but in order to drive this project ahead, I think it would be better to get from random brainstorming to actual storyline creation. MSB

On Wed, 18 Aug 1999 21:17:03 GMT, [email] (Matthias Benkmann) wrote:

<snip game story details>

This sounds like it would be great as a fanfic :) Why not try that first?

On Wed, 18 Aug 1999 23:08:58 GMT, [email] (Nicole Lee) wrote:

This IS fanfic. INTERACTIVE FANFIC! MSB

Who does Helen usually trust with Babysitting-Quinn chores? Daria of course! This would handily also explain why she's around, too. I was always certain Sandi was Greek, though now I come to mention it I have no idea why.

On Wed, 18 Aug 1999 22:18:44 +0100, "Greg Pallis" wrote:

She isn't around in the Quinn/Trent setup. At least not constantly. Additionally, this is not a simple Quinn babysitting issue. This is about having an adult to watch over the _whole_ FC. And Daria isn't 18,yet, either. There has to be some kind of real adult to take responsibility for Sandi, Tiffany, Stacy and Quinn or none of the girls will be allowed to go on the trip. MSB

MS Barch would be a good choice, especially if you need a 'cast member' to bring along. Then again, she could be usefull (if you need a weapon, for example Ms Barch would be a good sourse for mace or a stungun)

On Thu, 19 Aug 1999 09:08:47 -0400, "Bob Ohler" wrote:

Why would she do it? MSB

To keep her fellow female species from falling into the evil hands of any "MAN".

"Bob Ohler" wrote:

For all your weapons needs, I'd rather raid Ms. Li's stockpile. You know she has to have a bunker somewhere. ;-)

rich.

Quinn: People are so weird!

Daria: Some are weird. Some are just astonishingly self-centered and deceitful.

On Thu, 19 Aug 1999 16:55:46 GMT, [email] (paperpusher) wrote:

I wouldn't. Do you have any idea the kind of defenses she's prolly got around that thing? :)

Damon Orca on #Stars!

Matthias Benkmann wrote:

I'm waiting to see Daria in leather as an alter ego.

I must admit I'm not too keen on time travel, because I like my adventures staying a bit "real". I know some of the Daria characters and plots are a little bit over the top, but in their "world" they are perfectly believable. I don't think time travel would exist in their "world".

I like this a lot better, partly because I think it could be done logically (see my previous comments), but also it gives people in the newsgroup a chance to rubbish their own area by coming up with dialogue about it. Here in Queensland people can't drive for nuts, so there's some dialogue right there:

Daria: When I learned to drive I was told to act as thought every other driver was a complete idiot. Jane: Easy to do here.

Daria: Hey, look. A Queensland car. Jane: How can you tell? Daria: No indicators.

How about Daria writing a school paper rubbishing other countries for a competition, and it somehow gets read by people in the U.N., who fly Daria and Jane to their respective countries to prove her wrong? I can see that Jane might be allowed to go as well as Daria's aide or personal artist, but how we get the rest of the gang to go is beyond me right now.

I think we should just stick with regular sarcasm, possibly directed at other characters but not technically a "fight".

See above.

Politically incorrect, or just the usual Daria/Jane comments?

I'd have them aarrive together at a given country, then be allowed to be individually controlled while they're, then once all the puzzles are solved it's together again and on to the next one.

Bill.

On Fri, 20 Aug 1999 13:19:46 +1000, Bill Harper wrote:

Now how does that fit with your above statement about the leather?

Didn't you like those little episodes in WWIH? MSB

I like that. When the rough plot is completed and it gets to the point where dialogs must be written, you will be 'volunteered' as a dialog writer :-)

It is tempting to create such an omnipotent plot-device but I think it will be better if the trips from country to country are motivated/forced on a case by case basis.

I wasn't thinking of actual physical violence. My idea was something like that archery contest between Helen and Sandi's mom (I always forget her name), for instance a dart contest in an Irish pub.

No mercy! If it makes a good punchline it don't matter to me if the Hindus/Jews/Christians/Muslims/X-o Americans or anyone else chokes on it. Of course every comment must have a core of truth. I'll give you an example of how far I'm willing to go:

Austria, birthplace of two famous people who have both played "the Terminator".

This remark is offensive and insensitive to say the least. Some people might even want to crucify me for it. MSB

p.s.: The crucifixion metaphor above was intentionally planted. It is supposed to be the i-dot of political incorrectness.

p.p.s.: If you don't understand why the above could be thought of as outraging, think about the following implications: a) Mr Schwarzenegger is compared to Adolf Hitler. He might even sue you for that. "He" means Schwarzenegger, of course, Hitler won't reveal his hide-out in South America. b) The Holocaust is put on the same level as a stupid action film. I could have even topped this with a joke about "body counts" but that would have been _evil_. c) The crucifixion metaphor is especially subtle. It is intended to be a pun (if you can call such a thing a 'pun') on one of the reasons why the Christian churches (I'm talking about the official position of the organisations not about individual members) were so reluctant to oppose the Holocaust. I'm talking about the argument that the Jews were responsible for Christ's crucifixion.

p.p.p.s.: If you would never have seen the above implications yourself or consider them not very serious, that is because you haven't been subjected to the sure-you-werent-alive-back-then-but-it-is-your-duty-to-feel-guilty-about-it-nontheless brainwash that is mandatory for kids in Germany and Austria. I still wake up at night sometimes, bathed in sweat, remembering the flashing lights, the pictures and the injections accompanied by those never-ending chants.

p.p.p.p.s.: I _love_ sarcasm :-)

p.p.p.p.p.s.: The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines sarcasm as "bitter, esp ironic, remarks intended to wound sb's feelings"

In article ,

ideas

love).

I don't know, A "Leisure Suit Larry" parody would be kind of funny.

Ok to add to ideas presented allready. The fashion club wants to go to Paris, but they don't have money & they need an adult to go with them. We've seen Quinn's fundraising abilities, so the money part should be easy. Enter Ms. Barch. She's just learned that her deadbeat ex- husband has fled to France to avoid his alamony payments. So it's Barch & the Fashion club on the way to Paris (of course, once there they will either have to help barch find the deadbeat or get away from her) Meanwhile Trent, in order to raise money to record a new album w/ mystic Spirral, has taken a job as a baggage handler at the airport. Unfortunately, as he's loading stuff into the plane he falls asleep....and ends up in Paris!

that's all for now!

crazy nutso wrote:

Like it. Wasn't sure how we could get Trent on a plane, but I think you've come up with a good idea. I'm wondering if he gets found at Paris airport, detained by the security guards, and Jane has to go over to "rescue" him?

I guess that's what we need to sort out: what is the "motivation" for everyone to travel? And are they going to end up at the same place, or can we have them all over the world at different times. There's just as much chance of Trent ending up in England as France.

Bill.

"We are now entering hell. Please keep your hands and elbows inside the car." -- Daria

I'm never sure just where I should add to threads like this, so I thought
I'd just start from the top again.
        Why would the MorganDorffers be going overseas?  How about the
uranium that was in the drinking water back where they used to live?  (I'm
still catching up on the history of the characters, so bear with me.
Daria mentioned it in Esteemers.)  The company that caused that disaster
is forced to compensate all the families that wre affected.  They've
finally caught up with the Morgandorffers, and they're prepared to pay a
lot of money.
        But little do they know, but the company wants to get rid of them
because they want no evidence of what happened.  So during their "holiday"
there could be all sorts of people after them, trying to wipe them out.
Of course, Daria could outwit them with her brains, but the rest of the
family could either be captured, or just survive through sheer ignorance.
        How do we get the rest of the cast there?  Well, the Trent
becoming a baggage handler, falling asleep on the job and ending up on a
flight to goodness knows where sounds good.  Jane could be asked to find
him, paid for by the airline who don't want anyone to know how they treat
their employees.
        Brittany could go just because Quinn is going (spoilt little brat
syndrome), and Kevin would be dragged along as well.  (I think Brittany's
stepmom would be relaxed enough to let them go unaccompanied.)
        The three Js might have a competition amongst themselves: the
first one to find Quinn gets to go out with her.
        The teachers might be forced to go after the students who are
overseas, particularly if the parents don't know their kids have gone
until later.
        More ideas as they come to hand.

Bill (looking forward to learning about Hades in "Where the hell's Carmen Sandiago").

On Sun, 22 Aug 1999 13:27:08 +1000, Bill Harper wrote:

I admit that correcting someone's spelling is nitpicking but I believe that one should at least get Daria's name right (this is alt.tv.DARIA, after all)

It's

"D a r i a M o r g e n d o r f f e r"

MSB