< I N H > | The Story

Storyline overview

The system in which the game is set is small, and isolated from the rest of the galaxy for some reason. There is no communication or travel in or out.
Some planets in the system may or may not include:

A world completely covered in water
This planet spins on an axis which points towards the sun. The South, which always faces towards the sun, is very hot and is always in daylight, and the North is always dark and is frozen over. The planet is suffering from global cooling, and the ice cap is spreading, causing falling sea levels.

A desert world
This planet was once quite like Earth, but has almost completely turned into a desert.
This planet might have remains of ancient civilisations, as well as being inhabited by a modern society.

A city planet
This planet was built entirely from scratch by human settlers. It is a maze of tunnels and layers of city built on top of each other, getting more modern as you move outward from the centre. Because the planet has no dense core, there is no real gravity. There is a simulated gravity in the city caused by the insanely fast spinning of the planet, but it pulls away from the centre, so up is actually down.

A solid metal planet
This planet is a single ball of metal. It was populated by some experimental evolving nanobots which have taken over the entire planet and begun to form a kind of civilisation of their own.

There can be several different rival factions, and if the game is going to have more than one different ending, then the ending could be chosen by which faction the player joins during the game.
Some possible factions could be:

The ruling government of the system, part of the Galactic Coalition über-government. They try hard to be oppressive and dictatorial, but are useless at it. The organisation is falling apart because of too many crazy regulations making it impossible to get anything done. This is the place for jokes at the expense of the government.
They have large shipyards and advanced Nanotech capabilities. They can build complex ships and gadgets easily using nanobots which build themselves into the required shape then fuse together into solid metal.

The civilisation on the water planet. They are mostly members of a shady kind of secret society which is working on causing more confusion in the GC. They are really secretive, but it is pointless because the GC is so messed up already. They are the perfect stereotypical spies, with plenty of opportunity for jokes and pisstakes of James Bond and similar spy films.
They have cool biotechnology and are able to ‘grow’ gadgets and ships using genetic modification to design their semi-living inventions.

These three also have potential for development into something more entertaining:
The robotic civilisation on the metal world.
The criminal underworld of the city planet.
The people of the desert world.

I would like to end up with a complete script, including puzzles, and possibly a branching storyline. The final storyline should be loaded with visual and verbal jokes, and it must be possible to play through in a variable order, so if the player is stuck on a certain puzzle, they can move on to another, then come back to the first later with another item or clue.I would like to end up with a complete script, including puzzles, and possibly a branching storyline. The final storyline should be loaded with visual and verbal jokes, and it must be possible to play through in a variable order, so if the player is stuck on a certain puzzle, they can move on to another, then come back to the first later with another item or clue.