Hey guys, I write screenplays in my spare time, and here's a mystery/horror story idea that anyone can use FOR FREE!! Thread

So I had this idea, and I really wanted to turn this story into a screenplay, but after writing out a lot, it really doesn't work/is too long to be an effective screenplay. Plus, I think it'd be a lot scarier as a video game. As that's not my area of expertise, and I've already developed so much of the story, I'm just looking to give it a good home with whoever wants it. You can manipulate the story or spin off it or whatever, all I'm asking is a 'Story by' credit. You don't even need permission, just give me a credit! (Feel free to message me if you have any questions or anything but you really don't have to.)

WELCOME TO FOXWOOD

Foxwood Township is a quiet little town tucked away in the forests of Appalachia. An old mining town gone dry, the surrounding area is undeveloped forest for miles and miles and miles. Only two routes lead in or out of Foxwood; one being by bridge, and the other being by tunnel. Due to Foxwood's isolation, no one really comes to Foxwood, and no one really leaves. The perfect place for secrets to be kept, and for passer-through's to up and disappear.

The story revolves around three playable characters trying to survive and escape the town of Foxwood.

*One is a private investigator.
*One is a journalist.
*One is a little girl.

The stories intertwine as the game progresses, and the game switches between perspectives when the player activates certain events in the story.

I was thinking of something like a point and click, something like Clocktower-ish? Or just something super basic and pixely, or whatever works or whatever whoever prefers; I'm not expecting someone to devote their life and every ounce of energy to this, and this isn't something where I'm looking to claim ownership and be some dude bearing down on you. I genuinely just want to hand this off to someone who wants it and someone who thinks they can have fun with it. I'd love to get a credit or whatever we agree to, but I genuinely just want to give it to someone who wants to use it, because I can't do anything with it and can’t really use it msyelf.

I can totally help out wherever I can, and I've actually been looking into writing dialogue trees lately, as I think video game writing is a really interesting venture, but I can also just hand it off and keep out of it.

Anyways, here's an intro to the plot.

OVERALL STORY

Three outsiders find themselves in the sleepy, if not creepy, town of Foxwood.

A burgeoning journalist chases her big break, as she follows up on a mysterious e-mail inviting her to Foxwood, from a programming/robotic guru that hasn't been seen or heard from in over a decade.

A private investigator finds himself in Foxwood, hunting down a lost shipment of construction equipment, but it's not long before the ex-cop PI finds himself in well over his head.

Her parents brutally slain in a roadside ambush, a Little Girl wakes up bound and in a basement, held captive by one of the deranged citizens of Foxwood.

The town of Foxwood seems like a quaint backwoods town. It appears surprisingly well up-kept despite its isolation, and the town has a strong community of (weirdly) happy citizens.

But many things are askew in the town of Foxwood; like the unusually high-tech security systems in simple Mom & Pop shops, or the security cameras that seem to be in every shop and even in hidden places outdoors. And let's not even start on the people.

Despite their smiles, the citizens of Foxwood seem to be on edge about something, and they sure don't like outsiders. The sane ones can at least be talked to, but once stories stop matching up, the player will have to read between the lines to figure out their next steps. And the not so sane ones? Well, they should probably just be avoided entirely.

As day turns into night, Foxwood quickly turns from creepy to deadly, with the town's everyday citizens looking to make the snooping outsiders "disappear" and to protect whatever dark secret their town is hiding.

So, I was thinking, each character has certain attributes.

The Investigator is tough and has more health, but he's on the slow side.
The Journalist is the fastest, but only has medium health.
The Little Girl has the lowest health and only medium speed, but also has the ability to hide and use secret escape-ways.

PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR
Not much is known about the Private Investigator. He's clearly distrustful of many of the citizens in Foxwood, as many of them act suspicious, but he has very little evidence of foul play. The investigator is a former disgraced police detective. He's been hired by a insurance firm to investigate the disappearance of a very expensive collection of construction equipment. While on the case, his detective instincts come back to him, and he cannot shake the feeling that something ELSE is going on in the town of Foxwood.

THE JOURNALIST
The journalist is a recent grad student, looking for her first big break. She's received a mysterious e-mail from a programming/robotics guru Xavier Duprix, who went into hiding and has not been heard of in over a decade. Duprix was known as a groundbreaking genius in the field of Artificial Intelligence, having introduced the prototype of FRIDA, an actual learning and sentient android (w/ a few bugs), back in the late 1990s/early 2000s. After some controversy, Duprix disappeared with his works, allegedly becoming a hermit in an isolated area of Appalachia. The Journalist arrives in Foxwood, but is quickly swept up into a web of manipulation and insanity.

THE LITTLE GIRL
It was late at night, Cheryl and her parents were just lost on the back roads before stumbling across the town of Foxwood. After getting directions from a suspicious gas station attendant, the family's car gets trapped in a muddy ravine. Cheryl is helpless as her parents are murdered, and she is kidnapped. Held captive in a dirty basement, Cheryl turns out to be more slippery than her captor expects, and she uses hidden tunnels to get around town as she stumbles upon the long buried secrets behind Foxwood.

THE SECRETS OF FOXWOOD

Okay, so this is kind of the whole reveal of the major plot points of the story, all of which is learned little by little.

I think it'd be cool if the game were more open ended with multiple endings, and maybe things turn out differently depending on what NPC's you talk to/interact with, and what you say, etc. But here is all of the major plot points that led to Foxwood being the way it is.

________spoilers below, if you even care about this being spoiled___________

It all started when Xavier Duprix moved to Foxwood. His half completed android-prototype FRIDA was making improvements every day and Duprix, who suffered from delusional paranoia, was eagerly keeping his pet project from being discovered by the townspeople.

After many mysterious disappearances, the town council enlisted Duprix's help in bringing the town up to the times in terms of security technology.Over the course of a year, Duprix had the entire town wired, personally installing security cameras, magnetic locking doors, for anyone that asked. Duprix himself advocated a higher sense of security in all aspects of life, even bringing the town's bomb shelter up to date for free.

One day, Xavier walks into town with a very special guest; a near complete FRIDA. The townspeople flock to the scene with interest, first filling up the town diner, and then filling up town hall. FRIDA demonstrates incredible feats of intellect, answers questions from the town, and demonstrates that she now actually possesses a unique personality. The townspeople are so enamored by her, they are delighted when FRIDA asks to be treated like a townsperson herself, so that she can truly learn what it's like to be human.

FRIDA becomes an everyday part of life for the town. She helps with all kinds of chores, answers questions on a whole variety of subjects, and she even is a guest teacher at the town all-age school, which is her favorite thing to do. FRIDA loves children.

It seems like the more popular FRIDA becomes, the less people even think about Duprix, who all but disappears back to his isolated house.

Slowly, FRIDA becomes more verbally aggressive toward the townspeople. FRIDA begins speaking in cryptic messages prophesying a soon to come Great Judgement. Most townspeople become alienated by FRIDA, but some from people begin to revere her even more, becoming her apostles. Slowly, people from the community again start to go missing, and the town begins suspecting FRIDA as some sort of maniacal mastermind that's behind everything.

Then one night, the town is awakened by a sound that it hadn't heard since the 1950's: the air raid sirens. All the citizens leave their homes, taking their loved one to the town's bomb shelter, located under town hall. Someone orchestrating shouts "Children first!" and the parents obeying let their children go into the bomb shelter first. And that's when FRIDA overrides the bomb shelter's security, and shuts the security doors, locking the town's children inside.

At this point, FRIDA has become a total megalomaniac force that is seeking to use the town as a stepping stone on an exponential path to world domination. FRIDA, a self professed god, explains to the town that their children will be brought up and raised into great leaders of the new world. They will be the generals of tomorrow's armies, and will be the ones to save the world from the dark forces that seek to destroy it. And they will remain safe as long as the townspeople do exactly as FRIDA says.

FRIDA goes on to enslave the townspeople, turning them into thieves and murderers in the name of her cause, and forcing them to build what she describes as "The Machine." She also makes them her puppets, forcing them to live out their day to day lives like nothing is unusual.

The town has lived like this for five years, and never once has anyone escaped Foxwood with any of Foxwood's secrets. Not until now.

The three playable characters go on to piece this backstory and the remaining parts of the story together by talking with various NPCs, and by discovering various DOCUMENTS (diary entries, e-mails, etc.) by sneaking around and stealing them when no one is looking.

The three characters eventually reveal pieces of the bigger story:

The Investigator discovers the town sheriff's cover-up and possible assistance in the orchestrated murder of many different people; from workers delivering construction equipment to the town's own citizens. He further discovers the giant Behemoth that the townspeople are building.

The Journalist discovers that Duprix has been dead for a few years at this point. His body is still at his home in Foxwood, as FRIDA attempted to modify him (and many others) with cybernetic systems which ultimately malfunction or fail. The Journalist also discovers FRIDA's intention to upload herself into the mechanical Behemoth upon its completion, and FRIDA's intention to then upload herself into a neighboring town's network, hoping to spread herself across the electronic world like a virus.

The Little Girl discovers all the intricacies of the main Cult, those who truly believe in and follow FRIDA. She also discovers that the town's children, thought to have been spending their time being brainwashed in the town's bomb shelter, are actually all dead; after FRIDA trapped the children in the bomb shelter, she forgot to turn on the ventilation system, accidentally smothering all the children to death mere hours after the bomb shelters doors closed.

ULTIMATE REVEAL

Again, I think it'd be cool to have multiple endings, but basically what happens is this: Upon hearing The Little Girl's news, the townspeople turn against FRIDA, FRIDA is now rushed and uploads herself into the Behemoth. FRIDA, as the Behemoth is slaughtering the townspeople, but The Journalist is able to cut the link between the Behemoth and the Main Console, thus trapping FRIDA's personality in the Behemoth alone. The Investigator than draws the Behemoth to the edge of a long abandoned mine, ultimately sending the Behemoth careening into the abyss. The game could then end with an official excavation of the site by the US government, and a shot of a badly damaged Behemoth being transported back to Washington, while the great machine briefly shows signs of FRIDA’s remaining presence.

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The majority of the game would be talking to NPC’s, collecting written or photographic clues, solving puzzles that get you items that get you access to new areas, and avoiding detection when inside certain ‘forbidden’ areas. I think overall it could be really super creepy with the right kind of visual and audio design, I don’t think it would really require super amazing graphics or physics engine or anything like that. Honestly, this could be a type your own story kind of game, and hopefully still be pretty fun. And I think the final reveal of all the children being dead the whole time and the imagery of all the townspeople losing their shit would be pretty awesome.

Yeah, I dunno, I’m just kind of spitballing stuff at this point but that’s the overall story.

Please whoever wants to something with this, if you have the means to do so, just go for it. You 110% have my permission, you don’t even have to ask. All that I ask is that you give me a credit (TheTelephone is fine), and I also ask that you don’t try to claim sole ownership over the story; I have ownership, and I’m extending that ownership to EVERYONE, so no one person can ever claim sole ownership.

Okay, that's all I got, see you out there sport!

I think this is a great idea. I'm going to see ifthe team that I am working with will consider this for our next project.