Irrational Motive mod for Half-Life 2

You are the manipulated variable...

"How do you feel? The drug is wearing off, and you'll soon be fit for duty. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Doctor Darius Kaine, your experimenter and friend...but most importantly, I am your conscience."
These are the first words you hear as you awake from a drugged stupor. Irrational Motive starts right up with the player being instructed by a grisly voice through a loudspeaker. This voice is that of Darius Kaine, a psychologist who claims to be experimenting on you. He tells you that your name and past have been erased and that your brain has been rewired to calm your violent bouts with schizophrenia.

At first you seem scared, but Dr. Kaine reassures you that there is nothing to be afraid of, and that he is in total control of your mind. He goes on to tell you are a essentially a lab rat in a maze, and you must complete a series of tasks while he and other scientists study your motives and reactions. With no real option but to listen, you cooperate...

How does Irrational Motive play?

Irrational Motive ditches the conventional shooter action for a more narrative driven adventure experience. The whole motivation to play IM lies within discovering what happens next. Progressing through the game not only develops a twisted plot but allows you to uncover the mysteries of the player's past. So with that direction in mind, the gameplay of Irrational Motive is broken down into several modes of play that all coincide throughout the game:

• Puzzle: the player is being tested both mentally and physically by Dr. Kaine to see if his treatment can withstand even the most intense situations. Dr. Kaine has intentionally set up puzzles throughout the "maze" that are meant to test the psychological components of the player. Puzzles can take the shape of physical tasks like manipulating physics objects or avoiding certain hazards; on the contrary, puzzles can be mental as well. Mental puzzles require some logical thinking.
• Adventure: the player has to tune into his environment and use the signals and signs around him to interpret what's going on. Through interaction with the environment and various characters the player can gain understandings about his past, the present, and the future.
• Stealth Action: the player can choose to fight various enemies to progress through the game. The player is initially limited to the famed melee weapon, the crowbar, and the environment in order to take out certain foes. In order to pull of these kills the player has to cling to the shadows and stealthily perform the kill. If a whack with the crowbar won't suffice, you can use elevation plus a heavy object to drop on top of an enemy, for example. Whether you choose to kill every enemy you encounter or avoid them, it changes how certain aspects of the game will pan out.
• Role Playing: the player will develop as the game goes on. This, however, is not to be interpreted in the traditional sense. There will be no stat tracking and experience gaining, but you assume the role of a character who can psychologically change throughout the game. By making choices in how to handle certain scenarios you can influence how the character evolves.

All the aspects of Irrational Motive's gameplay will be intertwined and work together. The goal is for the player to feel like he can choose how to go about doing certain tasks. Ultimately, you won't be given total free reign over what to do, but there are multiple ways to complete tasks.

The game is divided into Chapters and Segues. Chapters are composed of Test Buildings and the overlying task to complete the whole test. Once the player has finished the building he arrives at a Safe House, where he can rest before the next test. When the player sleeps the game initiates a Segue, which takes the form of a playable dream sequence. These sequences are usually puzzles within themselves with clues and riddles to the players past. The dreams are usually a strange amalgamation of the character's past and unconscious images and thoughts. The clues and inferences gained in these segues can prove beneficial to making choices back in the real world.

Developer's Notes

Irrational Motive is a giant step down from my previous attempt, Dust. IMs gameplay ideas are far more easy to implement, and the resource requirements are virtually nonexistent. That being said, the game will be developed pretty much entirely by me in Hammer. I will be calling on some modelers for some simple little things, but not much else. I hope you guys are interested in Irrational Motive. I'll try and keep a steady influx of updates coming in every week or so. Thanks for your time.

Potential Release Date of Episode One: January 3rd, 2010

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