Hey there,

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Just to preface this, this is for now a hobby and will not become a serious project for me for YEARS.

Also, this is solely about the thematic and story elements of this yet unnamed Racing/RPG Hybrid game. The technical elements are things I will look at it in much, much, much, much greater detail at the time I begin seriously making this.

I'm currently working on a racing game that I hope will be the first (and only) of it's kind -- it is half racing game and half RPG and... I'm planning on working for it on a number of years because I kind of want it to be a swan song to racing game's past and a radical overhaul of it's present but I'm currently working on -

- A story that will open the minds of people to the possibility that a racing game can have TV-Show esque stories and still be fun racing games

- How to add RPG elements to a racing game in a way that is both innovative and streamlined

- How to add environmental storytelling to a racing game

- How to introduce casual players to car culture(s) in a way that is both engaging and educational

- An ending

- Making a map that is GIGANTIC but has depth and rewards the player for learning it a la Midnight Club

- ... a name lol

Here is a synopsis of the story -

Story Synopsis/Characterst

In the lion's den that is Crisola City, cops and racers both fall prey to the same base desire - power. Racers battle it out day and night to get the attention of the most prolific crews in their borough, the crews battle it out to keep territory, recruit the best racers and take the title of the undisputed rulers of their area, and cops compete with each other to see who can be the most ruthless in not only shutting down but completely dismantling the street racing scene of Crisola. And there is only one group who stand head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to being as cutthroat and duplicitous as possible in getting what they want - The Silver Mantises. Led by Kevin "Mantis" Denton, a street racing prodigy who won an annual race called Desperado's Route and bought a Lotus Evija with his winnings, leads a group of 6 affluent socialites who spend most of their time on the remote Endola Island and, in just 5 years, have completely taken over street racing activity in Crisola City and have made the racers and crews of the city their own personal Monopoly pieces, replete with lethal consequences for racers and crews that go against their whims or outright refuse to join them entirely. Some racers have capitulated and have become lackeys for the Silver Mantises, but there are 10 who stand between the racers of Crisola and the socialites, and 9 mysterious drivers (3 for each of the boroughs of Crisola - Thornwood Valley, Downtown Crisola and Central Crisola) who are only known by codenames and seem to spend more time patrolling their respective boroughs than actually racing in them. Every attempt to wrestle control of street racing in Crisola from the Silver Mantises has failed miserably, and the Mantises have made examples of the "rebels" by either completely tarnishing their reputation or having them meet mysterious ends. You, representing either the Tuner, Muscle or Exotic/Supercar car classes, enter the russian roulette that is street racing in Crisola City and attempt to climb you way to the top not only for yourself, but for every racer in the city who has been under the yoke of the Silver Mantises. But with the cops, the Silver Mantises, their enforcers, and even some unlikely allies of your own along the way, you have your work cut out for you.

"insert name here" offers a large breadth of choice for progressing through the game. Not only do players have the option of continuing with their class story after their Origin story or not, which comes with it's own race and pursuit bonuses, each of the 25 rivals in the game allow you to choose between 3 different milestone types in order to challenge them - Racing Milestones, Pursuit Milestones and Mission Milestones . The only fixed requirements are having a vehicle with a high enough BHP to challenge a rival and having a minimum amount of Friction points, earned by completing Missions, beating Pursuit milestones and by utilising your crew members' strengths. The higher your Friction points, the higher the chances of you recruiting rivals into your crew as you progress. A combination of the three milestone types is encouraged, but you could go through the entire game only ever taking down cops, winning races or completing missions.

And here are the Antagonists

Rivals

Tuner Bosses

Akiko "Duchess" Matsuda - Honda Civic Type R FL5 (Royalty themed Wrap)

Colin "Monk" Ikeda - Toyota A90 Supra GR (Buddhism influenced Wrap)

Benjamin "Gust" Thompson - Nissan 400Z (Wind and Rain themed wrap)

Muscle Bosses

Tyrone "Anvil" Johnson - Chevrolet Camaro SS 2020 (Hammer and Metal inluenced Wrap)

Tatiana "Tatu" Simons - Ford Mustang GT 2020 (Hieroglyphcs influenced wrap)

Simon "Ghoul" Carol - Dodge Charger r/T 2020 (Ghost and Undead influenced wrap)

Exotic Bosses

Sophie "Sapphire" Weber - BMW M8 (Diamond influenced Wrap)

Veronica "Thorns" Rossi - Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG (Thorns and Trees influenced Wrap)

Robert "Klepto" Turnbull - Aston Martin DB11

City Bosses (The ? 15)

Kiyoko "Canine" Hatashi - Toyota GR86 (Animal and Predator influenced wrap)

Patrick "Hatrick" Rhodes - Ford Torino Talladega/Mustang Fox Body (Hockey influenced wrap)

Simon "Saggittaire" Wagner - Porsche 911 RS 1974

Alanis "Chimera" Gauthier - Chevrolet Camaro Z28 1973/IROC-Z

Satoshi "Slipstream" Logan - Honda NSX Type R 1992

Emile "Vaudeville" Colombo- Ferrari BB 512

Beverly "Gemini" Geisel - BMW M4

Tanisha "Bungee" Johnson- Mercedes Benz AMG GT

Yua "Washi" Logan - Nissan GT-R

Timothy "Jarhead" Geisel - Audi R8 V10 Plus

Leona "Cheetah" Sowell- Jaguar F-Type

Lewis "Leopard" Sowell- Mclaren Artura

Geralda "Nine Lives" Fibroni - Lamborghini Murcielago

Jacques "Skippy" Evans - Ford GT

Mattia "Kafka" Tomas - Ferrari 812 Superfast

Socialites

Simone "Wing" Falmon - McLaren P1

Triston "Thorax" Prager - Porsche 918 Spyder

Tessa "Antenna" Soprano - Ferrari LaFerrari

Ewan "Vision" Vance - McLaren F1

Kevin "Mantis" Denton - Lotus Evija/Hennessey Venom F5

Absolutely all of the names/structure here are subject to change lol

So far I have been using the Origin Stories from Dragon Age Origins as an epilogue of sorts - an introduction to the three aforementioned car cultures by way of choosing one of 2 starter cars from the 3 classes and progressing through a personalised Origin story, but also that these Origin stories affect how other characters respond to you throughout the story, and Deus Ex as an environmental storytelling influence - the environment responds to the decisions you make throughout the story. I will probably add to this if I get responses but... yeah.

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Any thoughts?