For my final project, I plan to create a web-based hypertext adventure game called IN/SANE.
The main element of the project is the narrative that the user will be able to explore. A few months ago, I wrote a narrative for a text-based game that takes place in an insane asylum. (STRANGE!) The player gets lost while hiking and enters an abandoned building to seek shelter. It turns out, the building is haunted by the past patients that were trapped there. I turned the narrative into a simple Java program that doesn't work all the time and is extremely lame to play. For example, the user can't type anything; he or she can only press yes, no, or cancel. The program runs on the error prompts that appear on a computer screen, so the game is hardly a game at all.
With that being said, I want to but some meat on the game's bones. I plan to create a fully functioning website on which the user can play the game. I also plan on adding horrific images, videos, and sounds to the game in order to add a level of virtuality. For example, if the user decides to walk down the hallway to his or her right, a video will appear (that I will film and edit) of walking down a creepy hallway.
Although I already have the barebones of the narrative written, I plan on revising it GREATLY. As I mentioned above, it's hardly a narrative, let alone a game. Also, even though I have a simple Java program written, I can't actually use Java on the Internet. With that being said, here's what I have to work on to create my final project:
- HTML for website structure
- CSS for website design
- Photoshop to edit the pictures I will take to go along with the game
- Some sort of video editing program to edit the videos I will film to go along with the game
- SoundBoothe to record and alter sounds to soundtrack the game
- and finally, I believe I'll have to use PHP to make the game interactive. PHP is similar to Java but can be run on a website. I'm still a serious beginner, so it'll be quite the task.
I have a good idea of how I want it to look / turnout. I'm not exactly sure if I'll be able to handle the game aspect-- I'm going to try because that's my absolute goal; however, it may end up being a game-less virtual narrative. Fingers crossed, though, I want to make it work.
Below, I have included the .java and .class files to run what I already have. In order to run the program, right click both files and choose "Save Link As." Save BOTH files to your desktop. (Even though you only run the .java file, the .class needs to be there) You should be able to click on the .java file and have the program run. Let me know if you have trouble. Download the large document Download the large document