Gameplay and Narrative Designer
Parallel Lines
A police officer must choose to either uphold his duty or preserve his honor.
(January - April 2022)
The game tells the story of a police officer who served a corrupt regime. Every day, he has to spread fake news and propaganda on social media, whilst being called onto duty to crack down on protests. However, he begins to see further beyond "doing what he was told to do" as an unexpected turn of event arise.
Story supercuts & Process
The story beats of Parallel Lines are largely based on the Hero's Journey structure, with some tweaks and addendums to keep the story interesting.
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The story starts with the protagonist, Officer Brown, being called to the capital as a riot squad by his superior Major Garrett.
He then learns about how the recent increase in protest demonstrations, and how he will have to preemptively stop future demonstrations from happening. (Call to adventure & Meeting the Mentor)
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He is assigned a task to act as plainclothes police, and keep his ears on the ground for any spark that could cause a large-scale protest. He will come across several situations where he will have to decide whether to directly confront the protestors, avoid conflicts, or take a more subtle route. (Crossing the first threshold)
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However, he soon comes across his son during a protest. His son, who is supposed to be studying in the capital, is among the protestors. This directly put them on the opposing sides. He later confronts his son about participating in the protest and learns about the angle of the protestors that are fed up with the current government. (Test, allies, and enemies)
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The story soon reaches the climax, with the largest scale of the protest being met with heavy resistance from the police force. The protagonist will have to decide whether he will crumble under the pressure of order, or choose to fight for the people whom he had sworn to protect. (Innermost cave & The Supreme Ordeal)
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After making the choice, the protagonist will have to deal with the consequence of his actions.
If he chose to obey the order to suppress the protest by force, he will forever turn into the government lapdog.
If he chose to defy the order, he will either fail to convince other officers to join him and end up in jail for disobedience or successfully convince others to side with the protestors and topple the current corrupted government. (The Road Back & Resurrection)