Game Idea A Week: Vet Lucie Disastrous

Week Thirty-One (07/05/2010)

In the idea for this week, is an adventure game about an evil vet, Lucie Disastrous. Lucifer, aka Lucie, is a young vet trying to follow the path of evil as her infamous father, Dr Disastrous (PhD), taught her. Unfortunately, all Lucie's actions seem to end in good deeds, rather than evil ones. Help Lucie take over the world, or at least take over her own life in this adventure game where right is wrong.

A demo of Vet Lucie Disastrous has been implemented and is available for download, see the Vet Lucie Disastrous home page for more details.

Platform:

PC

Genre:

Adventure game

Why it needs to be made:

Games usually follow a hero who does "good" for the world. This has become a tired cliche in many cases. In this game, the player gets to help Lucie perform "evil" deeds to get in her father's good books.

Description:

Lucifer Infernal Disastrous, or Lucie as she likes to be called, comes from a long line of Evil Geniuses. Her mother, Mrs Infernal died when Lucie was very young, leaving her father, Dr Disastrous to rear her. Unfortunately, Lucie never seems to have lived up to her father's expectations. She couldn't get into medical school and so decided to be an Evil Vet. Although Lucie tries to be evil, she finds she can't help but cure sick animals. Dr Disastrous dies in an accident of his own making, and suddenly Lucie stands to inherit his fortune. Except there is a catch... Before Lucie can inherit the money, she must perform a number of evil deeds to prove that she deserves the fortune and is worthy of the family name.

The core game will be played in the town around the Disastrous family mansion. The player controls Lucie in a classic point-and-click adventure style. Puzzles must be solved such as creating a dastardly new animal breeds, building a machine that will kill a "hero" slowly (so they can escape), concocting an evil robot dog and so on. Some of these puzzles will have multiple solutions so that the player can have a sense of ownership over the solution. The game is a play in three acts. The player's actions have some minor effects on the ending, but overall the story will be largely linear to support Lucie's character development.

Why it will be a compelling game:

Although Lucie is trying to be evil, she never seems to be able to do it, so players will feel affection for her attempts. The "evil" deeds will actually be relatively harmless and will be shown in a humorous way, so that player's want Lucie to be "evil" rather than "good". Players will want to continue to play to find out what happens to Lucie. Most of the puzzles will be able to be solved simultaneously, so if the player becomes stuck on one, they will be able to attempt a different puzzle.

Other thoughts:

A demo version of the game has been completed. You can see more information and download it by looking at the Vet Lucie Disastrous Home Page.