Seeking Writers for Project 2.7 (Production Title)

[zheldor651]

Hello, I'm the sole writer behind a sci-fi VN currently named 2.7, and I'd like to drop the "sole" part.

PREMISE
2300s, Solar System. A small time smuggling operation flees from the law with their tail between their legs, non grata to legal and criminal space stations alike. An officer of the Solar Union's Department of External Threats Management hides from men in black, his former colleagues, due to accusations of treason. A private detective roams the charted space in eager search for information on restricted nanotechnologies. All strings are tied on a single man, who appears to be unlucky cargo, scapegoat, or a ticket back to normal life depending on the point of view. Circumstances demand of him to make a move, but having spent two and a half centuries in cryosleep, he can't put two and two together in this brave new world.

There are days when everything goes wrong and you just blow up. Sofia Jovanovska, born and raised on space stations far outside the Solar Union's reach, has seen enough guns, crime and misery to last a lifetime, but there's always something that can push you over the line. In her case, it's the last damn lick. The team she's on has smuggled illegal biomaterials to Earth's orbit and got away with it, why does a simple scavenging gig have to turn out fruitless at first, and then lethally dangerous? A single escape pod adrift, a single guy is all their loot, one to somehow manage to piss off Nanotech Proliferation Control at a moment's notice. Now their boss is dead, one of the most dreaded law enforcement agencies is on them, and to top it off, she's the first candidate to lead the team. That's why she's set to shoot everyone standing in their way with both eyes open, that and the fact that nothing ahead is going to be scarier than the black uniforms breathing down her neck. Or so she thinks at the moment.

There are days when everything goes wrong and you have to work as a mule to get things back to normal. When one day an unidentified object appeared on the early notification channels, Christopher Cardigan, a white collar in the Department of External Threat Management, knew it wasn't going to pan out good. The thing had moved at a steep angle to Solar System's laplacian plane, yet was headed straight towards the asteriod belt, where it successfully crashed. Reaction team was outrun by third parties, people in charge of the salvage operation started disappearing, and before he knew it, he was laying low, counting possible ways to escape the Earth orbit and credits left in his pockets. Family, friendships, carreer, everything ruined. All he has left are his own skills and a trail to follow. A hot and juicy trail, with steel boots widening it.

There are days when everything goes wrong, and this, this is what makes life worth it. Jake Powers, an adrenaline junkie with some accompanying talents and years of experience in jumping guns and stirring up hornet nests, leaves the Earth to finish the investigation of a rich kid's disappearance that's starting to imply someone is manufacturing nanotechnological weaponry in direct violation of all treaties. Word on the black is that there's a guy out there straight out of the XXI century with firsthand knowledge on the subject, problematic to reach because of all the heat on him, but that's never stopped the detective. Hell, on this case alone he's seen hobos talk about bad mists and angels appearing out of nowhere to take sinners' lives, been threatened to be outlawed throughout both Earth and the Union, not to mention lighter stuff. Going nuts is what life's designed for, after all, and while he plans to settle down some time, it's far away from now.

FUN FACTS
The project has been called "Ron Paul versus the nanopolice: Showdown" by third parties
2.7 Kelvin is the temperature of the background radiation in space

ON A LESS POMPOUS NOTE
2.7 is meant to be an action-packed story with a gritty futuristic setting, interplanetary travel and enough alcohol to drown Cthulhu in, experienced through the eyes of three main characters (briefly described above). Therefore, three routes; the reader chooses a character at the beginning, then gets to see the according side of the events and try to achieve the best outcome possible through standard dialogue options [sometimes disguised as action choices]. Main focus of the story is shootbangs and ethanol at first, but it's supposed to go to greater lenghts as the plot progresses, touching on beaten to death and back fundamental problems such as anarchy versus slavery, technological progress versus personal safety and consumer mentality as a perfect tool for country management. Oh, the amount and magnitude of explosions increase as the story goes as well, that's the only thing anyone's going to care about anyways.

WHAT IS DONE
A 10k words long design document describing the main aspects of the game and 5k words of script.

WHO IS NEEDED
One or two writers (ideally two so we may focus on a route each) interested in sci-fi, bonus points for liking noir as well. English grammar, enthusiasm and ability to cooperate totally not required.

[Akihiko Takeshi]

Hey, looks like fun...so, you just want to find someone who can create a sci-fi script?

[zheldor651]

Hey, looks like fun...so, you just want to find someone who can create a sci-fi script?

Co-create, yes.

[Woodlands.ProjectVN]

It's an interesting concept, but I do have a few questions regarding everything.

1) How long do you intend the scirpting to be, in words?
2) What do you think about the potential change in writing styles, if, for instance, you take on two extra writers to each write one route?
3) Do you have a set deadline or guideline?
4) What do you think about potential changes in the story itself?

[zheldor651]

1) ~50k per route, so 150 total. "Intend" is a very appropriate word to use here, since the figure's subject to bloating.

2) Since the routes are basically the same story told by different people, the amount of required interaction between the writers is going to be high anyways, so we'll be able to hammer the inconsistencies out, or at least put a certain amount of effort into it. I mean, this kind of novel can't be written like certain romantic VNs, where one writer does the introductory part of it, then others take off from where he leaves the exit points for each love interest and pretty much work on their stories undisturbed. Quite on the contrary, I believe the best course of actions would be to decide what happens where and when first, and write the corresponding scenes in close contact with each other after that. The characters are going to interact, that's a given. For example, say event A is pivotal to the story and involves all main characters. Its corresponding scene is, of course, going to be narrated in each route with the exact same dialogue (how else?), with the difference being the narration, since the characters' personalities are different. Another example. Event B, created by one of the characters, has dire ramifications. Others will hear of it, maybe in different places and in different tone depending on where the story takes them.
Maybe it's naivete, but I think that a team able to cooperate on interconnected stories like above will be able to deal with style inconsistencies as well.

3) Nope.

4) Flexibility exists. I've got a pretty solid picture of where each character starts and ends their journey, but inbetween the story's up for discussion, no matter how much I'd like it to go my way. After all, everyone working on a project is its creator, so it's only fair that every writer gets to decide where it goes on equal terms. A little note here, though. Should there be long-lasting arguments that halt production and can't be resolved via a majority vote, I reserve the right to step in and decide the outcome at some point, because discussion is good as long as it doesn't outright kill productivity.