The Force
From Valve Developer Community
"The Force" is the brainchild of one year of futile mindwandering by User:Bleesdan. Being without contacts in the industry, he has sat on this story, until he finally decided to make a game of it. Utilizing his latent skills as a C++ programmer, he began work on the game on July 3, 2008, but was hampered just two days later when his computer crashed. Now, he waits yet again, until his new computer arrives.
This project is currently looking for motivated programmers and modelers to begin forming this story into a reality. If you have interest, in any way, please contact User:Bleesdan.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
The story is not currently part of Half-life canon, and is not even part of the continuity. However, it is possible to twist the origin story to realign with Half-life. Chapters are for the division of the written story, not of the game story necessarily.
CHAPTER 1
Five teenagers are invited to a summer camp for the gifted. All have different gifts: leadership, strength, intelligence, creativity, and inginuity. All have had significant interaction with artifacts from different civilizations. All are unaware that the camp is really a government facility. (Maybe Black Mesa?? jk lol fat chance)
1) Ben Jenkins, from St. Paul, MN. Eagle Scout, karate black belt. Older brother Kevin died when Ben was 8, due to exposure to really old lutefisk.
2) Jessica Roberts, from New York, NY. Singer. Father died while driving her to her first solo performance. Car was hit by a semi carrying artifacts for the New York Museum.
3) Stephen Drow, from San Francisco, CA. Mechanical genius, nerd. Won the Young Inventor's Award three years running. Currently working on a project for the Smithsonian involving a primitive(?) computer from the Mayans.
4) Kim Wu, from Portland, OR. Strategical genius. Reigning world chess champion. The final match of the world chess tornament was played on the first know chess set, from old-school China.
5) Butch, from Cleveland, OH. Athletic superstar. Has a full ride scholarship to Ohio State next year. Was a torchrunner for the Olympics; as a result, spent time in Greece.
This facility, known as BRSP (Bureau for Research of Superhuman Powers), was established to, obviously, research artificially introducing superpowers in humans. They were unable to do so until a strange alien device crash-landed (or maybe came through a portal at Black Mesa?). This was not the first time this had happened. Evidence in history shows that aliens visited in ancient times and left their mark, promising a return and a price to be paid. That's why the five teens were in contanct with old stuff; it was fated to be.
CHAPTER 2
Anyway, the five of them are sent into a room with the device, and it doesn't work. The ingenious one, aka the mechanical one, starts tinkering. After a while, the device starts to tick. Everyone vacates the room, except Stephen, who tries valiently to shut it off, but in vain. He is caught up in the explosion, but the other four are saved mysteriously by a purple light which draws them into another reality. There they are met by a member of an alien tribe known as the Griee Nehl. (Name could be changed to Vortigaunt?) They are told, very cryptically, that the time is come, and the price must soon be paid. Then, they are thrown back into reality. Nothing seems changed. That is, until the toaster speaks, Ben disappears, and Jessica stops screaming.
CHAPTER 3
What has happened are three things, in quick succession. Firstly, Stephen's consciousness was transferred into the electrical system when his body was destroyed. Second, Ben teleported out of suprise, and on accident. Third, dust and radiation from the explosion destroyed Jessica's vocal chords. So, we have an ethereal mechanic, a mute musician, and an AWOL leader. Things are looking up.
Ben contacts the facility eventually, and returns to find the strange turn of events. He and Stephen come to the conclusion that they have their powers: Ben can teleport, and Stephen can possess electronics. Stephen, after some practice, moves himself from the electrical wires in the wall to a more portable device: Jessica's iPod. As they make their way back to the main hall, Butch and Kim wonder aloud as to their powers, and Jessica makes motions to agree.
Unfortunately, the last time they travelled to the main hall, the path was well lit. This time, they are not expected, so the halls are pitch black. Suddenly, Kim begins to glow, then to shine. Her power has emerged: she creates light. With some effort, she narrows her radiance to a flashlight-esque beam, and they continue on.
When they arrive at the door, they find it locked. Ben tries to teleport in, but he is unable, either due to a lack of skill, or because of some shield about the room. Stephen is blocked by an even simpler concept: the door is wooden, with no electrical parts whatsoever. While Kim brainstorms a solution, Jessica notices that Butch is missing. Fearing another random encounter, Ben calls for him, then the four stay silent, listening for a response. They hear one, from below, and very quiet. It turns out that Butch has, in fact, shrunk, allowing him to crawl through a crack in the door. After he unlocks the door, they all enter and begin the arduous task of determining what is going on.
After careful consideration, the five decide that two things must be done. They must practice their powers, and they must find a way to help Jessica. Unwilling to leave her behind, but currently without a means to help, they decide to train first.
CHAPTER 4
The training process begins (this is about where I would have the game start; it's like the tutorial levels.) During that time, they begin to find the limits of their powers. For instance, the reason Ben couldn't teleport into the main room was not his lack of concentration, but the fact that he cannot teleport through locked doors. The best hypothesis they could contrive was that his teleportation is similar to fast travel: he can only 'port where he could get without breaking down doors. Another power discovered was Kim's ability to move quickly. In fact, at best estimate, she can now run at speeds exceeding 200 mph for short periods, but can hold speeds of about 50 mph for much longer periods of time. Also, her light can be both a shining light and hard-light, capable of producing solid holograms. Butch's power extends to growing as well as shrinking. He can attain heights of almost 15 ft. easily, and even higher if absolutely necessary, although he gets winded easily. As for shrinking, the smallest size he can maintain is about 1 in, which is sufficient for sneaking, but he has proportionate mass at that size and also moves slowly, due to smaller legs. Stephen's power turned out to be the most useful. It turns out that his combination with machines has made him capable of connecting with the human brain in a similar way that computers connect on a network. With this gift, he is able to connect to Jessica and "speak" to her. Apparently, at the alien's surprise encounter when they acquired their powers, the alien spoke to her directly. It seems she is the most powerful now, but when the price is paid, her power will be meaningless. However, she doesn't know what that means, and all she feels is sadness for her lost voice. She lifts a song up, a song she wrote and performed countless times in memory of her departed father. Tears come to the eyes of her friends. But not for long. If her voice is gone, how can she be singing? She sings more, but her mouth isn't moving! Her powers have now come: she can create sound waves, and specific ones at that. The others are glad that she can communicate again, but she cannot. No matter how hard she tries, she cannot produce anything like normal speech. Stephen gets an idea and goes AFK. Everyone else starts brainstorming. Stephen returns in no time, and declares a solution. Immediately, Jessica blanks out, into a coma-like state. Stephen is forced to vehemently argue his point. He is downloading the entire contents of a movie quotes database, a music-sharing site, and a spoken Shakespeare archive into her brain, plus making connections so that when she wishes to communicate, the appropriate preloaded sound will be heard. When the process is over, Ben asks her how she feels. The response: "Happy happy joy joy, happy happy joy!"
That is as much storyline as is developed as of now. More will be revealed as the game unfolded in development.
A new feature!!!! If you have good ideas, feel free to add them. The story is partially fluid, so you can edit it. But take note! You ideas may be removed if they don't mesh with the final ending. (Sorry, you don't get THAT spoiler. However, if you guess it right, you get a no-prize!)
