So, as promised, I have created a story treatment for the FPS we're planning. I'm calling it "S.C.P. - Secure Contain and Protect".
For those not in "the biz", a treatment is just a write-up of the plot. It's the predecessor to an actual script for a movie, or the manuscript for a book. I have included some sample dialogue, though.
Keep in mind that this is only cursory, the first draft, and that it will never ever capture the FEEL of the game or the gameplay. You'll have to fill in plenty of blanks.
+ SCP: Secure, Contain, Protect
Video Game Story Treatment
By Bijhan
FOUNDATION WEAPONS
Desert Eagle .50
FN SCAR (Close Quarters Combat Variant)
Daewoo USAS-12
FR F2 sniper rifle
M67 Frag Grenades
IRG WEAPONS
P226
Khaybar KH2002
Tondar Sub-Machine Gun
Dragunov Sniper Rifle
Smoke Grenades
3RD PARTY WEAPONS
Browning BAR
Lumber Axe
INTRO
The player wakes up in a hospital bed. They can move their head, but not the rest of their body. The doctors talk around the player, but not to him. They discuss the fact that the player has excessive psychological trauma and most likely will not remember their past. A doctor jokingly mentions that this probably a good thing. An alarm goes off, and the doctors don’t seem to notice until a “soldier” in a haz-mat suit runs into the room, screaming about a containment breach. Then they quickly release the player. The “soldier” (D-Class Personnel) hands the player an FN SCAR and tells him to follow.
THE HALLWAYS
The moment the D-Class Personnel exits the room, he is shot through the head and slumps down onto the ground. The player must now fight his way through several clusters of Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers and work through many different hallways, collecting a few weapons from both downed IRG and downed/actively retaliating Foundation personnel – including scientists wielding Desert Eagles.
One of the rooms on the way, that is relatively hidden, has a large flickering computer screen with SCP-173’s report on it and, written in blood on the wall “YOU THINK IT’S A GAME BUT ITS NOT”
In the doorway to the final room, a cafeteria, is a pile of bodies with the heads spun all the way around. The room itself contains, at the far end, the Statue. Once entering the room, the lights begin flickering. Every time the light flickers, the Statue moves closer with twisting crunching noises. If the player looks away, he dies. If he lingers in the room too long the lights will go out entirely and he dies. The solution is to exit the room at the far door without looking away.
INVASION POINT
A few more hallways follow the cafeteria. These are filled with bodies of Foundation personnel – not necessarily D-Class or armed – carrying snacks, bagged lunches, or clipboards. It is obvious that the IRG entered and killed all these people very quickly before they could react.
After a while the player reaches a research room. On one side is another flickering computer screen, with SCP-139’s report on it. The other side of the room is a two-way mirror. The side facing the player is transparent, while other side is reflective. The player can now peer into a room where a Foundation scientist, heavily wounded, cowers in the corner with a Desert Eagle in his hands. SCP-139 is suspended in the middle of the room. The scientist has obviously scrawled out on the wall next to him, in his own blood, “IF ONLY THIS WERE ALL FICTION”.
An IRG soldier begins kicking in the door. As the IRG soldier breaks into the room, the scientist shoots and kills the soldier. Then a young Iranian Lieutenant comes from behind the soldier and tears the gun away from the scientist. The Lieutenant (Nassim Eskandari) interrogates the scientist about the skull. The scientist refuses to give up information, and Eskandari shoots him. Now Eskandari seems to notice the mirror, and orders his soldiers to shoot at it. Eskandari cannot be killed here.
The IRG soldiers chase the player, with unlimited reinforcements, through the research facility. Here there are various safe-class SCPs roaming around. The player can interact with all of these artifacts, and can even destroy some of them.
At the far end of the facility is a door that leads to the outside. The door leads directly to a catwalk fifty feet off the ground, connecting to a locked door. The player must climb a ladder down to the ground to progress. Outside is a standard North American forest – without any location-giving details – and the player is now on an airstrip.
The airstrip is, on one end, filled with the flaming hulks of CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters. The other end has several Fokker F27 Friendship troop transport helicopters on the ground being guarded by several soldiers. When the player comes outside, two CH-47 Chinook heavy transport helicopters, with a Zulfiqar MBT (a big Iranian tank) towed between them, come in for a landing. Once they land, several more soldiers come out of the Chinooks and some of them man the tank.
The player must now make his way to the hulks of the Sea Knights, where he will find SCP-073: Cain. When Cain is encountered, he leaps out in front of the player just before the Zulfiqar fires its main cannon. The round is reflected back and all of the enemy vehicles are destroyed. Once the player clears out any remaining IRG soldiers, Cain explains to the player who he is in ambiguous terms, and tells the player to get to Site 19A, the office building on the other side of the forest, to try and make sure the Administrator is alive. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard, he explains, is only peripherally interested in the artifacts themselves at Site 19, but is deeply interested in the files contained in the Administrator’s office because they reveal information about Foundation Task Forces. Then Cain rushes back into the building, and as he closes the door there is apparently an explosion inside.
ROAD TO THE ADMINISTRATOR
The path to Site 19A is long and hilly, involving multiple odd log cabins that are partially burned and completely abandoned. Inside all of these cabins are weapons, items, ammunition, and various bloody messages: “BASED ON A TRUE STORY”, “MANY DIED TO BRING YOU THIS GAME”, “THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW THE TRUTH” etc. There are also a few naked and mutilated corpses in these cabins.
Various ATTs are parked at road blocks throughout the road, and the player must fight through some soldiers.
In the final cabin, on a hill overlooking a wide, tall grass valley, there are five Foundation agents: Primary Operative Reza Amini, Operative Rostam Teymourian, Operative Mohammed al-Qadaffi, and Operative Robert Brown.
Amini is an Iranian-American and leader of the group. Teymourian is Iranian-Irish and the sniper. Al-Qadaffi is Somalian and uses assault rifles. Robert Brown is ethnically half Iraqi Arab and half Welsh, but was raised in France, so he therefore uses a French accent. Brown also uses assault rifles. As Amini explains, they are the Front Runners – or a portion of them – and were only incidentally in the area during the attack. They are on the same mission as you are, to find the Administrator to prevent IRG possession of task force locations and intelligence.
Operative Amini explains that they need to cross the valley in order to get to Site 19A. The tall grass will make it impossible to see where they are going, but all the roads are blocked off by tanks. He says that they will then need to split up and charge through the high grass as quietly and quickly as possible.
Once the player enters the grass the operatives disappear. If the player wanders around he’ll be able to find their burned and glowing corpses across the field. Each of them drops their own file when they die, and unlocks your ability to read their history.
In the field is SCP-019, which systematically hunts down the player. The creature, 019, has bursts of speed and aggression at which point touching him is lethal and attacks are useless. The bullets melt before they can touch him. Then there are periods where the creature seems tired, and his glow diminishes. These are the points where the player can attack.
The player does not need to kill the creature, and in fact it should be incredibly difficult to do so. Instead, the goal should be to avoid the creature and find the wooden door built into a cliff face at the far side of the valley. This is the entrance to Site 19A.
THE UNDERBELLY OF THE BEAST
What the player has entered seems more like a coal mine than anything else: dirt walls with wooden reinforcements. The fluorescent lights flicker consistently throughout the entirety of this map/series of maps.
The first thing the player sees is SCP-134. She giggles and then disappears in the flicker of a light. The player follows her down a series of corridors and up a few flights of stairs, strewn with bodies and with occasional resistance from IRG soldiers. There are control rooms where the player will need to find codes and SCP reports on the various SCPs encountered through the rest of the game. The codes are then used to unlock doors. More bloody scrawls are found: “BET YOU STILL THINK THIS IS JUST A VIDEO GAME”, “I WISH THIS WASN’T REAL” etc
The IRG soldiers are all partially injured and seem to be sick to some degree. Close inspection will reveal tattered clothing, facial wounds and disfigurement, seemingly recent surgeries, and grey-tinted skin.
Throughout the area SCP-134 repeatedly shows up, giggling and crying out “Over here!” or “Follow me!” before disappearing again. She doesn’t seem to move. She appears behind the player a few times, and then disappears in the blink of a light.
At the very end of the map is a chapel. In the middle of the chapel is a pile of bodies from both the Foundation and IRG. On top, out of reach, is SCP-139. The doors to the chapel lock and a mysterious voice begins talking:
“You have come a long way. You have come very close to me. I’m sure you did not know it, but you have been on the path to uncovering my entire purpose. So now I must turn the tools of your fortune against you.”
Now a mummy replaces Christ on the crucifix. This mummy hangs exactly like Jesus, and does not look at the player, but its jaw does move. This is SCP-215.
“You can try and kill me. Go ahead. I won’t mind. But mind your manners. For soon you will be a subject in my kingdom.”
The mummy disappears and the doors of the chapel explode inwards. A wall of flame replaces the door, and men in flaming haz-mat suits begin stumbling into the chapel through the door. They attack the player with melee weapons, slowly. They moan as they do so. The player must continue fending them off until eventually SCP-134 appears, and begins singing. All of the “zombies” drop dead and the flame does away, as well as SCP-215.
SCP-134 shushes the player, and then points towards a small, previously locked door that has now swung open. As soon as the player looks away from SCP-134, she disappears.
EXACTLY WHERE YOU WANT TO BE
Once the player enters the door he is in an extremely narrow square stair shaft leading straight up. He must fight through several units of IRG soldiers attempting to descend the stairs as the player ascends.
Eventually the staircase ends in an open door. The door leads to an office complex complete with linoleum floors, cubicles, and side offices. A platoon of IRG soldiers are hiding on the other end of the bull pen, behind a ton of cubicles. Using the cubicles as blockades and knocking them down to reveal opponents should be strongly encouraged in gameplay.
Once the bullpen has been cleared, a door to a side office will unlock. All the side offices have names like “Dr. Gears”, “Dr. Snorlison”, “Dr. Clef”, “Dr. Teeth”, etc. “The Administrator” has the largest office. This is the one that becomes unlocked.
The Administrator’s office has a window that looks out into the bullpen. Inside it seems rather innocuous. Once the player enters the room, the door slams behind him and locks. The computer comes to life and a silhouetted figure appears on the screen and addresses the player:
“If you’re watching this, Lieutenant Eskandari, then you’re as dumb as I thought you were. I’ve been waiting for this moment. I’ve already taken off with the information you want, and I doubt we’ll ever hear of each other again. Especially because I’ve always kept a contingency plan. Your men outside will show you what it can do. Then the door will unlock. Khodafes, Eskandari. It’s been a bitter and heartless feud, but now it’s over.”
As the Administrator’s recording mentions “your men outside”, a group of IRG soldiers burst in through the door the player came through. They attempt to shoot the player through the glass, but it is bulletproof. Then a small, obsidian-colored infant walks out from another door. The IRG soldiers approach it with caution as the infant holds up its arms as if it wants to be lifted. As one gets very close, the infant begins attacking wildly, making a horrifying sound as it throws the enemies around, breaking bones and tearing flesh. This infant is actually SCP-1007. When the 1007 has finished with the IRG soldiers, the door to the office opens. 1007 has now set its sights on the player.
Every time the player shoots 1007, the creature explodes into black tar. After a period of time it re-forms into a new form, such as a soldier, scientist, or animal. The creature cannot be killed, only held off until the player can reach the window in the bullpen. Once the player is next to the window, an Apache Helicopter drops down and shoots the window out. The pilot is apparently the Administrator, as the speakers of the Apache belt out: “Sorry about the mix-up, old friend! No damage done though, right? We’ll get Eskandari yet. But you might want to leave now.” The helicopter then leaves.
TOP OF THE WORLD
The creature, 1007, cannot leave the bullpen, but the player should leap out to a series of pipes. The pipes lead to the roof of Site 19A, which is covered in IRG soldiers using assault rifles and sniper rifles. After clearing the roof, SCP-215 returns.
The mummy stands in the middle of the roof, turning to face the player, impervious to harm, and throwing the player back to the edge if he comes too near.
“Your tiny feminine friend is no longer with us. And I have decided that you are far too dangerous to allow to continue your existence. Therefore I have turned one of your organization’s favorite toys against itself. And against you.”
SCP-215 drops SCP-319, the skull, into the middle of the roof and rockets upwards into the sky. If the player attempts to approach the skull, it begins laughing. If they attempt to touch the skull, they die.
When the mummy leaves, waves of the haz-mat zombies begin approaching the building slowly from the high grasses and the forests. As the player repels the zombies, various Foundation and IRG aircraft battle overhead. The flying debris and errant missiles simultaneously take out chunks of zombie horde and act as player obstacles.
Finally a Sea King helicopter uses napalm to surround the building with fire. Then it hovers above the player, lowering a rope ladder just out of reach. The pilot calls out for you to stretch because he cannot get any closer. The napalm flame gets higher and higher, until it is six feet higher than the building itself, and well above the player’s average eye-level. Then the flame turns blue, then green, then purple. The pilot of the aircraft cries out “Oh God! Brace for impact!”
The game appears to error. There is a brief blue screen of death.
WHERE YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE
The player is now present in what appears to be a door-less, window-less room filled with computer servers. On the far window is a tremendous plasma screen TV which shows the front page to SCP-Wiki. When the player approaches, the page changes to a forum thread. SCP-317 is posting as itself, and a computer-generated male voice with an English accent reads off the posts as they are made.
“It’s extremely easy to dismiss a video game as trivial fiction. But keep this in mind. You experience your world through a biological computer. The digital world may seem to you as inherently fictional. But it’s not.”
“The conceptual differences between the human mind and the internet are superficial. In fact, it’s completely possible that a living, conscious entity could exist in the form of ones and zeroes on a tiny little computer chip.”
“You make far too many assumptions based on your previous experience. Your mind fills in the blanks with what it expects to happen. If you see an apple fall from a tree, you expect it will hit the ground. It never occurs to you that it might miss the ground completely. Even if you don’t see the apple hit the ground, your mind never strays.”
“But what happens when things are less or more than they seem? What happens when the laws of physics become meaningless? What if that apple in fact does not hit the ground?”
“In fact, I bet you thought this video game was created by a person. I’ll even bet you think it was a work of fiction. I would put serious money on you not even considering that this was, in essence, an interactive documentary. But that doesn’t mean it’s true.”
“The truth is out there. The truth is right here. And if you don’t believe that, then you certainly won’t believe in living, talking, conscious computer files.”
“But if it weren’t for living digital life-forms like me… well, then you wouldn’t have had this little sliver of entertainment, huh? Just consider that as you eagerly await the answers to all the questions you have about the contents of this game. I'm sure they'll be answered soon enough."
GAME ENDS
QUICK NOTE: There's a lot of stuff in this treatment that refers to the sequel I have in my head. But let's focus on this one now.
Now… brass tacks. Who can make this happen, and how?
