Logan's Journey
A short Story
By Christopher Wiley
It’s so flat, so incredibly flat. I had never seen anything quite like this in Kentucky, it was all mountains and hills, but this. This was incredible. I have been travelling with a group for weeks now, heading west. I was going to look to start my own life. A life away from the hustle and bustle of the east and to stake my claim on some land. In a few days I’ll be leaving the group as they continue westward to the California territories, I’m gonna stay in a little town called Haywood. Small town, but has a railroad and is ever expanding.
Out on the edge of town is a massive farm famous for hiring men to steer cattle along, that’s where I’m gonna work. Ya see, I’ve always liked riding horses and working on farms, but I wanted to see new parts of the world, and to get my own life. I had taken off from home with a revolver and a repeater, some ammunition and some money to rent out a place to live. The excitement was almost killing me, I felt like my heart was gonna jump right outta my chest. I was so close to the town, I had some family in the town and they had a house ready for rent, giving me some friendly prices, and even offering to give me food every day, providin I do some work around the house and help em out.
The family was my Uncle John, a nice, quiet man who kept to himself for the most part. Didn’t speak to too many people, but wrote to his sister, my mom, occasionally. He was getting on in age and his kids had died in infancy and his wife had been gone for a few years. He was just a simple bank clerk and was having trouble getting around. This is where I come in. My mom told him I was looking to move out there and he offered me the rent and I accepted. He talked to the man who owns the large farm out there and got me a job when I get out there wrangling horses and cattle. Only 1 day left before I get to Haywood, and then I get to start my new life.
I heard the sound of a whistle and rolled out of the seat where I was laying. My hair was a mess and the smell of coal was everywhere. I picked myself up off the floor and walked toward the door to get off the train, I gave the conductor his fare and saw John sitting there, balding hair, black suit and spectacled. It amazes me that he can sit here in this heat. I had never been in anything like this before, it was so hot and dry. John approached and put his arms around me. “Why if it ain’t Logan. How are ya son” his voice was welcoming and a little soft. He was very small standing only to my shoulders. “You’ve grown quite a bit since I last saw you” I agreed with him, last time I saw him I was 3, now I’m 18.
We stopped and chatted for a bit, but after a while my head began to pound, John said it was normal and that it was a heat head ache. We picked up my stuff and headed into town he stopped at the local stores and picked up some food for us to eat for dinner that day, with me cooking of course. After not to long we were at his house it was rather large and made of wood. I asked John how he afforded it and all he said was a close friend helped him build it years go. I stared disbelievingly at him, he smiled a bit of a rueful smile, one I hadn’t seen him make yet and he laughed hardily. “I saved up for about 5 years and had a man needing money build it for me with some of his friends. I got the land cheap when this town was still real tiny”.
We walked in and he showed me to my room. It was small and quaint, but I liked it, reminded me of home. I put my bags down and lay on the bed. John went and got me some water from the pump. It was rather odd tasting water and he said it was mineral deposits. I accepted this and drank the rest. I got up in a few hours and began preparing dinner. John had his back on a wall and watched as I started the food. I asked if there was anything I needed to know about the town. John said “well boy, you’d best stay in town and on the farm if you know what’s good for ya. Lots of Indians roamin around these parts, not kindly ones either, but savages. Cut your head off if given the chance. I’d also stop at the saloon tomorrow. Lots of people gather there and it will get your name around and you can meet the locals. Stay away from Madam Hillary’s though, no good women there, just loose ones, unless that’s your thing and god help you if it is.” I laughed at this, he seemed rather knowledgeable about the kinds of services they provided at Hillary’s, but I didn’t ask, he seemed rather peeved at the establishment.
After eating we went to bed, had an early day tomorrow. I remember waking up around 4 hearing gun shots and Uncle John running in my room saying some bandits had taken over the farm I was supposed to be working at. He said” boy we need help, the local sheriff was shot and no one can save the farm or get close enough to shoot the bandits. Boy, how good are you with a rifle?” He asked. I told him I was ok, I’d never really tried much beyond squirrels and a few contests. To which he said never too late to start…
I sat outside waiting for them to bring me a large rifle to take a shot at the bandits. It was very surreal, I had no idea why he was asking me to do this, I had one a few shooting contests back home but never done anything like this. John brought me a Winchester ‘92 and it was amazing. The large loop lever felt as if it was made for my hand. I can’t believe it uses the same rounds as my handgun. The wood of the barrel feels as smooth as silk in my hands.
As I looked down the barrel of the gun I realized exactly where I needed to aim, at the hind quarters of their horses (not hitting the horse, just scaring ‘em). If I did this the bandits would be bucked off and me and a few other folks could ride in and recapture the farm.
After gathering up a few men, I took my shots and thanks to a great repeater rifle was able to get them all horseless in less than five seconds, then, we charged in. I got to the farm first, and took a shot at one of the bandits with my revolver. I hit his arm and he went down, suffering and in pain. Then a massive shootout started. I have never in all my life heard so much noise. Between the screamin’ and hollerin’ it sounded like the world was crashing around me. I was having some trouble focusin’ but managed to hit another in the leg, and then I got hit in my left arm. The pain was unimaginable. It felt like fire was running through my veins and I could feel tears welling in my eyes Next thing I knew the adrenaline kicked in. The pain stopped and I ran out into the main part of the farm like a man possessed. Nothing was going to get in my way and in 4 shots managed to take out the remaining bandits. The townsfolk said they ain’t never seen nothing like it and were begging me to take the now vacant position of Sheriff of the town. And that my friends is just the beginning of my story .
Alternatives to Death
Examining different forms of Punishment
By Christopher Wiley
Almost every video game uses death as a form of punishment, however this can be very frustrating and saddening as the player can lose much progress that they made in a game if they hadn’t saved in a while or if they couldn’t make it to a save point in time. Generally, death is what happens when the players health reaches zero and this usually means restarting from an earlier point in the game however there have been games that have started to move away from this trend, such as FF15. FF15 has a system where instead of the main character dying when their health reaches zero immediately, they enter a weakened state where they may walk around and be healed slightly by teammates or may heal themselves using items and even use phoenix downs to regain from a downed state, this is much preferable to immediate death but give the players teammates a chance to win the battle. Today I will be talking about alternatives to immediate death in the games of Kingdom Hearts and the Digimon series.
Kingdom Hearts:
Kingdom hearts is a fun and wonderful game; however, death is incredibly frustrating and doesn’t always make sense. In this game if your allies lose all their health you can still heal them using potions or the cure spell, but if you die your allies have no chance to heal you at all. This is both frustrating and confusing because your allies don’t die when they lose health they just go unconscious, but if the player does then they die and must restart from an earlier point. As an alternative to this I propose that If your health is reduced to zero as the player then instead of simply dying and losing that you go unconscious and have a chance for your teammates to heal your or win the battle, and if that is done then a small amount of your health is restored. I feel this makes far more sense and fits better within the games mechanics than just plain dying. The player could also take control of one of their allies during this time to allow them to have more control of the situation. This is not too farfetched of an Idea as in Kingdom Hearts 2 if Sora died in certain boss fight he would play as King Mickey and try and win the battle or do enough to revive Sora. It was also quite fun and added a special little change to the gameplay as he played very differently. This would improve gameplay by providing the player different types of gameplay with characters and provides a chance to change the course of the battle.
A second solution I came up with that could be used in tandem with the other is a system where if the player and all his allies are reduced to zero HP then they become a single heartless. In this mode, the player must defeat so many enemies to regain their heart and come back to life with their allies. This would again provide a special type of gameplay and make the game a little more dynamic and more interesting. The player would be unable to take damage on the traditional sense but have a shadow meter that if it is reduced would make the player become a shadow pool that would be unable to do anything but move and would only be able to return to regular heatless mode when they enter a noncombat state ( no enemies and the ability to manage equipment and such). If the player manages to fill the heart gauge, then they and their allies are brought back and normal play resumes. The heartless the player gets to use is based on whatever world they are in and this provides more variety. This is once again a system not unfamiliar to the series as in Kingdom Hearts Sora becomes a heartless and the player plays as them for a short period and had a different form of gameplay. I don’t think should be applied to boss fights and only the first suggested idea should be used as boss fights function slightly differently than most fights and if all the player’s allies and the player’s health are reduced to zero then this should result in a game over. And a return to an earlier point, or perhaps a system like before where they use King Mickey or someone else who can revive them but cannot really do any damage to the enemy.
Digimon series:
In the Digimon series you can grow and strengthen your Digimon to make them digivolve. However, in the games if your Digimon’s HP is reduced to zero (in battle) then they pass out like Pokemon do in the Pokemon games. They can be revived using items to restore their HP but this however, does not fit in with the anime, manga, or lore of the series. In the lore, Digimon that are born from a digi-egg start at a basic form that can evolve into a different form with time and collecting data. However, if they are weakened greatly then they revert to a previous form temporarily. My solution to making it match more with the lore is when a Digimon’s health reduces to zero (in battle) that Digimon reverts to its previous form (since Digimon have multiple branches, it reverts to the last one it was). In the games the Digimon must obtain certain stats to digivolve. In this reduced state, they will not have to re-attain those exact stats (because they already have them). They will just have to gain a certain amount of experience, after the battle, to be able to re-digivolve into that form. This provides a punishment system that is more in line with the series lore and gives the Digimon a more dynamic feel than just fighters. This reversion can be stacked in that if the reverted Digimon loses their HP again, they will revert to the next previous form. If the Digimon is in its basic state when it loses all its HP then it will pass out like it currently does. This makes battles more dynamic and interesting while also keeping with the lore.
Linear to Non Linear Game Design
Examining how changing how the game progresses changes the game
By Christopher Wiley
Linear to non-linear: Monster Hunter
Monster Hunter’s story is there just to facilitate the gameplay, go out and kill monsters, you generally fight because an elder dragon is threatening a village but you must clear out all the other threats it brings along with it and that’s the story for generally all of the games.
In the game the player generally just kills all the monsters they come across but what if they didn’t have to. In my version, the player has a choice, they can choose to hunt or to pacify and if they choose to pacify then they tame the monster and can have them help in battles. This will drastically change the gameplay and allow player to choose how they want to proceed. Depending on the player’s actions chosen then the story will change and the hubs will change as well. If they choose a tamer route then the area will reflect this more with some of the monsters lying around the area and a more tribalesque appearance, where as if hunter is chosen a more village town design is chosen. The player has two ending depending on the path chosen, either a society united with the monsters against the elder dragons or one opposed to them.
Nonlinear to linear: Fallout New Vegas
Fallout New Vegas is nonlinear narrative game where the player’s choices and actions have great effects on who they work for and who they get along with or not. The player has four main factions to work with and several lesser factions who they player can befriend and work with but only have slight effects on the outcome. It is non-linear converging where the main skeleton is the same, where the player determines who wins control of the Hoover Dam, but otherwise all is determined by the player.
To make this into a linear game I would eliminate the choices the player took and have them instead work with only the NCR and include more gameplay feature like large scale battles like the ones found in the Fallout 3 DLC Operation Anchorage (I think was the name). I would allow players the choice of their companion but their side quests would be eliminated and would focus more on just the actual combat and expanding how it worked to give the game another focus as the story was the focus of the nonlinear version. I would have the player, instead of being a courier, be a NCR soldier working their way up the ranks in the game and fighting Ceaser’s legion and the strip in the game, making it more akin to a first-person shooter but still maintain the exploration aspect. I would add missions where the player had to help small settlements and patrol them to give a better sense and feel of being a soldier.
Additional Scene for "An Interview with a Vampire" by Anne Rice
Fan Fiction by Christopher Wiley
Why I choose "An Interview with a Vampire"
I chose to do a creative piece that added to a section of “An Interview with a Vampire” that I found a little lack luster. In the reading there was a build up to the journey across the ocean, but when it came time, little of the journey was discussed. I found that I wanted to know more about the journey. I also chose to do a creative piece because I want to improve my own writing. I struggle with details and characterizations in my own work. I felt that if I was building off of someone else’s work it would be easier for to expand my own words.
Anne Rice is very descriptive in her work. She often will often talk about a way a street looks including the clothing of the people, the smells, and the colors. In this book, because Louis is fascinated by the things he can experience through the senses of a vampire, you get a lot of detail. She talks about the smoothness of someone’s skin and the sound of a person’s heartbeat. Everything is detailed out and described to the smallest aspect.
I chose the journey because it was the least descriptive part of the story and seemed to be a chance for me to work on my weakness as a story teller. I felt I could tie in thoughts that were addressed early in the book and make this section feel more contacted to the story as a whole.
I understand why the section was kept short and concise. It was not a part of the story that would necessarily be detailed out. This part of the book felt almost like an intermission. There had been a buildup of tension for a while and then a mini climax, which was the return and burring of Lestat. Anne Rice was giving her readers a bit of breathing room before starting the buildup of tension again.
While I understand the potential reason for the lack of detail in this section, as I was reading I still felt it needed something more. The section still needed to be short and concise but it needed something to keep the reader engaged. This is why I chose to have the vampire Louis relay his trip through hazy memories caused by fevered dreams. In this manner there is some detail but there is an explanation as to why there is not as much as there is in the rest of the book. I also explain why the vampire retreats to his rooms for the majority of the journey, giving further reason for the lack of detail.
In the memories that Louis does have are the details. I describe his nightmares that shed some insights to his feelings for Lestat, Babette, and Claudia. I tried to convey his confusing thoughts about being who he was and how Claudia came to be. I also tried to introduce the thoughts Claudia might have about being stuck in a child’s body for eternity.
I feel that this addition fits into the story nicely and adds some detail and explanations without being overwhelming and still providing a brief respite to the readers.
Additional Scene
The vampire stopped. The talk about the burning of Lestat seemed to sadden him in a way, and seemed to make the vampire uncomfortable. He looked over at the reporter and noticed that the tape was coming to its end. The boy changed the tape over and implored the vampire to continue. “I remember little of what happened on our journey to Europe. It is still… very much like a fever dream to me, one full of horrible images, thoughts and fears. I would often see the image of Lestat, burning on fire and writhing in pain, but then suddenly he would rise up with a look on his face that frightened me more than anything ever had. His eyes were huge and glowed with an intent far more sinister than I can convey with words. The fire would burn away his flesh and underneath would be me. Then I would see myself go and kill Babette and Claudia. I ripped Babbette’s throat and drained her essence dry. I strangled Claudia slowly and watched the life drain from her eyes.
These visions tortured me the entire time we were on the voyage, coming almost daily. These dreams were interspersed with going about the ship looking for things to feed on at night. I saw Claudia little during this time. The fact that Lestat was alive seemed to have hit her hard as well. The few times I did see her she seemed to be searching for something.
She killed many on the trip, making it seem like a fever that was taking the passengers one or two at a time. This was a good cover for her. I ate mostly rats, finding myself taking the advice that Lestat had once given to me when we first met and discussed such things. These impulses did not help the visions which would come to me as I drank on occasion. I would see Babette or Claudia eating the rats, the squealing of them would become that of my loves screaming, calling me the devil. They would begin to beg God for help and say prayers in the hopes of hurting me in some way. Feeding during this time was not only painful and difficult, but also tiresome. Since I was not taking in human blood I would often feel faint and sick, I only fed off of two humans during this trip. Their names I did not know but they were ill and were not going to make it to Europe regardless. And in a fit of pity and need I killed both of them and drained them dry. Claudia sat back and watched, she made sure I did not get stuck in the frenzy and let myself die with them. She watched in an intense manner, as if trying to discern some meaning from the feeding, why the killing of humans seemed to be our main source of pleasure and food. Her stare seemed to convey a question and frustration. At what I could not know, and at the time could not even begin to think about. After this I remained in our room for the duration of the trip, feeding off the rats.
When we arrived in Europe the nightmares finally ended. I think something about my nature as a vampire caused them while over the vast amount of water but this is something I never discovered, as Claudia never seemed to be affected while we were traveling. During this time I started to notice changes in Claudia’s attitude that would not fully resonate with me until later on. She became colder and more distant, she seemed incredibly sad and frustrated at something but would not share what that thing was with me at that time. Instead we traveled to Eastern Europe, searching for any clues as to the whereabouts of other vampires.
Island Survivor Narrative
by Christopher Wiley