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[phantomstories]

Not the Same

This is a script I wrote as a concept for a visual novel I am currently working on. This scene would take place once the main character, Cary, started going down Scarlet’s route. 

Script: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ffc6XpWspg7wPOaq2jhSANekljmFRx6rKQhu-CNccmU/edit?usp=sharing

[phantomstories]

Dim

This is a script I wrote in 2013 about a character of mine, Dim. He has two souls inside of him so this was a nice piece for me to look at the relationship between the souls more closely. 

Script: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ezEhuqCZ-a48s9gyh3nX0ZQ-GMae1XhxET0MjG5pNRY/edit?usp=sharing

[phantomstories]

Briyan’s Tragedy

This is a short scene I wrote in 2014 based of a series I was writing in 2012. 

Script: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17-2ERNgtrrssNuG60eNPIJpCiMKlJIfBxKFnzn7I1c0/edit?usp=sharing

Shot List: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12lVi_HZZN-hClblAdpZIg3X-98meZ3YGs-GXBZAO5c4/edit?usp=sharing

[phantomstories]

Press Start

What if I never picked up the Super Nintendo controller as a kid? I wasn’t that good at video games back then, Mario’s Early Years: Preschool Fun being the only Super Nintendo game I ever completed, but I liked them even if my small child mind could not comprehend how to play them correctly or well. My mom had a lot of great games including Aladdin, Goof Troop, A Link to the Past, and Super Mario World, all of which I enjoyed until I got stuck.

Something so far in my past where all I remember is failure shouldn’t be that important to me, but once in awhile I’ll try Pac-Man 2 or the Animaniacs game again. The only game system I had growing up was that Super Nintendo, not including the original Nintendo my mom sold at garage sale before I was able to truly experience it, so I didn’t really focus on gaming much back then.

I got a Gamecube when I turned ten and I bought a Nintendo DS when I was eleven, but I only got games based on cartoons and a few Sonic games here and there. Through elementary school and most of middle school, all I knew was that games were fun and I really didn’t care what I played.  

During those mid schooling years, I also began writing about characters I created and I started caring more for stories and interesting ideas. I also figured out that the Hannah Montana DS game wasn’t as great as I thought it was, so I began looking for games that sounded more satisfying than Pop Idol simulators.

I read through issues of Nintendo Power and Game Informer magazines, looking for something that fit me. At the time, I had started to develop an appreciation for Japanese culture, mostly Anime and Manga, and I had an odd taste in stories compared to the masses. That is probably how I came across the cult classic DS game, The World Ends With You, or TWEWY for short.

TWEWY blew my mind when I saw it in Nintendo Power. The graphics were rendered in a 2D graffiti-japanese art style, the writers of the article kept raving about how original the music was, and for once, the gameplay amazed me; even to this day, I never focus on the gameplay. You simultaneously control two characters, one on the top screen with the buttons and the other on the bottom with the touch screen. This game looked amazing, but the main thing that caught me was the story.

A 15 year old, named Neku Sakuraba, wakes up in the Scramble Crossing of Shibuya, Tokyo with no memory of how he got there or his past. He finds himself in the Reapers’ Game, a week long fight for the right to exist.

Just reading about the plot made me beg my mom to let me get the game, even though it was rated T for Teen and, since I was only twelve, I was convinced she would say no. I was a goody two-shoes child, thinking that the rating was set in stone and it was bad to play something meant for teenagers. She laughed at me for thinking that and said I was responsible for my age, so I got the game a week later. I still remember starting to play it in the living room, younger siblings sitting on the couch, when Neku shouted, “Shut up! Just go the hell away!” and I ran upstairs with the DS to protect their innocent ears.

It was the best game I ever played, maybe not by other peoples’ standards, but to me it was. I grew attached to the characters, even the snarky Yoshiya “Joshua” Kiryu and the sometimes idiotic Daisukenojo “Beat” Bito. The main character, Neku, went through a lot, the focus of his character development being to learn how to trust people and all of it was portrayed beautifully. I became immersed in the story, connected to Neku on an emotional level, and felt as if I was Neku.

TWEWY was my turning point when it came to video games. After playing that game, I came to the conclusion that video games were an art form, but they had a special quality that made them unlike other ones. Video games had interactivity. The interactivity of a game can submerge a player in a game’s world and give them experiences that they couldn’t have in real life. In those worlds, you can be whoever you want to be: a dark knight, a sneaky assassin, a boy with a blob, or a teen fighting for their right to live. Anything is possible in the virtual landscape.

I would have to say video games are a very important part of my life and the perfect medium for me and my own stories. It makes me happy to know that I’ll be able to put people in my characters’ shoes and give them odd and satisfying experiences through my own fictional worlds.

So, what if I never picked up that Super Nintendo controller as a kid? I would’ve never gotten to go into different virtual universes. I would’ve missed out on the astounding stories created by game makers. I wouldn’t have found the profession I want to go into. Games make up a big part of me and it all started with that Super Nintendo.