#Thomas is the brains of the operation‚ acquiring weapons for the team and recruiting people (and has the most medical knowledge)

[jaedoesart]

Dave finally snapped-

[eddygould]

Effingo (Nanopunk game idea)

Effingo is a fictional action-adventure game in 3rd person and an open world. Representing a pure nanopunk with its problems, the game reveals such topics as the concept of life, the role of technology, the preservation of culture and information, the further existence of civilization, and the relationship of people in critical situations. Honestly, Death Stranding has inspired me to create this concept.

The Lore:

It all started in 2028. Thanks to the sudden boom of nanorobots (called nanites) in medicine, the largest corporations had seen the potential in this technology and decided to invest in it their own funds. Subsequently, nanites were used in construction and military operations, and Nanovative, the main developer and supplier of nanites, became a true monopolist in its field. After some terrorist acts with a destruction of monuments, the company launched the Effingo programme that implied the preservation of masterpieces of culture and art, based on their copies made by nanites. The program had to work through a software analysis of shapes, interiors, and materials of architectural creations, which data were loaded into nanites. Nanovative announced the creation of a "Museum", an artificial archipelago in the Pacific Ocean that included continuous tours. The nanites themselves were able to maintain the monuments in a perfect condition, restore them in case of damage, and with the embedded program would save copies even after the destruction of the originals. At the same time, the percentage of income from excursions would depart to countries whose monuments have already been "saved", and thus all the parties would remain in the black. This caused, in the main, a positive reaction in the society, but the forecasters, namely the union of scientists who founded the International Archive of Mankind (IAM), declared the inexpediency of this idea. In their opinion, behind this were purely economic motives, and the "plan for the preservation of culture" did not make any sense, because with the same success it could be possible to convert those computer models into virtual reality, where they would have existed forever. Effingo was called the "world-wide tourist trap", but this provoked a flurry of criticism in the media, and many scientists dubbed IAM "the unfortunate echo of an escapist generation", complaining that nanites are the future of mankind. In 2030, the first colony was founded on Mars. Despite all the suggestions of Nanovative to use their product for faster construction of the base, NASA refused it, giving priority to modular homes. By 2033, the contract for architectural copying with Nanovative was signed by most countries, including Egypt, Great Britain, Japan, and the EU. The first sight was the Great Sphinx of Giza. Nevertheless, there were rumors that the corporation illegally buys "models" from non-interested countries and tests them at their landfills. At one such test in Colorado, nanites deviated from the program for the first time, creating a perfect sphere with a diameter of 10 meters. The scientists tried to understand the reason, but could not find anything out. After about a year the nanites ceased to respond to any commands and began to create their own structures, going beyond a site. The company destroyed a significant part of them, but after a while found out that the nanites learned to copy themselves. This incident was hushed up until 2032, when the nanites began to "devour" the town of Sugar City, Colorado. The information was leaked to the media, and the nanites were recognized as a national threat. Anticipating a global catastrophe, the IAM moved its base from Norway to Antarctica, including the Alexandria project, the largest repository of all the information accumulated by mankind and encoded in DNA. Nanites all around the globe had also "challenged" humanity, starting simultaneously and continuously evolving. The real chaos began, during which the population of continents hurriedly moved to the islands. The Japanese researchers invented special repeaters capable of "deactivating" nanites, but nanorobots adapted to it as well. After a while, the movement of nanites changed from a chaotic one to understandable aspiration to the south. At the dawn of a global threat, the UN began to cooperate with NATO and the armies of individual countries in order to control the territories that were subjected to the "attack" of nanites. As they were evolving, nanorobots were acquiring new features, going from copying inorganic materials and self-copying to manipulation with gases and liquids. Mastering the new levels of matter changing, quadrillion of nanites headed to Antarctica, and by 2046 occupied some part of it. As the scientists expected, nanites somehow learned about the IAM, and therefore they tried to get there. The organization could not get help from the UN for a long time, and only an Australian private company NovaSec illegally provided a material support, and even delivered the Osprey O rocket for the emergency launch of the IAM to space, which got stuck in the ice during transportation. Meanwhile, the colony on Mars was growing: NASA carefully considered the possible problem of the disappearance of mankind and concentrated on adapting the life outside Earth. 2046. At the south pole, there was a catastrophe on the Noah Base. Between the researchers, a conflict arose on the basis of the hypothetical seizure of the area by nanites, during which the scientist Michael Jepsen organized a riot and attempted to kill all the personnel. A team of five people was sent from Hooverville Station to find out the reason and resolve the conflict. The detachment did not return surprisingly, therefore, because of the shortage of people, it was customary to gather researchers from adjacent IAM branches. Among them were Paul Vernon (a rescuer), Kate Crosser (a doctor), Vince Rego (a meteorologist), Thomas Callahan (an engineer who earlier worked on nanorobots), and Greg Wing (a NovaSec employee, and a programmer). A station warden Lenny Crimons, who asked for help, became the team's "brain".

The game begins with the arrival of a new personnel at the Hooverville Station that serves as a hub and main base in the game. The player takes control of Paul Vernon who has become the unofficial leader of the crew, which is not approved by some team members. After acquaintance, the player is free to either study the world, or follow the story missions. At the same time you can take up to two team-mates with you (in the main quests the whole team participates). The main mission is simple: to find Osprey O, deliver it to the station, and then get to the South Pole, and save the Alexandria project. At the same time, the player will have to study other stations and zones occupied by nanites, as well as to simply survive, following the level of cold and air condition. The game has not so much action because the main enemies here are nanorobots. Paul can either use special weapons to "repel" them or completely avoid nanites.

The game world covers the real territory of the northern part of the Transantarctic Mountains (that are located in the south of the game map) and parts of the Polar Plateau. Approximately in the center of the map there is the Noah Base (the coordinates are 87°12'12.0"S 120°08'04.9"E), in the southwest is the Hooverville station (87°12'12.0"S 120°08'04.9"E). The Osprey O rocket which got stuck in the ice is located in the north-west, almost in the corner of the map. In the center, in the north and west, there are several large zones occupied by nanites. Usually in these places the player can find artificial mountains and lakes, as well as "man-made" structures like Moai from the Easter Island, a half-buried statue of freedom, the Great Sphinx of Giza with an ideal sphere instead of a head, and many other "works" of nanites. Closer to the center, the climate becomes milder, there is no snow at all (or rather, the snow is "buried" under the layer of artificial earth), and some kind of weird trees is also presented. Artificial lakes and swamps of slime are inhabited by long worms and smaller organisms; in the air webbed beings-balloons that resemble jellyfish and emit light slowly fly, and the lifeless surface is full of coral-like outgrowths of flesh. In the atmosphere, the content of external gases is high, somewhere even methane predominates. In the very center there is the Noah Base with the Alexandria project.

In-game Story:

When the team gets to Osprey O, they detect an artificial glacier in the middle of the plain. Getting inside, the characters observe that their goal is in some kind of frozen slime, and all the NovaSec workers who delivered the goods were killed and turned into growths of flesh. After the successful rescue of the rocket, opinions about the further operation are divided. If earlier the characters simply expressed theories based on their point of view, since that moment everyone starts to follow them. Kate and Lenny believe that they must save Alexandria and all of humanity, Vince is convinced of his nihilism, and Thomas wonders what will happen if they help nanites to realize the goal of capturing the base. Only Greg does not have his own opinion, and therefore everyone will try to recruit him. Paul (the player) first adheres to the same views as Kate and Lenny, but he can take any point of view. The ending depends on to whom Paul will join. The player has to control the degree of tension in the team and try to convince as many mates as possible. In the course of studying the terrain, researchers are convinced that nanites absorb any information and thus evolve. Judging by the attempts to create life, they can already transform DNA, and if they get to Alexandria, they will "absorb" it and take possession of all the knowledge of mankind. Thomas suggests that their real goal is to become a meta-organism, a God who can change reality on all quantum levels at once. In the final mission, the characters penetrate the Noah base, around which the nanites form a dome of slime. Checking the records in the base computers, they find out that the last team that was supposed to come to the rescue, had a traitor who decided to destroy the project and has erased two backups of Alexandria. The team spent about a month there, but the nanites that penetrated the base killed all the researchers. Delivering the rocket and getting to the central computer of Alexandria, every character tries to take control in their own hands.

Endings:

1) Salvation (Paul, Kate, Lenny ± Greg): Paul with his adherents, contrary to warnings and threats from the others, moves the Alexandria vat with the encoded information, a decoder and a laptop to the rocket and launches it to Mars. In the process, the player kills the so-called "radicals", namely Thomas, Vince ± Greg (unless he was recruited by Paul). However, Greg and Lenny can also die by the recklessness of the player. Alexandria is sent to the Martian colony, and nanites without any sources of information will need much more time to further development. Despite the positive context of the ending, only the knowledge of humanity, and not humanity itself, has been saved. Nanorobots will seek to get to Mars, and the fate of the species depends on other people. Nevertheless, the survived members of the crew successfully escape the base and return to the Hooverville Station.

2) Salvation+ (Paul, Kate, Lenny ± Greg): if during the map study the team stumbled upon an old American Missouri Station and found there a nuclear warhead (which is strictly contrary to the Antarctic Treaty System), they can take it and use the missile in the final mission. In this case, all the characters will perish, but some of the nanites will be destroyed. Otherwise, this ending does not differ from an ordinary salvation.

3) Birth (Paul, Thomas ± Greg): the Thomas' idea has been realized. All the objectionable members of the team were killed, and the vat with Alexandria was opened. The nanites successfully absorb information and move to a new stage of development, becoming a God. The characters observe the formation of a single organism that grows into a huge and mighty tree and changes gravity on the base, absorbing all the survivors. The nanites achieve their goal, and a new era in the history of the universe begin.

4) Nihilism (Paul, Vince ± Greg): the nihilists erase the Alexandria project, and all the survivors, including Paul and Vince, commit suicide. Some nanites are destroyed, and therefore, no longer have a goal.

5) Nihilism+ (Paul, Vince ± Greg): if a nuclear warhead is discovered at the Missouri Station, nihilists can apply it in the last mission, destroying not only themselves but the base and a part of the nanites.

6) Virus (Paul, Kate, Lenny ± Greg): a secret ending that can only be opened after the player finds a DNA encoder and a sample of the virus on the Phaeton Station. The player needs to recruit Greg in order to modify the virus (otherwise the ending would not be available). As the crew loads the virus in the vat, it corrupts the data of Alexandria. However, when it is absorbed by nanites, it will launch a mutation process that will kill all nanorobots. Sacrificing the millenia of work and thought, the characters save the world from an invincible threat and give another chance to mankind.