The Levels
George: This was the general level progression. Should be fairly easy to apply the story chapters to each of these levels and build a solid structure with plot points etc within each level.
Level Descriptions
Training
TL1 -- Training level just out side of reservation
This level features an old barn that Tommy can enter and try out some of his climbing skils. In the barn, Tommy can find a rifle or a pistol. There should also be an old mirror in the barn. He can then head out to the old mesa behind the barn to try some target practice and hunting. The purpose of this level is to give the player a Tomb Raider like training experience, plus it will anchor the player in Arozona and begin to give a feel for Tommy Hawk as a character.
Chapter 1 - "The Summoning"
Chapter 2 - "The Journey"
This is the shuttle ship that takes Tommy and the other Earthly captives from Earth to the Trocaran mothership. The shuttle is operated by a Keeper "away team." This means a few Keepers (in their away suits) plus a large contingent of "manufactured" workers—all of these are derived, in some way, by the Keepers from the genetic designs of the other species.
The shuttle is large in scale, and while it is a Keeper vessel, it was built by their cybernetic "servants" so that it doesn’t seem too Keeper-like at first glance, but more robotic and automatic. The age of the ship is incredible, but it has been scrupulously maintained. Imagine an old piece of metal that has been ground down and polished back up hundreds of times.
There is a system of nearly-hidden tunnels and rooms (picture our own lymph system) which are used by the Keepers, and may be discovered by the player.
The vast majority of the area of this ship is given up to storage cells—the primary function of the ship is either to haul things down to a planet or bring things up. Often, a lot of what’s "brought back" to the Trocaran ship are organic life forms.
Sets up the Trocaran shuttle environment, and makes the player really feel like he’s cruising away from Earth. This room is the loading room just past the airlock—where supplies are loaded before being taken to storage rooms.
Chapter 3 - "The Captive"
This is a large humanoid prison area that is broken up into 3 primary sections—the research section (where the humanoids dissect captives and perform genetic research and experimentation); the "cold storage" section—this area consists of holding cells, cold storage for recently killed humanoids and processing sections which are used to process humanoids and humanoid-like captives into humanoid food; the "debauchery" sections—cells to hold captives and arenas for pleasure and play, sexual depravity and torture, etc.
Tommy begins this level in the research area of the prison, in a gigantic "holding area" where many captives are placed to recover from research. It should be noted that the "Keeper presence" in the research area is quite strong, since the Keepers often help, or facilitate genetic research and exploratory surgeries. There are also plenty of Keeper access tunnels in this area, since they often observe the Trocaran’s genetic research surreptitiously.
Tommy wakes up as he’s being dissected, passes out, wakes up to empty room, sees leg and arm on table, passes out again. Tommy learns that he is a prisoner now, and that something horrible has been done to him.Tommy, once he gets a sense of where he is, hears another human voice, far away. It is another Indian captive, like himself. A light comes on and illuminates the captive, within shouting distance, but impossible to get to. He is in the same boat as Tommy, but has been awake for several days, exploring what he can—he thinks he’s found a way out for himself (Tommy can’t get there), but gives Tommy a clue to get out himself—he also clues Tommy in on several of the small, parasitic creatures he’s found that are edible. After giving his advice, he tells Tommy that he’s going to search for the others and that Tommy should do the same…Tommy realizes that he is not dead—feels the scars and some of the strange mental effects, knows he must escape the prison, knows that he’s no longer on the ship, but someplace altogether different and alien
This is a large humanoid library—essentially the base of their knowledge. The library is utterly ancient and utterly run-down. While parts of the library are still used by nobles doing some corporate research or scientific research, most of the vast resources are left to crumble under the harsh passing of time.
This library should show some of the time-stratification of the Trocaran mothership—parts of the library should appear significantly older and less technologically-advanced with newer (though still ancient and run-down) and more advanced additions looking like they were built right over the top.
This place should make you want to cough from dust and wash your hands if you touch anything. It should also be a cool place for the player to learn a bit about the Trocara—we’ll need to come up with some cool "data-access" interfaces for the library stuff.
Tommy begins to realize the scale and antiquity of this place. Learns about the old man’s way of getting him into a dream quest
Chapter 4 - "The Abolition"
Chapter 5 - "The Gladiator"
Chapter 6 - "The Bloodwar"
Chapter 7 - "The Soulcenter"