Gamemode idea: Bluespace Island

[NerdyVampire]

Bluespace Island

In this gamemode, a player finds themselves stranded on an ancient island lost in bluespace. The island's temple features a prophecy that the player (the Hermit) knows about from the get-go, but the requirements to fulfill it are on the Aurora. As by fate, a portal is ready to be opened to the Aurora. Will the prophecy be fulfilled? Will Aurora's crew be brave enough to explore this new island? How the hell do we close that portal? Will the Hermit be diplomatic or aggressive and what do they want?

The Island:

The island is a landmass that got stranded in bluespace due to some event long ago. It has since been adopted by the creatures and flora that can exist there, and might feature such flora as the native bluespace tomato or fauna such as the bluespace bear or slimes. Bits and pieces of technology may be scattered along the island among the dangers or obstacles, perhaps the arm of a Phazer, a bag of holding or a wormhole jaunter (or even cooler stuff). The terrain should be like our dear asteroid, with less space cleared though, and some free growing vegetables.
The island should be randomized , except for one building in the center; the temple, which will open a portal (like telescience but stable) into a spot on the Aurora after a short start-delay (or it can be triggered earlier by the Hermit). The temple also features an prophecy for either the Aurora or the Hermit (or both in cooperation) to complete. In my mind it should be a puzzle that requires X items, when delivered should trigger Y event. Both of which is known by the Hermit from the get-go, and can be deciphered from a nearby obelisk, but should have a difficult requirement to do so.
 

The Hermit:

The involuntary (or voluntary) hermit starts on this island where they will choose an origin story which will spawn them some items or give them some powers. This of course requires quite a bit of balance, but I think it might be worthwhile to give a believable story and some flexibility.

• Wayward pirate, during a raid a bluespace event forced you onto this island (choice of weaponry and loot akin to mercenary)
• Wayward scientist, an experiment went wrong and forced you onto this island (bluespace technology)
• Mystic, you came to this island voluntarily to study the temple and have waited for this moment. (magic akin to wizard or vamp)

The Story:

So what's the story here? Well the Hermit can choose either a peaceful or a violent route, or even a deceptive one at that. They could invite the Aurora crew to come to their island, promising to share in its treasures, they could claim to know of a prophecy that will proppel the quadrant into a new technological golden age, they could simply be looking for companionship or escape. Alternatively they might know exactly what the prophecy needs and desire to get it through any means, they might want to take over Aurora. NanoTransen might even be the reason they got stuck on that blasted island in the first place with nothing but tomatoes and bear meat to eat.

From Aurora's POV this is of course a great research opportunity, and aside from the gains they need to understand and control that weird portal that just opened up in cargo, before it violently rips a hole in the station or something.

Prophecies:

I'm sure you can come up with better ones than me, but here's a few.

• The 3 pets of 3 heads sacrificed at temple ... shall awaken the long lost dead. (spawn a powerful creature the hermit might control)
• The key to great destruction and dread powers brought to temple ... shall instead bring restoration and flowers (bring captains code, turn Aurora into a garden of eden)
• That which sits in darkness and watches over all brought to temple ... shall bring freedom to it, and hence to all. (bring AI core, all synthetics on Aurora are freed (through a message))
• The gift of the temple shall be given to they with faith in its power. (sacrifice yourself, be respawned as -random mob roll-, once pr player)

It is not necessary that the prophecy be fulfilled at all during the game, but it should be a big (fun!) motivator for either part.

Technical requirements:

New map, new sprites, new events, new everything basically. Though I think we have the parts already to do so.

Final thoughts:

So I think this could be interesting game mode, as it can go in many different directions and it gives the Aurora a chance to be more scientific, more diplomatic, more aggressive or even colonial, as they decide what to do with this new chunk of land and the dude that came with it. The biggest issue I see with it, is that it can exclude players if security decide to lock it down, meaning civilians might not find their way inside at all if they wish. The solution could possibly be to make more portals spawn over time, so from activation of the first, a second might pop up 15 minutes later in a new place and later again.

Let me know what you think, with some tweaking it can probably be good.

[GourmetCook]

well this is a very major event. i like it though

[DaTimeSmog]

This is more like an event idea, rather than a gamemode.

[Nantei]

It could be an event, but it does seem like it has replay-ability for a gamemode. Namely if we get decent procedural generation on the temple.

[BoryaTheSlayer]

As most have said, this so far looks more like an event-- but add some things here and there, add a bit more leeway and freedom for more gimmicks and I can see it being an actual gamemode!
I'm not a developer so I can't really add much more than my opinion here, unfortunately. The structure itself is perfect for making a story, which almost guarantees the round being fun and the gimmick being carried out to a certain extent.

[Arrow768]

As mentioned by others: That wouldnt work as a gamemode, because there is only a very limited number of ways this can go.

It might however work as a away mission/ghost role

[NerdyVampire]

Alright, I'll keep thinking of other modes then. I do still like incorporating the prophecy part in the game somehow... If I come up with something different enough I'll make a new topic.

If there are ideas to make this idea fulfill the criteria of having more ways to go, I hope people will bring 'em