the_suicide_king
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The story opens with an old man standing at a podium congratulating a group of MIT graduates on their PhD's followed by a roaring cheer from the crowd and hats fly up in the air, then flashes to a 26 year old man with glasses riding on a tram with a briefcase. The young man is spending the long tram ride with his memories. You hear an older man's voice as he nervously rubs his thumb on his watch, knowing that he's late for work. As the voice gets louder it fades to another memory he's having; a man with gray hair sitting behind a desk, the name plate reads "Dr. Wallace Breen". The dialogue is essentially Breen sizing up the newest hire to Black Mesa, talking about how he's impressed with his credentials (magna cum laude graduate, how he's so young, etc). Flash back to the tram which is coming slowly to a stop. The man stands up and his name tag rises into view, which reads: "BLACK MESA | Dr. Gordon Freeman : Research and Development"
--I've imagined the living (non-game) character for Gordon Freeman to be a very quiet man who almost never speaks. He mostly only talks when he's asked a question, but when he does talk he sounds calm and confident. This gives the feeling that he doesn't talk because he just doesn't feel it's necessary, not because he's nervous or anti-social--
Another section of story that I've conjured, is Gordon being under the wing of veteran physicist Dr. Eli Vance. I've imagined Gordon would have a memory moment concerning Eli, thinking back to when he was first introduced to his new supervisor and mentor. In this particular part of the story, however, Dr. Vance looks concerned like he was just ordered to do something he doesn't feel right about doing. He tells Gordon he's proud of how far he has come in his time at Black Mesa, almost like he's worried he's never going to see him again. Those who know the game's story well know that this is because he was earlier presented with a Xen crystal by the "G-man", who spoke the words "prepare for unforeseen consequences" to him, which left him very rattled.
--I've imagined the living character for Dr. Vance as a very down to earth, friendly father type man in all of his mannerisms. He often maintains an optimistic outlook on things, and consistently imparts what some would consider "whimsical" type worldly wisdom to those around him (especially Gordon). As time goes on he begins to treat Gordon more like a son than a colleague--
Another "scene" I've imagined is after the resonance cascade Gordon is in a small expanded area of ducting (basically like a small room where several ducts come together in one spot). He has blood on him and there's a corpse of a zombie scientist lying "dead" in front of him and he's holding a bloody crowbar trying desperately to catch his labored breath. I've pictured this in more of a snippet like what you would see on a movie preview. The scene basically fades from black into view where the zombie is already dead and Gordon is hyperventilating, he sees one of the headcrab's arms twitch, he yells with exertion as he rares back and slams the crowbar down onto the headcrab. It seems like a movie preview in my head because I always imagine the scene would go black the instant the crowbar strikes the headcrab along with sort of a resounding "bang" with a hefty echo like you would expect to hear of someone hit a duct with a crowbar really hard. I am having trouble adapting this into words on paper while still maintaining the awesome auditory/visual effect my mind has conjured.
My favorite section to contemplate and write on, is this idea of Gordon prying a set of double doors apart that have been short circuited thus refuse to open otherwise; he walks into the room to find Eli performing obviously futile chest compressions on another scientist with a head wound (some may remember the scene in Half-Life: Opposing Force of a scientist doing this to a downed HECU soldier). There's a large computer panel on the wall behind Eli that's sparking and fizzling wildly and Eli yells at Gordon to go topside to get help. Gordon is speechless (as per usual) and doesn't move at first as if in shock. He focuses his attention on Eli's leg which is very badly wounded, and bleeding profusely. He approaches and Eli grabs Gordon by the collar of his HEV suit and pulls him close and yells right in his face "damn it Gordon! you need to get out of here! I'll be fine! You NEED... to go, get, help!" Then Gordon, still not having said anything, stalls for a moment with a look of sheer horror on his face--a reaction to being forced to abandon his friend who will surely die. He backs away slowly. Eli says to him in a loud, labored whisper "GO" and Gordon finally turns around and begins to run. He runs into the next room and as soon as he does there's a loud explosion. Gordon reacts by falling backward onto the ground, and by doing so he just barely misses a powerful laser that has cut through the wall from a damaged particle collider.
The last scene I will mention would be an opening scene for the story that covers Half-Life 2's storyline. After some introductory type pages to help readers sort of "wade in" to the feel of the new world, the story begins with a man with no shirt on doing pullups using the coat rack bar in a small. I would describe the room as that of a cheap run down hotel room or a room in an old half way house. The focus turns to the man's left shoulder. As he comes up on a pullup, it becomes noticeable that he is sporting a prison style tattoo of a half-life lambda. A light rapid beeping sound is heard, like that of a cheap digital alarm clock. He drops from the bar and turns, it's Gordon Freeman wearing tattered blue-jeans, looking considerably more muscular (yet lean) than in the first story. He walks over and presses his thumb down on a small square on the corner of his briefcase which silences the beeping. He then puts on a plain white T-shirt followed by a thin long sleeve denim coat with a white bar on the back (the uniform civilians wear in Half-Life 2). He collects his things into his briefcase, and heads out the door. As he's walking down the hall, coming the other direction up the hallway is a slow flying scanner bot. The scanner bot pays no attention to him and slowly passes over his head and continues down the hallway. Gordon reaches the end of the hallway and walks outside. As he leaves the hallway, Gordon steps to the right. Off in the distance there is large distant structure of immense proportions with alien craft randomly flying toward and away from it (the citadel if you haven't guessed). Lower, on the ground close by there is the street traffic of striders and combine vehicles. Attention is back on Gordon who is walking with his head down, sure not to make eye contact with Civil protection that he passes by. He approaches a tram and looks up to allow for an eye scan which opens the door, and he walks in. You can see the tracks leading in sort of a curved direction that leads around the small rural area he's at toward the urban cluster called city 17 with the citadel at the heart. Signs by the track are tattered and difficult to read, but the one that stands out the most reads "Nova Prospect Maximum Security Prison".
I am writing this out of my own love for writing stories involving my favorite games. When I play a game, my mind fills in the blanks of the parts of the story not told in the game (as you can tell if you've read this far). I just thought I'd share with some of you what I've got, maybe get some feedback. Who knows, maybe if the story is good enough it might make for a decent movie. However I am apprehensive about a Half-Life movie given the track record of game movies. I'd rather not tarnish the name of America's favorite PC first person shooter.
--I've imagined the living (non-game) character for Gordon Freeman to be a very quiet man who almost never speaks. He mostly only talks when he's asked a question, but when he does talk he sounds calm and confident. This gives the feeling that he doesn't talk because he just doesn't feel it's necessary, not because he's nervous or anti-social--
Another section of story that I've conjured, is Gordon being under the wing of veteran physicist Dr. Eli Vance. I've imagined Gordon would have a memory moment concerning Eli, thinking back to when he was first introduced to his new supervisor and mentor. In this particular part of the story, however, Dr. Vance looks concerned like he was just ordered to do something he doesn't feel right about doing. He tells Gordon he's proud of how far he has come in his time at Black Mesa, almost like he's worried he's never going to see him again. Those who know the game's story well know that this is because he was earlier presented with a Xen crystal by the "G-man", who spoke the words "prepare for unforeseen consequences" to him, which left him very rattled.
--I've imagined the living character for Dr. Vance as a very down to earth, friendly father type man in all of his mannerisms. He often maintains an optimistic outlook on things, and consistently imparts what some would consider "whimsical" type worldly wisdom to those around him (especially Gordon). As time goes on he begins to treat Gordon more like a son than a colleague--
Another "scene" I've imagined is after the resonance cascade Gordon is in a small expanded area of ducting (basically like a small room where several ducts come together in one spot). He has blood on him and there's a corpse of a zombie scientist lying "dead" in front of him and he's holding a bloody crowbar trying desperately to catch his labored breath. I've pictured this in more of a snippet like what you would see on a movie preview. The scene basically fades from black into view where the zombie is already dead and Gordon is hyperventilating, he sees one of the headcrab's arms twitch, he yells with exertion as he rares back and slams the crowbar down onto the headcrab. It seems like a movie preview in my head because I always imagine the scene would go black the instant the crowbar strikes the headcrab along with sort of a resounding "bang" with a hefty echo like you would expect to hear of someone hit a duct with a crowbar really hard. I am having trouble adapting this into words on paper while still maintaining the awesome auditory/visual effect my mind has conjured.
My favorite section to contemplate and write on, is this idea of Gordon prying a set of double doors apart that have been short circuited thus refuse to open otherwise; he walks into the room to find Eli performing obviously futile chest compressions on another scientist with a head wound (some may remember the scene in Half-Life: Opposing Force of a scientist doing this to a downed HECU soldier). There's a large computer panel on the wall behind Eli that's sparking and fizzling wildly and Eli yells at Gordon to go topside to get help. Gordon is speechless (as per usual) and doesn't move at first as if in shock. He focuses his attention on Eli's leg which is very badly wounded, and bleeding profusely. He approaches and Eli grabs Gordon by the collar of his HEV suit and pulls him close and yells right in his face "damn it Gordon! you need to get out of here! I'll be fine! You NEED... to go, get, help!" Then Gordon, still not having said anything, stalls for a moment with a look of sheer horror on his face--a reaction to being forced to abandon his friend who will surely die. He backs away slowly. Eli says to him in a loud, labored whisper "GO" and Gordon finally turns around and begins to run. He runs into the next room and as soon as he does there's a loud explosion. Gordon reacts by falling backward onto the ground, and by doing so he just barely misses a powerful laser that has cut through the wall from a damaged particle collider.
The last scene I will mention would be an opening scene for the story that covers Half-Life 2's storyline. After some introductory type pages to help readers sort of "wade in" to the feel of the new world, the story begins with a man with no shirt on doing pullups using the coat rack bar in a small. I would describe the room as that of a cheap run down hotel room or a room in an old half way house. The focus turns to the man's left shoulder. As he comes up on a pullup, it becomes noticeable that he is sporting a prison style tattoo of a half-life lambda. A light rapid beeping sound is heard, like that of a cheap digital alarm clock. He drops from the bar and turns, it's Gordon Freeman wearing tattered blue-jeans, looking considerably more muscular (yet lean) than in the first story. He walks over and presses his thumb down on a small square on the corner of his briefcase which silences the beeping. He then puts on a plain white T-shirt followed by a thin long sleeve denim coat with a white bar on the back (the uniform civilians wear in Half-Life 2). He collects his things into his briefcase, and heads out the door. As he's walking down the hall, coming the other direction up the hallway is a slow flying scanner bot. The scanner bot pays no attention to him and slowly passes over his head and continues down the hallway. Gordon reaches the end of the hallway and walks outside. As he leaves the hallway, Gordon steps to the right. Off in the distance there is large distant structure of immense proportions with alien craft randomly flying toward and away from it (the citadel if you haven't guessed). Lower, on the ground close by there is the street traffic of striders and combine vehicles. Attention is back on Gordon who is walking with his head down, sure not to make eye contact with Civil protection that he passes by. He approaches a tram and looks up to allow for an eye scan which opens the door, and he walks in. You can see the tracks leading in sort of a curved direction that leads around the small rural area he's at toward the urban cluster called city 17 with the citadel at the heart. Signs by the track are tattered and difficult to read, but the one that stands out the most reads "Nova Prospect Maximum Security Prison".
I am writing this out of my own love for writing stories involving my favorite games. When I play a game, my mind fills in the blanks of the parts of the story not told in the game (as you can tell if you've read this far). I just thought I'd share with some of you what I've got, maybe get some feedback. Who knows, maybe if the story is good enough it might make for a decent movie. However I am apprehensive about a Half-Life movie given the track record of game movies. I'd rather not tarnish the name of America's favorite PC first person shooter.
