Lore

What is Crash Party?

Crash Party is a realtime multiplayer game site where friends can meet up live in a lobby and play simple, fun games together. In the future we'd like to be an actual social network of people being as they want with continuous fun shit to do (games) and ways to connect with new people in a meaningful way, lubricated by that fun shit.

Why Crash Party?

The internet basically sucks now. Huge companies have consolidated everything that was once cool on the internet and killed it, or made it shitty. We want to make fun shit people can play with each other that ideally operates without an interest to be sold in the future. People want real human connection with each other. Technically, we don't see any reason why we cant build this for everyone. Whether people will want it or not is another question.

Why might people want this?

Our shit is ideally infused with humanity: points of view, opinions, intentional art, love and attention, stories, fun stuff, inwardly facing jokes because life is absurd, good messages because life is beautiful.

Theres a lot of trash out there. AI is making it easy for people to create tons of trash. The bar for the trash has gone up, but the overall average level of quality of stuff has gone down. Worst of all, most of that trash doesn't have any meaning behind it. So we think that the value is in infusing our shit with good story, and good visual art. This should result in a curated, cultivated experience that people can have with each other. This is entertaining and people like being entertained. The entertainment is multiplied by being around people they like. (I'm not nec anti AI, I'm just anti trash, pro cool human stuff)

The specific role of World Lore / Writing / Comedy

Why am I here? What does this mean? Is this interesting or is it just random shit that happened? When there is a cohesive synthesized world that makes sense, people become invested in the thing. It doesn't have to be fully fleshed out. It doesn't have to make total sense. It doesn't have to be fully congruent. It just has to feel like someone was here, thought about it, made a decision, and had some fun doing it.

Ok but what does this mean practically? Honestly, it's not entirely clear to me, just that I think that it's important and will likely develop into something practical.

For example: Crash Party is a place to play dumb mini games with your friends. You're mostly talking with them. You don't have any time to sit through some cinematic you can't possibly give a shit about. Instead, the name of the minigame might be interesting. Or the instructions of the game might have something in it. Or better still, the game itself has a character or a thing in the background that you've seen before, and you wonder what it is or what it means. When a game finishes, a single line is presented that is weird. Does this mean something? I'm not saying this shit has to be mysterious, it can be pretty direct, but it's not beating you over the head.

Iteration

This can/should/will change over time. Nothing is set in stone. Stuff gets iteratively made better over time. Nintendo's Mario started as ripoff of Popeye. 46 years later, Nintendo's hodgepodge of characters from videogames that have varied wildly over the years have developed into the most lovable characters today. Although those movies are pretty fucking bad.

Tone / Message

Irreverent, self aware, adult (in that it doesn't talk down to people (children shit)), sincere (means something when it's important), absurd, pointing out the absurd, cute, nice.

Some messages:
Isn't cool we're here at all? Let's have fun together. Let's make stuff together. Don't be so serious. You don't need to buy shit to be happy. You don't need to have more shit than other people to have what you need. Someone else doesn't have all the answers.

Visual Aesthetic

The visual aesthetic is 70-80s American summer camp, nature, handmade, minor mix of modern technology and pop culture where needed. I think a lot about Adventure Time, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, specific Wes Anderson stuff.

Lore

Crash Party takes place on a on a planet where the surface of this planet is entirely inhospitable: ocean, lava, dessert. Yet, there are these small floating islands above the planet that seem just fine. These islands are where games take place and where your lobby is. You play as your character in world: a derp. Derps are endemic to the planet. The games take place on the floating islands. The stuff on the islands seems to be staged specifically for the games that are played.

Who's doing this?

Currently, the idea is that an alien spaceship crashed into the planet. Space drunk driving? Accident? The impact changed the climate of the planet to the extreme: flooding, lava, desert, ice. The aliens on the ship have been marooned for a while. Maybe out of a feeling of guilt, they saved the derps by suspending islands where they live. Functionally, the aliens keep the derps alive almost like pets. They keep the islands suspended. They make sure the derps stay alive. For example, if you fall off the island. They just teleport you back onto it. I like the idea that at least one of the aliens worries about the derps being bored, so they build games for them to play with each other.

Let's say they have been marooned for hundreds of years. The hierarchy of the team of the ship has broken down. There's resentment. They are stuck there. You're not the boss of me. I like the idea that there are 2 main character forces on the alien side: a good guy and a shitty guy. The good guy makes games for the derps. He encourages them to make their own fun. The shitty guy is always trying to manipulate the derps: selling them trash, getting them to do stuff for him, trying to get them to believe in gods he invents. He's like an alien version of Gary Vaynerchuk. He's a scam artist.

Maybe the good guy was the ship captain. Maybe the shitty guy is the second officer. MAYBE it's reversed. Maybe the shitty guy was the captain, but as the ranks don't matter anymore, the steady handed, good guy naturally becomes the leader everyone loves. This enrages the shitty guy.

I'm thinking that the shitty guy is named "Melvin". The good guy is named "Globus". or Glorbus. Or anything.

I think they both have acolytes: from their crew and derps. Melvin needs a small team of derps: Chadwick, Garrick, and Dary. They are dumb. They believe and follow everything Melvin says. Melvin often says broad platitudes in succession that directly contradict each other. This confuses the derps. Most derps are highly impressionable.

The vibe of Globus is chill. Mr Rogers, Bob Ross. Reasonable. Diffuses situations. Never giving into anger. Sometimes disappointed. Has no real agenda. Not scheming. Making the best of an unfortunate situation. I think Globus has followers as well, but Globus doesn't necessarily want that. The followers should be flawed as well. Lisa Simpson / hall monitor types that want rigid structure and rules. They are infighting all the time.

Visually, originally, I designed the Aliens to look like cartoon monsters. However, what if they are actually Earth animals, maybe specifically cats, dogs, gerbils: pets on Earth, pet keepers in space.

Maybe they left earth 100s of years ago, tired of being subjugated by humans as pets and now they find themselves on the opposite side.

Maybe alien characters can pop up from time to time as a narrative crutch. They are neutral or loners or have their own thing going on.

Could be interesting to have a more entertaining spastic character like Pee Wee. Creative, animated, loves drama, loud.

I like the idea that the derps make things and give them to Globus. Like a kid that makes macaroni stuff for their parents. Useless but loveable. This pisses the ever loving shit out of Melvin. He has his followers make him stuff and give it to him in a performative way.

Exposition

I dont think we need to expose any of the backstory. We can make reference to it. But I don't think we ever just explain anything. I think it's just pieced together by people, or not.

The Shop

We plan to make money by selling stuff to people. Purely cosmetic stuff: shit for your derp, items for your room. I think it would be cool if Melvin ran the shop. High prices, above average quality, high pressure sales tactics. Meanwhile, while you are checking out, Globus is telling you that you don't need the stuff, and is calmly disappointed in you, but, "If it makes you happy, that makes me happy." We should probably sell virtual vitamins that don't do shit. Maybe they allow you to pee green in the lobbies.

The Hall Monitors / NPCs

We need NPCs for the games. For example, there is a Hall Monitor in the Rad Light Green Light game. They come out from behind the rock when the light is red. If they see you, you're blown back. Should they be derps or aliens? I think Aliens. They definitely need bangs and a bowl haircut.

I want the NPCs to say stuff while playing the game. They could have their own personalities.

Game scenes

Like a Wes Anderson movie, much of the story of the world could be exposed in the background. For example, Melvin is trying to get people to believe in his made up gods. Maybe there are large god statues in the distance, covered up in favor of newer gods? Maybe there are characters running specific games. Maybe there is some cryptic message carved into stone in a game.