The Adventures of Marman

The inspiration for Marman and his universe came from my love of environmentalism. I knew I needed a hero and a world and I thought about what kind of hero I would like to be if I were one. I decided on a hero that prevents pollution but I didn’t want him to be in a city or something like that so I chose to make him an underwater hero. I especially chose this because the oceans and their inhabitants are some of the most vulnerable to pollution. For inspiration about wants and needs, I thought back to the Pixar videos that we watched and some of the wants and needs from their popular movies. I decided that Marman’s want would be to be the sole hero of the sea and to do it with no help but what he needs is a little help and friendship from another brave hero who is a mermaid. At the end of the game, there are 3 different endings depending on if you, as Marman, decide to choose the wants or the needs. I think the main point in the story when you see Marman’s ego and “want” arise is after he realizes that Merida has powers too because he was under the impression that he was the only one who did. He, or you as the player, gets a lot of praise from the creatures of the sea when he helps them so it is understandable that he wants all the glory to himself. My ideal ending to the game is that Merida and Marman can work together to form a duo because I am always a fan of compromise, sharing glory, and happy endings. There are a few main story beats in which I drew out on paper and then filled in the rest of the story to add to the storyline. The first being the decision to accept the challenge of being Marman for the player. This is the first time that Marman is praised for his powers and it’s right at the beginning. Then he learns about his powers and how great they are which contributes to his ego. Then we see the jealousy come up from the beat I mentioned previously about finding out Merida has powers too. Then the final beat I created was the climax and subsequent ending of the story which I had in mind from the beginning because it’s one of the worst things, pollution-wise, that can happen to the ocean and he has to decide how to deal with it. I think aligning the readers' interests with Marman’s motivations is really aided by the fact that the game is in the first person. The way I designed the decisions, really leads the reader through the story and human nature I think is to like gratification and Marman gets that throughout the story. The biggest decision comes at the end when they have to decide if they will give in to their ego or decide to work as a team.