The Golden Circle Video Game

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Story Overview/Background

Legend has it that during the Civil War in the United States in the 1860s, there was a secret antebellum organization in the South known as the Knights of the Golden Circle or KGC. This was an elite group of men who were determined to achieve independence for the South at any cost but were also dedicated to extending the South's dominion into Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies. This area, including the eleven states of the Confederacy, comprised what became known as the Golden Circle. The center of the circle was Havana.

The war went badly for the Confederacy as the organization had ultimately expected. But for them the war was far from over. Their efforts went even further underground and were directed to the hoarding of precious metals, jewels, relics, etc. to finance the day when the South would rise again. In the years after the war, operatives began burying the treasure in various parts of the South. This was believed to be the safest method of preservation. This continued up until 1922.

It was said that the leaders of the Golden Circle utilized dark occult forces to secure worldly goods, affect international political movements, and to read the future. Their methods were believed unsound yet the technicalities were well-guarded. Many of them had been high-ranking Masonic leaders before their involvement and were familiar with esoteric symbolism which was used for magical purposes but also as signs to map hidden caches as well as the location of booby traps. These maps were also hidden. Certain members were appointed as sentinels of the treasure. The obligation was handed down through the generations.

Conflict

The game begins in the year 2012.

The United States is currently undergoing a series of internal crises. Overpopulation, enormous debt, terrorism, wars abroad, and a vicious devouring factionalism have threatened the integrity of the Union once again. The streets are full of violence and rioting. Special interest groups representing dozens of minorities have formed exclusive cells that no longer recognize US authority. Militia groups have begun appearing in rural communities all over the country. Intelligence organizations financed by both the federal government and private corporations are trying to reestablish security at the expense of one another. Every man is for himself. There is a race to consolidate natural resources and money. It is a time of absolute chaos.

Rush Bayzer is an international treasure hunter who calls no place home. He was an orphan, adopted by a military family that lived all over the world. He has accumulated a considerable personal fortune in his own endeavors which up until now have predominantly involved the excavation of ancient viking treasure and artifacts in Scandinavia. His stock in precious metals has enabled him to avoid the inflation which has bankrupted so many.

Recently, several jars containing gold coins worth close to a million dollars, were discovered right outside Ft. Smith, Arkansas. These findings were published and suggestions were made that this was in connection to the lost hoard of the KGC. Bounty hunters from all over the world began immediatley converging on the Southeastern United States, hoping to secure more of the rumored booty.

Rush makes immediate plans to join the search, thrilled at the opportunity for new adventure. He begins outfitting himself with the latest in treasure hunting technology.

No one realizes, though, the extent of the peril involved.

Character Game

The treasure hunting world of today tends to attract extraordinary figures. As a subject for character development, it has multifarious possibilities because of the diverse disciplines that are engaged in the pursuit. There are scholars, scientists, writers, criminals, soldiers, as well as adventure seeking cowboys, who have vested interests in excavating some aspect of the past believed to be valuable for various reasons. The conflict between these different personalities and the institutions/corporations/governments etc that they represent, will make up the dramatic conflict of the game

The subject also conjoins multiple periods of time which enables the player to explore more than one world. There is the world of the surface and then there is the world beneath the surface or under the skin. It is at the convergence of these worlds that interesting stories are developed. By utilizing the past as well as the future, the certain and the possible are able to fertilize one another. If a game exists only in the imagination or in the future, then too often it becomes outlandish fantasy. If it exists only in the past, it either fulfills what has already taken place or it alters history which is just as fantastic. But if there are aspects or clues from an identifiable past that have been brought through the present and developed into believable speculations, then the story is more engaging.

It is also important to recognize that the classic treasure hunter always becomes associated with the environment of his excavation. The example of Indiania Jones is forever identified with Nazi Germany. Rush Bayzer is a treasure hunter that will be forever associated with his escapades across the American South, which has never been used, to my knowledge, for an international treasure hunt.

The marketing potential for such a character is already well established. Besides Indiana Jones, there is also Lara Croft and dozens of others.

Genre

The Golden Circle is an Action/adventure RPG in the postmodern surrealist genre that takes place in the American South. While set in the near future, the real environment of the game is in the interaction with the Civil War era South and the Western frontier up to the end of the 19th century, which in many ways was a continuance of the war's violence. For example, Jesse James was supposedly a high-ranking member of the KGC whose robbing expeditions in Oklahoma and Arkansas added untold millions to the hidden coffers. The line of adventure continues through Mexico, Central America, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean. This is, of course, the supposed sphere of the Golden Circle.

This interaction between the near future and the past is accomplished in a unique way. In all of the older Southern cities there has been an enormous interest in historic preservation which has led to an increasingly profitable tourism industry. The cities have begun to recreate the look of the antebellum South for visitors who want a glimpse of the Past. This has not only affected the architecture but also the dress of the native population. Everyone has essentially become a reenactor. The effect is similar to an Amusement Park and the line between the past and the present is blurred. By 2012 this has been taken to a radical extreme.

Nuclear Energy and nanotechnology have afforded enormous downsizing opportunities so there is none of this ugly urban sprawl or industrial clutter. But with this technology, it is difficult to know who is really in control or who is watching who because of enhanced surveillance capacities.

The point is that all of the technology of the future is at hand but the world appears more like it did in the 1860s. This liberates the weapon/ equipment restrictions of the 19th century. So there are visible places where technology peaks through, and the current crisis has resulted in a severe cultural schizophrenia and a war between the past and the present. This amusement park is dangerous.

Game Play

The game mechanics revolve around Rush Bayzer's search for the lost hoard of the KGC. Utilizing contacts in the Treasure hunting world, he obtains information as to the whereabouts of the various buried treasures. The game's progression revolves around different missions in and around cities and islands within the circumference of the Golden Circle to obtain this treasure and to discover the secret plans of the Knights of the Golden Circle. The object is not to save the world or to secure the Union. Rush Bayzer is self-interested and he doesn't give a flip for politics, he just wants the thrill of the hunt and the treasure at the end of the rainbow. He is also amoral, beyond good and evil, because he is driven by the necessity of survival. He will lie, cheat, steal, and kill, if necessary. But he also doesn't realize that there are deeper connections between his lineage and the actual KGC itself. Part of the mystery of the game is discovering Rush Bayzer's parentage.

His enemies vary between other treasure hunters, government operatives, corporate schemers, and the sentinels of the KGC. In each of these groups, there may be allies of various sorts.

A lot of the action and progression of the game depends upon the player's ability to decipher maps and codes and to avoid traps and obtain keys to sealed off passages. It will combine classic first person and third person shooter traditions in games like Halo and Return to Castle Wolfenstein with the more reflective and strategic PC games such as Myst.

Key Features

The key feature of the game is the novel environment in which the treasure hunt takes place. Video game development has not even touched the areas around which this revolves. There is a rich history in the South. It is a region haunted by ghosts and legends, good and evil, and beautiful landscapes. These elements provide a fertile ground for the classic treasure hunt that already has an established popularity. This game, if done right, will sell.

There have been a few books on the KGC as well as a plethora of references in old newspapers as well as websites circulating recent articles between contemporary treasure hunters.

Interest in the Civil War is clearly evident as there are over 50,000 books that have been published about the war since 1865.

Technical Challenges

The primary technical challenge is the seamless blending required in joining the two different periods of the future and past together in a believable and interesting way. The lore and the hardware is already there.

Target Machine

The target machine is the Microsoft's XBOX console or the highest bidder...

Target Market

With this game, I would like to attract history buffs and an adult group that has up until now been largely untapped. I see the game as ultimately having more mature themes with violence that will also require more adept strategizing. The group I am seeking will already have a developed taste or appreciation for the intrigues of American History.

At the same time, I want it to involve hard core action.