"Crepuscular Boys"

The proposed video game would be something like this:

There are two players. They are human but it is difficult to discern anything further since the entire area they explore is enveloped in near pitch black (a midnight blue, I suppose). Most contours of foreground elements are discernable, if frustratingly sketchy. A fair number of stars and a sliver of moon are visible in the sky, along with an occasional plane in flight.

The playing area is defined by a loosely crescent-shaped roadway; the outside edge is roughly 3/4 of a mile long, the inside closer to a 1/2 mile. The outside edge is a sandy path paralleling a predominantly beachy seacoast (some rocks crop up to the south); the inner edge constitutes a portion of a local two-lane highway. The game begins near the northerly joining point of the two edges, slightly advanced down the outside edge. The game has no discernible end.

While the gameplay is largely of a piece, there are a few discrete areas to encounter. (These are not marked by thresholds of any sort beyond those supplied by the players' innate faculty of discrimination.) As one moves southerly and then northerly, one encounters the areas in this order:

• a snack bar (inaccessible) and some freestanding shower stalls (accessible, but no running water)


• a series of six small picnic areas, with tables, benches, and primitive grills, carved into the brush by the seaside


• a playground composed of one swingset (eight swings total) and one jungle jym, likewise carved into the brush by the seaside


• a large parking lot, roughly two hundred spaces


• an access road, linking the highway with the beach, with two entry booths (both inaccessible)


• a house by the side of the highway (inaccessible)


• a large motel (single facility, no outbuildings) by the side of the highway (inaccessible)
  

Areas outside the crescent area are blocked finally and definitely. Generally the blocking is implied by thick foliage; in the case of the termini of the highway or the ocean itself, further movement is simply disallowed, with no explanatory text.

The two players are equipped with health bars of a hundred units each; when all of the units have been expended, they will die. However, the possibility of being injured is exceedingly slim. A fall from a sufficient height will do it; however, there are only two places to fall from (two palette-stacks mysteriously left in the playground) and each fall saps a mere one or two health units. There is also a gigantic axe-toting minotaur (similarly sporting a hundred-unit health bar) that appears one time in thirty in the access road area; there is a slight possibility that he will injure the player, but most likely he will kill the player outright.

If a player dies, there is no possibility of resurrection. Furthermore, the other player cannot move from the scene of the death (making a double death, in the event of minotaur attack, rather likely). The game must be turned off first if further play is desired.

The actions of the players are chiefly limited to running, jumping, and item use. There is, it must be said, a certain paucity of usable items in the game. One can pick up a few pieces of driftwood on the beach, and toss them around. One player cannot injure the other, so driftwood-killing is not a possibility. Occasionally a sea skate will wash up (a one in fifty chance). There is a soda machine just outside the motel that will dispense cans of cola for 75 cents each. (A total of $1.85 can be found hidden in out-of-the-way places.) Drinking a cola will replenish twenty health units. Any of the above items can be thrown at the minotaur, for one to two points of damage; killing the minotaur, however, is out of the question, since his health points are regenerated every time he leaves the screen for twenty seconds or more.

The most exciting aspect of the game involves a pair of futuristic motorcycles leant against the house by the highway. These can be mounted and ridden by the two players. One even features a working machine gun, although as before one player cannot injure the other. The machine gun cannot be used to kill the minotaur either, since the motorcycles are confined to the highway and cannot enter the access road area. The machine gun will, however, create wonderfully realistic damage to the surrounding foliage and the walls of the house and motel, and will never run out of bullets. (Unfortunately, due to programming restraints only a limited amount of damage can be done.)

How to regale yourself within the constraints of the game? Look at whatever scenery you can discern. Race on foot, or on the motorcycles. Tempt fate by attempting to encounter the minotaur. Wait for passing planes and jump up and down.