Creating a sci-fi universe...

I'm creating a sci-fi universe for a game I'm making... So I'm going to post the time line of the universe i have, some other info, and the story as it goes...

The game itself is episodic and planning to make it 3 seasons of 13 episodes, hopefully with 10 hours of game play in each episode, and then after the end of the 3rd season make it more of a sandbox game... with possibly more minor story arcs...

The basic concepts are taken from Ancient Astronaut theory and has norse myth used a lot in references, but there are references to other mythologies. The plot also has come out as a weird combination of Mass Effect, FarScape, and Babylon 5 and that is somewhat intentional...

Also any ideas for alien cultures/races please throw some at me cuz i gotta create like 160 by the end and at least 15 before i get too far.

Anyways, get ready to reeeeaaaaddddd...

Timeline
~ 162,000 BCE : The first sentient life evolves and begins growing as a civilization.
~ 157,000 BCE : The first civilizations start meeting and going to war with each other
~ 152,000 BCE : By this time a single civilization has risen and to complete dominance, The Trinity of Shaddai
~ 147,000 BCE : The Shaddai creates the 18 jump gate hubs
~ 142,000 BCE : The Shaddai begin to leave the galaxy
~ 137,000 BCE : Those dominated civilizations try to form their own government, the Ahryv, but squables result in the space faring age coming to the end.
~ 132,000 BCE : By this time almost all the sentient races returned to a primitive state. The remaining Ahryv begine to do what they can to restore planet resources so the next generation can have a chance.
~ 122,000 BCE : The last of the Ahryv disappear from the galaxy and the sentiant races begin to grow again.
~ 117,000 BCE : The 2nd Age of civs begin meeting and warring with each other, however the jumpgates allow for a single race, The Jotnar, to dominate quickly by allowing them access to more space and resources.
~ 116,000 BCE : The Jotnar by this time has formed several confederated kingdoms around the Jumpgates.
~ 107,000 BCE : The Jotnar discover how the jumpgates work and the kingdoms wanting to secure their power more and extend it create networks of mini jumpgates around each of the Sheddai gates
~ 102,000 BCE : The Jotnar go to war with each other and cause great amounts of misery to all the subserviant races until many of the kingdoms are destroyed and mysteriously all the remaining Jotnar are forced to retreat to Yggdrasil. The sentient races begin to war with themselves as they savagely attempt to seize control in the power vacuum.
~ 097,000 BCE : The Jotnar retreat further to their homeplanet of Muspelheim which they then lock the gate out of the network. All sentient races have been reduced to very few in number and suffer nuclear winters
~ 082,000 BCE : The sentient races begin to recover, but only the Jotun are able to thrive and begin their civilization due to their large builds and love of the frost.
~ 077,000 BCE : The Jotuns civ reaches the point where they are able to leave their planet start exploring space and discover the jumpgate network and explore the galaxy.
~ 072,000 BCE : The Jotuns have decided to leave the other sentient races they have found alone. They also have solitary access to the history of the galaxy and the two previous ages
~ 067,000 BCE : Interested in the various other races in the universe they explore those planets and interact with them, but tend to stay uninvolved with them
~ 062,000 BCE : The majority of the Jotuns begin to leave the galaxy, but some wish to view the next age from afar so take the 18th Shaddai hub as a viewing post and lock it down, while other feel still connected to their home world and return to a simpler way of life.
~ 037,000 BCE : 4th age civilizations begin to develop
~ 032,000 BCE : Each of the Jump gate hubs form their own empires and no major power arises which leads to each hub becoming isolated in their own space.
~ 027,000 BCE : Some Jump gate empires form alliances and after the long isolation period which along with isolation leads other hubs to fall into in fighting.
~ 025,000 BCE : An alliance of the 16 hubs is finally formed and the capital of the alliance is the Sephirot Jumpgate Hub. The various races try to explore, but old anxieties cause feuds and blockades.
~ 022,000 BCE : The alliance has degraded and the hubs are isolationists again... The collapse however shows no sign of stopping at just the hub isolation though.
~ 017,000 BCE : Each of the hub empires show various signs of stability, rising and falling, but most have fallen back to their home worlds, content with watching their descendants rise up, or have been completely fallen to primitivity once more.
~ 012,000 BCE : The hubs continue to struggle with stability and a lack of resources which threatens a galactic wide war. Earth's high civilization reside in a Atlantis and are isolated from the primitive earthling. Other races from the Yggdrasil hub who have fallen and risen begin colonizing and enslaving earth civilizations. The Atlantians in their anger wage war on these aliens over the Earth and in a last ditch effort to save the human race they destroy the Yggdrasil hub and send a virus over the hub network to destroy their historical databases. This angers the conquorering races and they destroy Atlantis but due to alliances and lack of resources the alien civilizations are beaten and driven off while the alliances to save humanity watch over earth's next age civilizations from afar, remembered as gods and various other mythological beings. Also, the ice sheats of the planets around the galaxy that were in a nuclear winter triggered ice age melt, setting back their cultures to the beginning again.
~ 003,000 BCE : Age 5 civilizations begin to develop around the galaxy.
~ 001,200 CE : The first of the Age 5 civilizations start heavily exploring their solar systems



The Trinity of Shaddai : The triumvirate government that forms in the first generation of space faring civilizations, those who said enough to their world, often referred to as The Shaddai.

The Ahryv : A loose confederation of civilizations that were subserviant to the Shaddai that formed after the Shedia left the galaxy.

Jotnar : A race of giants that dominated the galaxy during the 2nd age only to mysteriously retreat back to their home.


Episodes
Season 1
Episode 01: Hero awakes in the Galactic Capital, Sephirot, where they are confronted with being surround by aliens. After some study hero is able to communicate and hero is told to get home they should become an agent of the government as they are the only ones that are able to freely travel around the galaxy. Hero meets with the console and after some debate hero is given the opportunity to become an agent. Whether hero does or not is up to the player.
Episode 02:
Episode 03:
Episode 04:
Episode 05:
Episode 06:
Episode 07:
Episode 08:
Episode 09:
Episode 10:
Episode 11:
Episode 12: Hero discovers that the way to return home is to trigger a mechanism either at Sephirot or in the Jotnar Network
Episode 13: Various organizations discover Hero's plan to create a Yggdrasil II jumpgate and send agents to either help/hinder hero's attempts. At the end of mission it is revealed that the hero was sent to Sephirot to reveal the Jotnar's imminent threat as well as to seek out allies as humans begin to explore space, space which is full of dangerous enemies. You are given the option of sending the new gate or not... it is not made clear why other parties don't just send their own.

Season 2
The Galaxy, regardles of your decision, falls into civil war. The Jotnar start to take over worlds and heavily influence those they had guided in secret before.
If Earth has been opened guys on the hero's side go to earth.
If the peaceful side earth is informed of the situation, join a new council, and this new government, with the help of the Asgardians start building a new fleet of ships
If the Jotnar side, Earth is conquered and subjugated. The Asgardians fall quickly, and the hero is turned into a slave.

If the Earth is part of the new council the Jotnar attack the Sol System, destroying the shield finally, and due to prolonged combat the earth is ravaged and on its last legs by episode 13.
If the hero is made a slave they must escape and get aid to free earth. This results in Earth rebelling and winning it's freedom in episode 13

In episode 13 a Single ship enters Earth space and obliterates much of the forces on both sides before finally being destroyed by an Ahryv who crashes on Earth and announces to the hero that the Shaddai are returning to regain control


Episode 1 detail -
Hero is drawn to Sephirot.
Learns that the most likely way to get home is to work for the council.
The council denies him at first.
Various council members are told or coerced into changing this denial and the other members demand a showing of worth before they make him an agent.
Hero must go through training in departments of magic, martial arts, space combat, and intel
->Single character MA tutorial
->first dungeon = short MA only dungeon where hero recovers a scabbard.
->Hero sent to discover 2nd dungeon with another trainee and told the scabbard is a clue.
->second dungeon = medium length dungeon where a criminal is seen escaping with a sword
->Question people around the area to track the criminal down to the 4th dungeon
->At the fourth dungeon you find that it is sealed magically and you must learn magic
->You are told of Wizard who can help and where to find him
->At the Wizard you are tested on your detective skills by being challenged to look inside the wizard's house and then tell which of several people is the wizard
->The wizard instruct you that to learn magic you have to get a certain weapon inside a dungeon.
->Wizard sends apprentice with you
->3rd dungeon = medium length and forces you to answer several riddles and puzzles
->In the 3rd dungeon you find a device that allows you to use magic and the wizard gives you a tutorial
->You are then able to enter the 4th dungeon where the criminal is hiding out
->4th dungeon = Long, shifts between magic and MA only and makes you solve several puzzles
->At the end of the dungeon is a boss whom you are given the option to let them turn themselves in, but either way you are forced to fight and at the end of the battle you are given the option to kill them or simply arrest them.
-> When you take the criminal or after you try to kill him it is revealed he is your fighter instructor, you are to return the sword to the first trainer and then meet up at the docks
-> At the docks you are given a tutorial in travel around and between solar systems as well as intercepting signals and engaging in dog fights.
->the hero is given the opportunity to practice and are forced to pass a flight shooting course
->When you are done you are told to report to the main training facility.
-> Hero is told he is ready and gets a lecture or praising for how he dealt with the criminal situation as well as an evaluation of how he did in the dungeons.

Hero is contacted by council to report to the council room ASAP.
When the hero arrives he is given the final test
-> final test = A short Dungeon that ends with a boss fight where the boss flees to a shuttle where you are force to battle it and then prosefcute a case presenting facts against the right person.

upon completing the final test various council members will vote and depending on that vote you will be made a government agent or not.

If made a government agent you are given a salary, a basic uniform, some basic weapons. and made put under the command of a captain with a small crew.

If not, one of the representatives will contact you in secret and offer you a smaller sallery to work for them. They will provide you with a small salary, some sarting money to buy a ship, and some gear as well as point you in the direction of a pilot/captain that might be willing to help you

If you turn this down you can turn this guy in and be given what you would have if the vote had gone in your favor but also are given a smaller salary

if you turn this down and don't turn the guy in you when you return to your room you find yourself kicked out and must find some place to stay. Feeling bad for you the person who kicked you out tells you that there is a captain that is looking for some workers and might be willing to take you on.

Once you meet this captain you are offered a job as a worker on the ship as candidates for agents (which he shouldn't know you were) are always welcome on his ship...and you meet the other two characters that were with you during training.

You are told to prepare and wait for the call... End ep1

If however you dn't want to go with the captain you can try to get a job/room/board from elsewhere and work your way till you can afford a small ship, citizen documents, and a pass to use a jumpgate.

This scenario ends ep1 when you get the small ship and plan to take off "tomorrow" You can leave without the docs and pass, but each may lead to various scenarios. Also, at any time you can try to contact the representative that you turned down or meet the captain and join them...also if you were offered the agency position and turned it down you can go back and take it... further you can just ignore the training all together if you want to go the path of getting a job and getting a ship on your own.




any ideas, critiques, etc... please post...

Your timeline appears too much like clockwork. Every 5,000 years something happens. Some points could have their time extended and others reduced so it appears more natural. Also, I would have it so that the timeline is not known from the start except more recent events. As your character proceeds, more and more history is added.

I assume there would be a survey for those people that didn't buy a previous season or episode for those decisions from previous episodes that affect this episode like making Earth join the Council.

Sounds like an interesting game.

Telltale games has a few of their games based on paying a fee for the "season" and release an episode every month until the season is over. However, their games are too linear to do something similar to Mass Effect as far as affecting content in the next season. It is a possible subscription model you could do, but they keep the price of a season to be about $30. Could always have Season 1.0 and Season 1.5 be $30 to $40 which seems to be a common method for TV DVDs with erratic scheduling like Battlestar Galactica.

I hate that game developers are still make such linear games, but whatever...

Anyways, not too concerned about pricing model at this point as I still need to write the engine and such... working on it... Can't think how i want to do some aspects and I suck at part of what I need which is level design. I'm think of either doing 3/4 top down 2D style or do prerendered background maps like FFX and just have the Sprites be 2D instead of 3D. Of course if I could find someone good at 3D, or could do it and willing to help me, I'd use that but meh.

Anyways I'm more concerned with what people think of how the story is developed, here it is going, and what I might add to make it better...

Looks interesting. Personally though, I think you're making it harder on yourself by tackling such a large timeline. While its good to have a universe with such an intricate backstory, I think you'd be better served with just condensing most events to one 5000 year block with a milestone happening around every several hundred years.

A lot can happen in 5000 years, even rise and fall of entire civilizations. The closer they happen in a timeline the more immediacy they have on the next event. It also makes managing your universe a lot easier.

Also Sci Fi history works best (IMHO) if used as an extended metaphor for human history because it saves from having to make up a lot of stuff. The rise and fall of the Roman empire seems to be one of the most heavily lifted metaphors for sci fi empires. Using a model like that would probably help in your world building.

A universe, even a sci fi universe is just setting(aka window dressing).

A couple of comments for a more natural timeline progression:

How about just saying...

'Thanks for your concern Rylas, I will take that into consideration.'

?

Oh wait, this is the internet...carry on.

Dur, if you don't want constructive critism, and if you're going to get in a fluster over it, then don't come to the internet. I've only pointed out one thing you may want to watch out for. Look at Darksiders. Some critics called out it's use of mechanics and weapons a blatant rip off of many Legend of Zelda ideas. While it certainly paid homage to those kind of mechanics and gameplay styles, it had a story far too different to be called a copy-cat game.

I'm only suggesting you make sure you do the same. Your player experience certainly sounds different enough from what you see in SG content, but your history is very similar (even if more elaborate) to what the show established*. I'm not call it a hack job on your part, just that you're better off pushing that back story and flushing it out even more. Because people will call it out if you don't.

*By similar, I mean there is a previous civilization that created gates for traveling the stars, and eventually left their technology behind, and this technology allowed following civilizations to populate the stars as well. It may not be enough in your book, but it will turn somoene's head.

The number of movies, books, video games, and TV shows that use the ancient civilization creating interstellar networks is too prevalent for there to be any type of blatant ripping off. Some people will say that Durakken is ripping off Stargate while others will say that he is ripping off Mass Effect. It is not ripping off if a common idea is being used.

Again, he's only giving you helpful advice since you posted this info on the net. Ignore it if you like, but you are spending way too much time defending it.

Let's move on.