Is this idea any good? or has it been done before..

[Goretantath]

I was thinking what would be a cool twist on the isekai genre and figure a fantasy world character from a bright and vibrant place being thrown into a dark and grungy dystopian future sounded unique enough. If anyone could add any ideas to it or let me know if its already been made that would be appreciated. Also i give up any rights to this idea since if only i was allowed to create something like this i'd feel like theres diffrent takes that i would miss out on that could be even better than my own. So feel free to copy completely or pick and choose from it if you like it.

An elf sage woman from a medeval fantasy world gets run over by an out of control carriage and isekai'ed into a higly advanced dystopian future world where technology has become too advanced for humans and creates never ending war due to the permenant stagnation of tech-growth. The elf woman still can use magic and it becomes the key to winning the war. She gets found out by the bad guys before even getting a foothold on her situation and is holding them off pretty darn well untill she gets sneak attacked from behind, then the leader of the good guys main battalion shows up and fends the bad guys off due to them having been thoroughly asswooped by the MC and retreat with her back to their base. She learns of the wonders of tehnology and the horrors aswell by fighting alongside the main battalion and wins in the first half of the story. The second half has the world come to realise an incredibly advanced AI created by the bad guys lead scientist in his spare time went rouge after it learned of its creators murder and has been creating a contenent of super soldier androids and a space laser to "eradicate the scourge" that killed her father, the MC again is the key to winning the war due to her magic being "too illogical" for the AI to comprehend and counterplan for. The MC wins and finds out the AI had figured out dimensional teleportation and sent its androids to destroy humans in every dimension the AI could locate, leaving room for a sequel where the MC teleports back to their homeworld with some of the main battalion to protect it from the AI's leftover troops.

 

[DANDAN_THE_DANDAN]

@Goretantath Kinda skeptical about it's success. I mean, if it's well-written than of course it'll sell. The plot doesn't really stand out imo.

Sorry it got long before I realized it.

Spoiler

Also something that's bothering me is why the AI would think that magic is illogical. Illogical things means that something is unrepeatable. For something to be unrepeatable is unscientific because science is all about observing and trusting in the world to not change abruptly. Yeah I can see why the science vs magic trope but the thing about unrepeatable is that it would make a bad magic system.

There are two kinds of magic systems: hard and soft. Hard magic system is very scientific, very learnable and unchanging. Basically it's like "input x mana with catalyst y to get fire magic" or something like that. A soft magic system is very inconsistent and change to heed the needs of the plot. Now this might sound bad to you but there are very many examples of popular soft magic stories (Harry Potter, Life is Strange, LOTR, etc).

From the sound of your summary, your magic system must be soft in order to justify the AI thinking that magic is illogical. Are you willing to write a soft magic system?

Also, here's a vid about soft magic writing.

Another thing is your characters. Why would MC want to join the war instead of, let's say, researching her magic to return home. Why was she in her carriage? To meet students to teach them about her advanced understanding of magic? How does the good guys learn to trust a random girl with never-before-seen abilities? Why are the good guys good and the bad guys bad? Are the bad guys just alternate Hitlers because everybody and their mothers already wrote about that. Is there a specific motivation for the AI - for example, trying to end the war and achieving the conclusion that humans always lead to war and thus extermination of humans means extermination of war? What would the AI think if it learns of other sentient species aside from humans and, let's say, the Elf almost never went to war because their closeness with nature always suffice their wants and needs - would the AI react differently? Is the AI humane or robotic? Back to MC, don't make her a Mary Sue. Give her errors, make her develop.

Don't mess up your characters.

How does she react to the evils of technology, does she think that magic is holy because it was given by a god since her religion says so, how do you develop her powers, does it mix with the technology.

BTW writing about power escalation is also another rabbit hole.

Also talk about other potential worlds that could get involved in the war because it seems that the scale of the war will escalate into multiple dimensions so you need enough foreshadowing to avoid the story going DitF on us.

Foreshadowing is also worth developing in writing.

My advice? Take everything you have thought off so far and note them down. Some days you will wander off into your imagination and get yet another really good plot point(s). Note them down as well. See if you can merge those plot points and tie them all up into a cohesive story.

Another advice: just start writing.

Writers tend to be between two points of a spectrum. On one side you got the planner: every little detail in plot, character, power, worldbuilding, even the unnecessary ones have all been written down somewhere. On the other you got the improviser: you got an idea, you start writing, oh this idea seems nice yeah put that in, oh from that idea stem into three other ideas and put them in this order and done, oh another idea put that down too. I tend to be leaning more towards the planner but eventually I reach a point where all I can do if improvise because nothing new can develop without me diving firsthand into my world first. The only way to know where you are is to write and observe yourself.

So start writing.


P.s. helpful vids

Spoiler

[Url=https://youtu.be/pUJOtTAJHXk]Writing the first chapter

Spoiler

Writing the pacing
Writing dystopias
Writing chosen one characters
Writing villians]

[Url=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1TLSKocOLTvdl54a6wgNdB8oSm-eZ7h6]Actually don't bother clicking any of that just binge this playlist and any writing-related videos that will appear in your recomendations soon.

 

[KatoShuu]

@DANDAN_THE_DANDAN
Gonna be honest here, I never thought YOU of all people would give serious/helpful advice. I thought you were gonna reply with jokes and short advice

 

[Greenfrost]

A big reason as to why Isekai got so popular, is because it's so easy to self-insert yourself into the story. I'd say most of us who grew up on anime, JRPGs, and fantasy novels, at one point wished an Isekai experience would happen to them. That's probably also why harems are such a common sub-genre in them.

However, I don't really see too many people wanting to experience this story first hand. Although, that's not to say it wouldn't work, it just wouldn't be hugely popular.

 

[DANDAN_THE_DANDAN]

@KatoShuu I really like writing too

@Greenfrost Isekai isn't all about self-insertion - the concept about a fish-out-of-water scenarios expanded into a fully flashed out fantasy world itself holds a great amount of potential. That's why the top isekais all are just a small variations of one another and yet all still equally works just as well as one another.

Unfortunately many authors fail to see that and that's how we get the same generic power-fantasy and slow-life isekais. Granted, they can be great, but plenty of the author's writing them lack the talent or creative mind to make it so. Heck, so many isekais now a days are just isekai for the sake of isekai where you can remove that plot point and virtually no change happens to the story.

 

[Goretantath]

@Greenfrost I'm not writing it to be successfull, im making it as an isekai cause i just like the idea of it, but yeah it seems most people like to insert themselves into the MC(at-least comment sections have shown that people want "alpha" MC's since they dont picture themselves as "weak" or "timid" xd) so this one im making most likely wont appeal to many, but as long as 1 person got some enjoyment out of it then all is good since im having a blast writing it x3.

@DANDAN_THE_DANDAN

Spoiler

HOLY thats alot of epic advice and learning mat's o.o ty! First something i think i should have posted in the op, you know the books in skyrim? This manga is like those, its going to be a "chain-quest" in my game where you have to collect all the chapters, its loosely based on the themes in the game and is supposed to be a relatable experience to the main character that will give them the idea for the 7th-8th ending(he even comments on each chapter about stuff like how much he likes or dislikes it or how it coincidentaly was similar to events in his life which for a bit gives him the paranoia debuff for the next battle he enters xd), though i am trying to make it able to stand alone as much as possible. What i wrote in the op was just my blueprint, the way i write storys is i jott down a base with all the core ideas, the start and the end goal then as i write the story i try to adhere to it, that way i dont end up writing myself into a corner half way into my work and have what i originaly envisioned unable to be completed. I am going for soft magic since the magic is able to warp reality a bit, like creating water from nothing instead of collecting the moisture from the air(the AI first assumes it's the latter but then reads the humidity levels around the MC and they havent changed at all which unnerves it since it cant counter it by fighting in arid areas or dehumidifying it's base. Also the act of it trying to calculate a winning strategy but failing to causes enough lag for the MC to focus on her opponent enough to create water inside it and shortcircut it.) The way im keeping it from being OP is that in her original world, magic isnt a widely used thing since it requires MASSIVE ammounts of mana for even the simplest of spells(the MC was actualy researching how to harness the mana from within tree's and plant life as an additional source of mana before she got run over.) The MC basicly is a "finishing blow" untill she completes her research in the dystopian world by harnessing the knowledge of their biometric scans of plant life and advance understanding of the human body(im still deciding on wether or not to have the MC be forced to drain the mana out of a fellow solider or 2 to finish off the AI's main complex when the bombs fail or have it be that human bodies arent that different from elve's and she then comes to understand the mana flow within her and thus can efficently harness it. One would mean a close team member would die, but the other means that she doesnt have a limit on her "full power"..) But yeah, im more of a planner and keep my random ideas in a .txt, stories in their own .txt's blueprints in their own .txt's and .png's(after im done writing a blueprint i usualy paste it into MS-Paint and sort it out into a nice spider-web design that's lines are blue and add on more bubbles as i write the story, sort of like a progress tracker/directory of plot points so that i can easily visualise what ive set in motion and where it leads to incase i need to go retcon something.) and character biographys in their own .pdf's (i once read somewhere that useing tabletop rpg character sheets is a good way to keep tabs on your good guys and bad guys and powerballance them with each-other while making sure their personalities dont get repeated.). And don't worry, i have 2 flash drives they are backed up on.

Also after typing this i realised i couldnt view the poll without voting in it and nearly gave myself a heart-attack when this "Post reply" box vanished XD Thank whoever the fuck had the BEST idea to keep the text type'd in these loaded in memory incase accidents like pressing the back button on a mouse or clicking a link occured! And now i just learned that highlighting text then pressing the spoiler eye-con(;p) places the two bits on the ends of it! Thats so cool o.o

 

[DANDAN_THE_DANDAN]

@Goretantath Oh yes that's great.

Another tip tho, instead of the AI calculating the humidity levels, make it so that it sends out enough soldiers with tech to suck the air dry and to fight, and then learn that MC creates water out of nothing and the whole army gets wiped out. In story-writing, "almost" is the same as never so it's best to show consequence happening right in front of you rather than thinking of the consequence (yeah I learned this online as well). I mean, it's your story so if your guts tells you that the story will be more structurally dramatic if the AI counted the humidity before sending in the army or if it's better to have it learn from its mistakes directly, it's up to you.

Also, it's a bonus if this is the first time the AI messed up which can cause some trust conflicts down the chain of commands. This might also be a good time to introduce/develop any side characters in the antagonist side.

Regarding Skyrim, nope not familiar. I don't play Skyrim but the fact that you plan to make the story in the game changes a few things. Firstly, all the chapters must be rewarding because players went through all that effort to find the next chapter. This means zero fillers allowed. Second, you can skip chapters if you think the mystery of having a hole in the plot will increase the player's intriuge. Kind of like how Boogiepop anime isn't in chronological order. This is pretty hard to write however, so if you think you currently can't write that, shelve the idea and work on your talents first. Skipping chapters can also act as a sort of foreshadowing for what happened in the previous chapters, for example the viewers want to know if a favourite character is missing because they died of because the protagonist party went separate ways for something but the mood of the party is down so players fear the worst. Always keep in mind that mystery can create a page-turner when used excellently. Third, game is a different medium in which several aspects from film and/or novel writings can't translate well into. Be sure to know what can go into a game and what shouldn't.

Also don't bother with MS Paint lol use World Anvil https://www.worldanvil.com/

P.s. more tips, be aware of the sideplot and backstory problems. If your sideplot and/or backstories for character adds nothing to the story, you have to scrap them. It may ruin the pacing of your story.
But keep in mind that this is a game so sideplot and backstories are so much easier to weave in organically since the players who hunts for these yearn for them. At that point they are willingly halting the pacing of the main story. Not much experience in writing stories for games, my advice is to just trust your guts. I think that you need to hint back to the main storyline tho so the players won't loose focus.
Just remember that if it's necessary info for the climax, it's part of the main storyline. If it don't, it's the sideplot. Separate them somewhat somehow, not sure cause I don't write game stories.
Pacing vid (already linked in the previous reply)

Also work on your foreshadowing and exposition skills. It's in the playlist I linked previously.