I've always thought losing in a video game was pretty standard stuff, until i played a game that had sort of a creative atmosphere.
Point and click adventure games have always had creative ways to die and even more creative messages to your demise, some of them kind of humorous, and I've even seen bad endings that people react to (well, me) in humorous ways.
I would list my most remembered examples here but there are too many, and lots of Game Overs/bad endings I've gotten are either too scary, sad or sometimes have given me nightmares to think about again.
So, I'll just provide some endings from my proof-of-concept games, including my main project Kessho no Ko (Japanese, lit.: "Child of Crystal", could also be "Child of the Crystal")
From the text adventure adaptation of my game (still in Alpha) And Yet It Rains on Walls of Stone, came this ending that had to be temporarily cut because of a bug with dying normally:
"In light of your insufferable deeds and shortcomings, you have been labeled unfit to live in civilized society, and branded a danger to yourself and others. [REDACTED] himself, despite being your own stepfather and the only father figure you may ever hope to have in this apathetic world, now thinks you an animal, a beast with no care of who dies or lives, no sense of good deeds or evil morals. The trip to see the Magistrate is long, dreadful, panic-inducing, not to mention arduous, and heartbreaking, for both you and your mother. As you take one last, puppy-dog look at your parents before you are forgotten by the cities and towns of the world, you can only shed a tear at the existence you once knew how to live. Now you will die of old age in the white, faceless walls of Cherry Hospital, if your new "friends" don't kill you over a game of spades first. Goodbye, young man."
- Cherry Hospital ending. Triggered by reaching 0 Karma after leaving the Oakes, Act 2 of the game.
From the doujin Action-RPG version, still very much in its infancy and somewhere on Maddog's hard drive:
"I-I can't move my legs..."
- Game Over after reaching 0 HP in a fight with any civilian. Choosing "Get Up" continues from either your own bed or a short cutscene intermission in the ER.
"So, it wasn't a dream..."
- Game Over after reaching 0 Sanity during a Despair Event (an indirect event that happens in the game's story, sometimes at random, that you must complete several objectives to cope with.). This message appears because it is implied that you (read: me from an IRL persona) weren't able to cope with the misfortune and all, snapped and went on a rampage that Maddog had to K.O. you to prevent from completing.
"Good riddance, pitiful Earth."
- Game Over that can actually be triggered at any point in the game, while suffering the "Gloomy" status effect. All you need to do is find an item that harms the body when used on yourself (the reason I made it possible to harm yourself through different types of items is for an arc of the story that requires you to appear to be harmed to trick a villainous character that appears near the middle of Chapter 5.) But if you drop yourself to 0 HP with this, you get this message and a PSA dialogue box about suicide prevention, as well as the number for the Suicide Hotline. Had to be cut because of controversy.
"If it's a monster you want, then a monster you shall have. I have spent 20 years of my life trying to clear my name, and all because the people of the world I have been forced to associate with do not care about the internal purposes of one's actions; you hand someone money without speaking to them? You're bribing them. You write your sweetheart a note that says "Turn around" and you're behind them? You're a stalker. You walk out the store when you forgot to pay for something? You're a thief. Humans don't care what someone is thinking when they're doing something, and trusting someone is just as meaningful as signing a birthday card to your daddy when he's having a midlife crisis. My point: it is ABSOLUTELY EXHAUSTING trying to prove to everyone I'm a hero, and I am sick as a [BASS]ing DOG! of wasting all that time, energy, money and oxygen explaining why I'm not a [CABLE STATIC]ing Joker wannabe. So, I figured, if they're gonna twist their side of the story and make me look like a monster, why not give the people what they want, and BE that monster?! And as for YOU, [Game!me turns to face the screen, as if talking directly to you, the player]...hehehe....you and I are gonna have a lot of fun together."
Non Standard Game Over from reaching a Spirit status of 0%, which is meant to represent Game!Tyler's worldview of whether or not the world around him is inherently good, evil or a mixed bag. Upon reaching 0, he decides upon the TV Trope of "Then Let Me Be Evil" and triggers this ending.
Point and click adventure games have always had creative ways to die and even more creative messages to your demise, some of them kind of humorous, and I've even seen bad endings that people react to (well, me) in humorous ways.
I would list my most remembered examples here but there are too many, and lots of Game Overs/bad endings I've gotten are either too scary, sad or sometimes have given me nightmares to think about again.
So, I'll just provide some endings from my proof-of-concept games, including my main project Kessho no Ko (Japanese, lit.: "Child of Crystal", could also be "Child of the Crystal")
From the text adventure adaptation of my game (still in Alpha) And Yet It Rains on Walls of Stone, came this ending that had to be temporarily cut because of a bug with dying normally:
"In light of your insufferable deeds and shortcomings, you have been labeled unfit to live in civilized society, and branded a danger to yourself and others. [REDACTED] himself, despite being your own stepfather and the only father figure you may ever hope to have in this apathetic world, now thinks you an animal, a beast with no care of who dies or lives, no sense of good deeds or evil morals. The trip to see the Magistrate is long, dreadful, panic-inducing, not to mention arduous, and heartbreaking, for both you and your mother. As you take one last, puppy-dog look at your parents before you are forgotten by the cities and towns of the world, you can only shed a tear at the existence you once knew how to live. Now you will die of old age in the white, faceless walls of Cherry Hospital, if your new "friends" don't kill you over a game of spades first. Goodbye, young man."
- Cherry Hospital ending. Triggered by reaching 0 Karma after leaving the Oakes, Act 2 of the game.
From the doujin Action-RPG version, still very much in its infancy and somewhere on Maddog's hard drive:
"I-I can't move my legs..."
- Game Over after reaching 0 HP in a fight with any civilian. Choosing "Get Up" continues from either your own bed or a short cutscene intermission in the ER.
"So, it wasn't a dream..."
- Game Over after reaching 0 Sanity during a Despair Event (an indirect event that happens in the game's story, sometimes at random, that you must complete several objectives to cope with.). This message appears because it is implied that you (read: me from an IRL persona) weren't able to cope with the misfortune and all, snapped and went on a rampage that Maddog had to K.O. you to prevent from completing.
"Good riddance, pitiful Earth."
- Game Over that can actually be triggered at any point in the game, while suffering the "Gloomy" status effect. All you need to do is find an item that harms the body when used on yourself (the reason I made it possible to harm yourself through different types of items is for an arc of the story that requires you to appear to be harmed to trick a villainous character that appears near the middle of Chapter 5.) But if you drop yourself to 0 HP with this, you get this message and a PSA dialogue box about suicide prevention, as well as the number for the Suicide Hotline. Had to be cut because of controversy.
"If it's a monster you want, then a monster you shall have. I have spent 20 years of my life trying to clear my name, and all because the people of the world I have been forced to associate with do not care about the internal purposes of one's actions; you hand someone money without speaking to them? You're bribing them. You write your sweetheart a note that says "Turn around" and you're behind them? You're a stalker. You walk out the store when you forgot to pay for something? You're a thief. Humans don't care what someone is thinking when they're doing something, and trusting someone is just as meaningful as signing a birthday card to your daddy when he's having a midlife crisis. My point: it is ABSOLUTELY EXHAUSTING trying to prove to everyone I'm a hero, and I am sick as a [BASS]ing DOG! of wasting all that time, energy, money and oxygen explaining why I'm not a [CABLE STATIC]ing Joker wannabe. So, I figured, if they're gonna twist their side of the story and make me look like a monster, why not give the people what they want, and BE that monster?! And as for YOU, [Game!me turns to face the screen, as if talking directly to you, the player]...hehehe....you and I are gonna have a lot of fun together."
Non Standard Game Over from reaching a Spirit status of 0%, which is meant to represent Game!Tyler's worldview of whether or not the world around him is inherently good, evil or a mixed bag. Upon reaching 0, he decides upon the TV Trope of "Then Let Me Be Evil" and triggers this ending.
