Lyuba Alekseeva 

asmodeywork@gmail.com 

 

GAME PLOT: Clockworld
Age Rating: 6+

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The year is 1888. The fictional steampunk city of Clockworld. Citizens prolong their lives using exoskeletons, turning themselves into robots. Two real humans have been kidnapped. A detective named Alanna Oberline seeks the help of a childhood friend (the player), who is a skilled detective. Like the kidnapped, the player is a human without mechanical enhancements.

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Oberline shows the player a clock found at the crime scenes. The clock is ticking backward. The detectives visit a clockmaker’s shop to investigate these mysterious items. The clockmaker, Jack Persiworld, is old, with most of his body replaced by an exoskeleton that didn’t quite integrate well. Due to Jack’s limited mobility, his apprentice Joseph handles most of the repairs. Jack helps with the investigation, explaining that only a skilled craftsman could create the Reverse Clock. Soon after, a woman named Jane Bennett disappears, but no clock is found. The player has a vision of Jane with a gentleman in the Theater of Lights. The detectives head there and find a witness who saw her with a young professor named Berlione. He owns a laboratory where he creates various potions and collects items, including clocks. In conversation with the authorities, Berlione appears nervous, making him a suspect. The player sneaks into his lab to look for evidence and finds Jane’s gloves. Ironically, Berlione slips on a railway track, covered in machine oil by an unknown hand. He’s dragged away just before a tram hits him but suffers severe head injuries. When he briefly regains consciousness, he confesses that Jane is in an apartment beneath his lab. The detectives find her and inform her about Berlione’s hospitalization. Overcome with emotion, Jane faints. It turns out Berlione and Jane are engaged, and she had been hiding from the kidnapper for her safety.

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That night, the detectives spot young Joseph dropping a Reverse Clock. They follow him into the catacombs, where they find three human figures in the shape of clocks, along with Persiworld, who no longer appears as a frail old man. He reveals that he has long dreamed of turning back time to undo his decision to give himself mechanical hands. That’s why he left the backward-running clocks at the crime scenes, which Joseph crafted under his guidance. The criminal then shows off his creations—clockwork golems, built using his mechanical hands, as the parts are large. Inside these human-shaped clocks are the kidnapped victims, alive but unconscious. Persiworld is sent to prison, and his apprentice Joseph is exonerated, having acted under the influence of potions stolen from Berlione’s lab. The kidnapped victims are freed from the clocks. Berlione recovers and marries Jane Bennett.

 

 

COLLECTION SYSTEM IN THE GAME:
Quests lead to the collection of 5-6 parts that combine into a single object. Alternatively, players can gather six items that form a complete case or memory. Special tools (depending on the type of collection) connect the objects: in the first case, wrenches, hammers, screwdrivers, etc.; in the second case, a briefcase, brass wire, leather straps, and more. Players receive these tools after completing quests. If tools are lacking, additional quests can be completed.

 

 

CHARACTERS:

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Alanna Oberline:
The player’s childhood friend and a young detective in Clockworld. Her left arm is mechanical, though no one knows why she needed an exoskeleton. Following in her father’s footsteps—who was a renowned detective—Alanna strives to prove to herself and the city that she is more than just her father’s shadow and is a detective whose work her father would be proud of. Visual prototype: young Rachel Weisz.

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Jack Persiworld:
A kind elderly man, owner of an old clock shop in Clockworld. He used to craft clocks himself, but after giving himself mechanical hands, which didn’t integrate well, he had to give up working with small parts. He hired an apprentice, Joseph, to whom he passed on his knowledge, while Jack now handles only the business side of things.

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Professor Berlione:
A brilliant young professor of alchemy, aged 40. He owns a laboratory where he creates potions. Meticulous, slightly withdrawn, but a sophisticated gentleman. One of the wealthiest people in Clockworld.

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Jane Bennett:
A young writer, beautiful and well-educated, but highly sensitive. This helps her creativity but somewhat hinders her in life. Jane internalizes everything happening around her, often taking things to heart. However, she is ready to move mountains for her friends. Her name is a reference to the heroine from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

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Joseph:
An 18-year-old apprentice to Jack Persiworld. Talented and quick to learn, which Jack highly values. Joseph is shy and seems perpetually sad. This isn’t surprising, as his parents died, and he left his hometown to move to Clockworld. In this big city, he has no friends or close ones.

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Manley Wright:
An energetic man in his sixties, the chief designer of incredible devices and machines in Clockworld. Many of his inventions were tested on himself, giving him an eccentric appearance—for example, he has retractable binoculars instead of eyes. He has a daughter who also creates amazing, often risky inventions.

 

 

EXAMPLE QUESTS:

Character: Engineer Manley Wright
Item: Airship blueprint
Briefing text:
Welcome back to your hometown, detective! We need to launch an airship with a camera at the center of Clockworld, where all the kidnappings happened. But where’s the blueprint?

Debriefing text:
Excellent! We’ve got the blueprint, but this is just the beginning.

 

 

Character: Engineer Manley Wright
Item: Mechanisms
Briefing text:
The city mechanic has kindly agreed to provide us with parts for our little airship. Head over to his workshop.

Debriefing text:
These mechanisms were invented before I was born, but they work better than modern ones!

 

 

Character: Engineer Manley Wright
Item: Propeller
Briefing text:
Let’s go to the Steam Market to find a powerful propeller for our airship.

Debriefing text:
Great! You found the perfect propeller.

 

 

Character: Engineer Manley Wright
Item: Machine oil
Briefing text:
An airship without machine oil is like a bird without wings. We need to find the best oil in the city!

Debriefing text:
Bravo, my friend! This machine oil is very economical. Our airship will be able to fly for a long time without needing a recharge.

 

 

Character: Engineer Manley Wright
Item: Nipkow disk
Briefing text:
The airship will capture Clockworld at night on film. We need a Nipkow disk to transmit the images. If I’m not mistaken, the cinema mechanics have one...

Debriefing text:
You found the Nipkow disk! I hope it helps us capture the culprit and prevent further kidnappings.

 

 

Character: Engineer Manley Wright
Item: Airship hull
Briefing text:
There should be an airship hull somewhere in my warehouse. We need to find it, or we’ll have to build a new airship from scratch.

Debriefing text:
Thank you, detective. Note the fine craftsmanship: the airship hull is made of bronze. Now we just need to assemble the parts and launch it over the city.

Collection completed: Airship.

 

 

Character: Detective Oberline
Item: Camera
Briefing text:
We’re too late with the airship! There’s been a new kidnapping. It happened in the Abandoned Train Park. Before we head there, let’s gather a field kit. We’ll need a camera…

Debriefing text:
Great, you’ve got the camera. The photos will help us with the investigation.

 

 

Character: Detective Oberline
Item: Detective's monocle
Briefing text:
Do you remember my father? He was a great man and a professional detective. He always took a monocle with him on cases.

Debriefing text:
Oh, you found the monocle! It will help us spot even the tiniest details.

 

 

Character: Detective Oberline
Item: Tracker’s powder
Briefing text:
I hope we can find some evidence of the criminal this time. You know better than I do that tracker’s powder reveals traces. Where did it go?

Debriefing text:
Ah, here’s the tracker’s powder! You’re always so observant. Remember how you used to help me find lost things when we were kids?

 

 

Character: Detective Oberline
Item: Evidence bag
Briefing text:
I’m sure the kidnapper left his strange backward clock again. If we’re lucky, we’ll find other clues too. Can you find an evidence bag?

Debriefing text:
Great, you found the evidence bag. We’ll definitely take it with us.

 

 

Character: Detective Oberline
Item: Notebook
Briefing text:
We hardly have anything on this kidnapper. With your help, we need to thoroughly question the witnesses. Take a notebook and don’t forget the mechanical pen.

Debriefing text:
Thanks for finding the notebook. Be careful with the mechanical pen, though—it sometimes twists words out of mischief.

 

 

Character: Detective Oberline
Item: Shadow elixir
Briefing text:
The police station just received a new elixir from Professor Berlione. If we smash it at the crime scene, we can see the silhouettes of those who were there hours ago. Go fetch it.

Debriefing text:
We’ll be among the first to test the shadow elixir in practice. Now we need to pack the field kit.

Collection completed: Detective’s field kit.

 

 

CITY MAP:

Clockworld is a circular island city, similar to Atlantis, consisting of concentric circles laid out like a clock face.

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Locations:

• Inventions Square

• Steam Market

• Tram Stop

• Photography Studio

• Costume Shop

• Clockmaker’s Shop (match-3 puzzle)

• Abandoned Train Park

• Bakery

• Golden Rose Mansion

• Mechanism Museum (match-3 puzzle)

• City Library

• Airship Port

• Engineer’s Office

• Auto Repair Shop

• Corner Street

• Concert Hall

• City Hall

• Theater of Lights

• Observatory (match-3 puzzle)

• Furniture Workshop

• Glassblower’s Factory (match-3 puzzle)

• Puppet Theater

• Geologist’s House

• Laboratory (match-3 puzzle)

 

 

St. Petersburg, 2020