The Next Big Thing FAQ

don't read until you've finished reading the next big thing yo

Working title:
A Third Thing (2014-2015)

UGH
This took me far too long to write.
I said in the Nothing FAQ that that one was the longest one to write, but just look at me now.

START DATE: 14 Mar 2014
END DATE: 27 May 2016
not counting post-writing clean-up and general "waiting until june"

In theory, it seemed simple. I had all the characters back, I didn't have to do missions in sets of threes, and I could just write.
And, yeah, it started off really well.

HERE'S THE CREATIVE PROCESS (as I recall):
2014: 000 - 025, 027 - 036, 042
2015: 026, 037, 043 - 047
2016: 038 - 041, 047 - 125

Yeah. 2015 was a terrible year for writing for me (quantity-wise), and up until May, so was 2016. In May, I said FUCK IT and went HAM trying to write. I forced myself to do it, and it actually went well. The VAST majority of this was written within a span of two weeks. I'm just glad it's done.
I used to say that forcing yourself to write doesn't work, but I guess I was wrong. I WISH I'D KNOWN EARLIER

The reason we have a lot of tangents in later missions and long stretches of the same people is because it's easier to write that way right now. I'm having a really hard time thinking of what someone will want to do, so I just extend every idea for as far as it can go. We'll see if that stands the test of time.

At the very end of writing, I reordered missions 011, 012, and 013. Using their current numbers, the original order was 013, 011, 012. Thank you for

Sting's missions are all just where I inserted shit I liked that I had written for a remake of SAS. The project was abandonned when I realised SAS had long stretches of NOTHING
Missions 024 and 051 of this, and chaptour two of RPGmaster IV also are built around SASmake mission jokes, as a note.
The fun part about the missions is that in missions 021, 022, and 024, I swapped the protagonist and not-the protagonist, so the Robert Truckdriver clones end up doing what Loc would have done, and Jakey ends up doing what Big/Little Devil would have done.

Notice how in mission 025, I explicitly avoided Chef Amiee :3. FUCK that character. It took over two years to write this story without her stupid fucking ass. I can't even fucking imagine how it would have turned out with more of her missions.

I AM SO SORRY FOR 041
it was added late in development

The current mission 057 was added after what is now mission 098. Deputy Orange originally didn't have any missions there. Honestly, it's one of the better missions in here.

Valerie's entire character is meant to be waifubait of the highest calibre. "Nervous stuttering girl" is an important character archetype I had not yet used. I was going for the entire run of Japanese dating simulator characters.
gwendolyn is my favourite of the waifus by the way if it weren't obvious
grace is a close second


If you've noticed, I've also begun experimenting with leaving out some characters' titles at certain points. I've never been consistent about this, really. Taylor's never had a title, despite being one of the first to actually get a job.
Full titles for certain characters will appear in mission contact areas, and not often in the missions themselves.
[Shopkeeper Taylor]
[Claire Who is a Ghost]
[Construction Candice]
[Special Agent Grace]
[Gravedigger Valerie]
It's easier with characters whose titles would actually be spoken in normal conversation, of course.



I've been thinking of what genre of game these Things I write would actually be, and I've figured it out. (as a note, rpgboots are devil may cry clones)

Outside of missions, the game plays like GTA. You can drive around, shoot people, do whatever.
The missions, however, are point-and-click adventures. In each one, you need to solve puzzles to do what is described in the part I write. There are other solutions, of course, but what I write is the "funniest" solution.
The mission complete jingle is, of course, Headed for a Heartbreak.


in chronological order, the series goes: 
name (year it's set) - when it was released
Nothing (2006) - MARCH 2014
A Thing (2013) - APRIL 2013
Another Thing (2014) - MAY 2013
The Next Big Thing (2015) - JUNE 2016

march
april
may
june

get it
get
it







Television programmes by writing date (as I recall):
A.L. Noire (2014)
Sheriff Antony's Rootin' Tootin' Cowboy Show (2014) [REMOVED FOR BEING TERRIBLE]
Super-Magical Kawaii Desu Show-Kun!!! (2014)
Operatives of A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. (2014)
Clearly the Superior Album (2014)

Pasta Bolognese (2015)
Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-VI (2015)
Justice Hero Super League (2015)

Kniggaz of the Round Table (2016)
Tungsten Fist (2016)
The Fresh Prince of Grove Street (2016)

The Fresh Prince of Grove Street is, of course, missions from SAS rewritten to not be terrible. Hopefully.
Sheriff Antony's Rootin' Tootin' Cowboy Show was just bad. It reads like a show I'd have written for A Thing, when I had no idea what I was doing. I tried really hard to replace it. I just cannot write children's programming.

I also have a list of show names I didn't actually get any ideas for, which hurts.




JOIN US IN 2021 WHEN I FINISH THE NEXT ONE