Super Murphy

SuperMurphy (just one word) is an as-of-yet unpublished trilogy of side-scrolling platforming games starring Murphy, a triangular fellow from the appropriately-named Village of Incredibly Simple Polygons in the fictional state of LaScandon in the fictional country of Sezzenner (pronounced SEZ-nur). There is a long and overarching story tying together the seemingly-eclectic storylines of all three parts that is never exactly explained in the course of events, but is there nonetheless.

The series would, if published, consist of three games:


 * SuperMurphy - The first (and initially intended to be the only) story begins with Murphy partaking in a volleyball tournament in his hometown (he is, after all, a pro volleyball player - hence his running and jumping abilities that help him through his adventures) during the month of August. His hometown, the "Village of Incredibly Simple Polygons," exists in the middle of the perpetually-warm-and-sunny Summer Fields. When thick dark clouds form on the far-eastern horizon, the citizens are naturally concerned. Murphy, being somewhat of a Cloudcuckoolander, decides to head out east to investigate, not necessarily stopping to contemplate the distance he'll have to travel. Before setting out, however, the town's scientist (known around town as "The Prof") asks him to take along his new invention, the Digital Universal Guide and Lifelike Artificially Sentient System (D.U.G.L.A.S.S.), which allows for limited Teleportation (it will "reset" Murphy to a Check Point if he dies, at the cost of a battery) and also serves as an informational guide that can give Murphy hints and instructions when needed. Murphy traverses 8 worlds in an attempt to pinpoint the source of the strange weather patterns that seemingly threaten his home's warm and pleasant environment.
 * This game follows a formula much like that of Donkey Kong Country, with a large map screen featuring numerous "worlds" and sub-maps with the levels individually accessible. Gameplay-wise, it would probably be similar to the Super Mario Bros. games, but would try to be unique enough so as not to appear to be simply another Follow the Leader concept.


 * SuperMurphy 2 - About 14 months have passed since Murphy's last adventure, after which he returned home and resumed life as normal, although his Cloudcuckoolander side is now significantly diminished, giving him a tighter grip on the reality around him. Autumn is in the air, and Murphy is enjoying the cool afternoon breeze when a mysterious message from DM, the now-unmasked villain from the previous game, shows up for him, asking for a meeting in a Ghost Town locale west of the VISP. Suspicious of the motives behind this, Murphy goes, but prepares for another fight. Upon meeting Murphy, DM begs forgiveness for his previous actions, claiming to have made a Heel Face Turn and to now be working to help the world rather than destroy it. He has converted an abandoned barn into a laboratory and is working on a project in the attached silo that Murphy isn't allowed to know about. He says that Murphy is the only person in the world he has contact with, and thus selected him to help in acquiring the last few supplies needed for the "secret project" while DM stays in his lab and "keeps things under control." DM also mentions that he has a bit of a ghost problem - the remote location of the Ghost Town where he's set up shop is perfect for an isolated and secretive working environment, except for the haunted church nearby, the prime inhabitant of which is slowly breaking down a barrier between the real world and the limbo in which he exists. Murphy is asked both to gather DM's needed supplies and to put an end to the haunting next door.
 * This game was originally intended to be in the vein of the original game, with a similar map-screen structure and DM returning as the villain. However, the stronger narrative story sort-of wrote itself after being started, and was picked over the original design. However, the basic locations for the second game remain the same in the newer concept. Instead of the map screen, this game has a physical hub through which each world (here referred to as "chapters") can be accessed, similar to a smaller-scale version of Grunty's Lair in Banjo-Kazooie. There is a minor Time Travel subplot involved in the first chapter, with Murphy traveling back in time 120 years to the heyday of the ghost town in which DM is working in an attempt to acquire a pristine version of a piece of farming equipment that DM found destroyed by old age in his barn-lab 120 years later.


 * SuperMurphy 3 - By far the most "out-there" game of the series. Another 14 months have passed after Murphy helped DM out with his mysterious world-helping project. Since shortly after that adventure ended, Murphy has taken a very strong interest in Project Zero-Digit, a bizarre "Artificial Reality" that was briefly glimpsed at the end of the first game as a Bonus Level, accessed through a level in World 8, Clockwork Castle. He learns from the Prof that PZD was built illegally by a Mad Scientist type who wanted to duplicate reality in an artificial dimension. Due to poor construction and lack of proper maintenance, the duplicate reality began to become corrupted, replacing random objects with other random objects and turning the artificial people within the dimension (many of whom were copies of real living people in Murphy's world, created through the use of stolen data) into twisted versions of themselves. Coincidentally, at this point in time 14 months after Murphy helped DM in the last game, the Clockwork Castle portal into PZD became fully reactivated seemingly of its own accord and broke the barrier that keeps the artificial dimension and the real one separated and began consuming the real world. It is at this time that DM reveals his "secret project" - a ship that was designed to enter PZD with minimal distortion by the world's physical-corruption effect. It is intended to be taken into PZD The ship, called the Distortion-Resistant Interdimensional Vehicle for Emergency Restoration of Stability (D.R.I.V.E.R.S.), enters the Dimension with Murphy, DM, the Prof, and several others on board (suffering some slight distortion in the process - the interior gains fancy decor, including chandeliers, red velvet carpets, and more), and Murphy, thanks to his incredibly-simple physiology and previously-proven athletic ability, is chosen to exit the ship and interact with the inhabitants of each locale that must be passed through in order to reach the Core (the PZD side of it anyway - Clockwork Castle is now inaccessible from the real world thanks to the growing portal) and destroy the artificial world from within.
 * This wasn't originally going to exist as part of the "official" storyline due to the Twist Ending that it has. However, it seemed a fitting end to the story, and the space between beginning and end began to be filled, so it was kept. The story may or may not, if published, be told with a Frame Story of two people many years after this game's events sitting in Christmas Eve service at a new church rebuilt on the site of the one from the second game, with one of them telling the story to the other.

There is a Myth Arc behind all three storylines that is scarcely mentioned in-universe, if at all (WARNING: Many big spoilers!):


 * SM1: Clockwork Castle (world 8 in SM1) is really an enormous supercomputer designed solely to handle the operation of Project Zero-Dight (see above). A lack of maintenance coupled with its already shoddy construction caused the artificial dimension to become corrupt, generating messed-up locales and people, including corruptions of real living citizens of Sezzenner. DM is Murphy's PZD counterpart and was dumped into the real world by mistake. He was pretty much Murphy's opposite in every way except for his similar physical appearance - scientific-minded, with a clear view of what he is doing, although he was operating under PZD's "Destroy everything" perogative when he appeared in the real world. Because of this broken mentality, he built the volcano rig that Murphy was barely too late to stop in SM1.
 * SM2: Encountering his real-world counterpart caused DM's mind to be re-scrambled, keeping his scientific side but losing the "Destroy all that lives" element. He found the secluded barn far to the west in which to work, building a functional laboratory there. He then spent a long time studying the dimension from which he came, and mathematically discovered that it was only a matter of time before it would "break through" and start destroying the real world (as it did in SM3). He then began building the D.R.I.V.E.R.S., summoning Murphy for aid towards the end, as Murphy really was the only one in the real world with whom he had contact.
 * SM3: The D.R.I.V.E.R.S. was finally launched into PZD, but DM was unable to be the one to stop it since he knew that direct exposure to the world would cause him to be re-scrambled yet again - he was created from raw data there, after all. Murphy was the natural choice for the task out of those persons immediately available.

Obviously, a lot of thought has gone into this. Still a lot more to do though!