Lawn Jockey: A Suburban Nightmare

If you are not familiar with what a lawn jockey is check out this article from Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawn_jockey

"Lawn Jockey: A Suburban Nightmare" would be a one player experience that would be released online in segments.

The first installment would introduce our setting and the title character, the Lawn Jockey.

Setting: Anywhere Suburban White America. (think "desperate housewives", "the burbs" etc...) The environment would be one street that has relativly new houses surrounding a man made lake. The inhabitants of the houses are upper middle class.

The story would be introduced using a voice over as we hear the title characters creepy thoughts. Actors would be used in front of green screens and the suburban environment would be added using photographs and digital techniques. The look is not realistic. Ideally this world would have the same asethetic value as the famous coca-cola santa paintings

http://www.blogwaybaby.com/uploaded_images/Santa_Coca_Cola_2006-700821.jpg

only with a more surreal approach.

STORY:

A short, shy, unpopular, high school sophomore gets off by painting his face white and dressing up like a lawn jockey. At night he sneaks out of his parents house and positions himself in front of a real lawn jocky yard orniment which is located in the front yard of a beatiful girls home. The placement of the lawn jockey allows our character to peer into her bedroom window and go unnoticed as a peeping tom.

GAME: The first challenge would be sneaking through the neighborhood shadows avoiding streetlights and barking dogs and placeing one's self blatantly in the front yard where the similar looking statue typically stands.

Once in position the player would be rewarded by being presented with an animation sequence and voice over which describes the twisted young mans mind set as a peeping tom. The challenge would be to hold a key combination to simulate the effort it would take to stand completly still and not be noticed.

Next a sense of voyourism would be achieved as the gamer watches the beatiful young woman get ready for bed in the mirror. She does things like comb her hair and type on her computer and maybe even does something like dance seductivly for her webcam (meanwhile the VO continues). The internal dialoug of the lawn jockey would comment on how people are just throwing their lives out for free on the web and its ironic how he would be viewed as a freak if he were to get caught.



If the player gets too interested in the story and say takes his fingers off of the keyboard to take a drink, the lawn jockey character would cough or move causing him to get noticed by a car passing by, or some people walking the dog. Perhaps he would even be discovered by the girl herself and it would be game over.



However, if the player succeded in the challenge (which maybe wouldnt be blatanlty described in the directions) he would be rewarded by progressing further in the story. Just as the girl is about to derobe or give the audience some form of a reward something happens...

Perhaps two men in ski masks barge into the room and abduct the girl. Something to that nature.

The idea would be for the player to feel creepy and wrong in what he was doing but to get some satisfaction out of it like someone does when they steal a car or kill someone in "grand theft auto". However, one would know it was wrong. The abrupt apperance of men and violence would be shocking to the player who hopefully would already be uncomfortable in regards to the content.



When the men come in the lawn jockey witnesses a horrible crime while commiting a crime himself. Therefore, he can not go to the police but also has emotional investment in the girl so he will want to save her life and maybe win her over in doing so.

From here players can solve the mystery of what happend to the girl by day by searching for clues and speaking with other characters as the shy high school student (maybe he's a drama stage hand in high school) and also take action by night by taking on the persona of the lawn jockey. In this form the jockey could steal keys or hide in cars to collect information. or do things like break into houses to take journals or get on people's personal computers.



Each installment would present more mystery and viewable content while also presenting the player with a challenge. the look of the game could change with each episode. One challenge could be to search through a house "myst" style. while another takes on a primitive game experience by running from dogs like the in the game "paper boy". There could be puzzles and riddles etc... and a lot of stealth gameplay were one could hide or quick assume the lawn jockey pose in order to not get noticed.

The style of the story would unfold kind of like a classic detective story but the hero would be a very grey character who eventually finds redemption in saving the girl he once violated by spying on. There would be themes of voyerism and an underlining moral commentary that would suggest that we should be careful what we put on the internet.

The dangers in the game could be from the bad guys the lawn jockey is trying to catch and from the surrounding cast of characters who begin to notice that a creep is wondering through their neighborhood at night dressed as a statue.

The game would be very dramatic with many story sequences... everything would be over the top and the action between the playable Jockey and the criminals would be very graphic. 

Its vague... but could be a lot of fun by incorporating a mystery with classic gaming formats of the past in a installment like fashion that could make light of suburban life and also pay tribute to the many types of games people love.

copyright sb