HOLLOWROUND

A lost 90s demo disc. Three scenarios. One very bad day for Rhonda.
Overview

HOLLOWROUND — Overview

Format: Game franchise concept; primary framing is a "lost 90s PS1 demo disc" World: Shares the GUNS setting with No Guns No Bosses Status: Demo 1 scenario (Rhonda / Beast Balloon incident) is the most fleshed out; Demo 2 and 3 are rougher; RAMP is a parallel game concept in the same world

What It Is

HOLLOWROUND is a game brand set in the GUNS world. The specific current concept is presenting it as a mock "lost PS1 demo disc" from the 90s — three demos on one disc. Tone target for the brand: playful and lightly horny, comedy/satire with occasional dark elements, ultimately hopeful (awful people get the worst of it; normal people have bad times but also good ones).

Bubblerap Phantasy's dungeon crawl format was partly motivated by giving HOLLOWROUND a more tractable structure.

The PS1 Demo Disc Structure

Demo 1: The Beast Balloon Incident (Kinetic Novel / VN)

The most developed scenario. See "GUNS World" section in CLAUDE.md for shared lore.

Plot summary: Rhonda Rubberbreaker leads the Beast Balloon R&D team at a DAC facility. A hacktivist (Kira, green-themed, anti-popper, anti-DAC) discovers Rhonda's lax cloud security via her adult content profile and tampers with project parameters — tainted Beast Balloons escape into public infrastructure. Within hours: power lines, roads, air quality affected; people missing. Communications locked down. Rhonda flees toward Caliber Island to escape DAC retaliation.

Key scene: A meeting with politicians, DAC underground, and possibly a Festive Faction / Candy Council representative. One politician is dismissive of the BB crisis happening right outside their windows. They flick a lit cigarette at a Beast Balloon. It swells and explodes. Very few in the room survive. The KN section ends there — stakes set for subsequent gameplay.

Team:

Beast Balloon behavior: Not truly intelligent; autonomous; emergent behavior via CI; loosely modeled on livestock behavior (Vassal's expertise); consume CI they find, becoming more capable.

Metal Bubble Dragon / Bubbles: Emergency project; humanoid dragon-like with claws and breath specifically good for dealing with BBs; can be enhanced with Confetti-Intelli. "She's Mega Man."

Demo 2 and Demo 3

Not yet developed. Format: similar KN/VN setups. The puzzle/tactics game may be shown but not playable, or exists as a separate challenge-scenarios demo.

DAC Leadership: The Revel Romp Arc

(Source: source-conversations.md → Revel Romp files)

New DAC leadership lore not in the main design doc:

RAMP — Parallel GUNS-World Game Concept

(Source: ramp_2025_design_doc.md, narrative_content_outline.md)

A separate but related game set in GUNS during a Beast Balloon crisis event. Turn-based tactical with story focus. Engine: GZDoom (prototype in Godot).

Protagonist: Percival Dreamsight Lapinrose — a rabbit from a "pocket hell"; Sautillant Buster weapon; can't enter the church (holy discrimination; invisible wall)

Supporting cast:

Thematic arc: Percival helps everyone, builds community of allies, but is excluded from the church by holy discrimination. Invisible wall = systemic barrier symbol. Resolution: determination to keep helping, community formed with those who recognize her worth.

RAMP meta-reference: David and Penny are explicitly RAMP organizers; there's a meta-layer about the crisis having convenient timing (Penny notices it feels "on schedule").

Tone Reference

"Fallout: Equestria is close to matching the intended tone, though average violence in FoE is far more explicit than anything I intend to depict."

VN formatting reference: Soul Nomad / Soul Cradle. Textboxes for talking/actions; bigger window for description. Between plot beats: node-based room/character navigation menu.

Files in This Folder