Opera Video Game Paper

I have always loved the story of Romeo and Juliet so for this project I wanted to embrace it as an Opera and put my own spin on it for the video game. I think love is a cool element for a video game because it is not traditionally found in the video game market. I believe my video game would be successful because there are so many variations and ways to play.


Kylie Lowell

Art and Technology

16 February 2016

Roméo et Juliette Turned video Game

The opera Roméo et Juliette is based on William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. The opera Features five acts created by Charles Gounod. Roméo et Juliette could first be watched in Paris on April 27 1867, three hundred years after the story was first told by Shakespeare himself. In the original version of this opera Juliette’s voice was sung in a soprano while her lover Romeo’s voice complemented her’s singing in tenor. In the first act of Gounod’s version of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo sneaks into a ball he is not invited to and meets Juliet for the first time. Just as they reveal their identities to each other, Tybalt the antagonist of the story realizes Romeo is an intruder and wants revenge. In the following act Romeo and Juliet exchange their vows of love. In act three Tybalt kills Romeo’s right hand man, and therefore Romeo Kills Tybalt. The duke then banishes Romeo. In act 4 Romeo and Juliet spend one last romantic night together before Romeo leaves for exile. Meanwhile Juliet is expected to marry another man. Juliet and the friar devise a plan to reunite the two lovers. Juliette will drink a potion that will make her appear dead, then Romeo can come to her tomb and whisk her away. Unfortunately in Act 5 Romeo never receives the news that Juliet faked her death. He believes Juliet is truly dead, so he too drinks poison. The lovers sing one last duet before the poison kills Romeo. Juliet, unable to live without him, stabs herself to reunite with her lover in death.

In the video Game version of this tragic opera the goal is to reunite the two lovers in life instead of in death, however, there is a twist. This video game is set in the modern era to relate to millennials. The video game operator will play the part of Romeo. The player will be able to customize Romeo’s guns, chains, tattoos, bandana, and outfit. The player will also be able to customize his damsel in distress, Juliet, to fit whatever misogynistic image he has of a woman. Her eye, hair, and skin color will be customizable. The player will also be able to pick Juliet’s body type and outfit. After the player customizes his characters he is ready to play.

In the first level of the game Romeo will start outside of the club. Unfortunately Romeo isn’t 21 and he doesn’t have a fake ID so it will not be easy to get into the club. He will have to figure out how to sneak in with out being caught be the Bouncers or Tybalt. If the player is unable to sneak in without being seen he will lose his life and be forced to start over. The game player can try to get into the club using numerous tactics. He can scale the walls, kill the guards, use disguises in typical Romeo fashion, or find a secret entrance. Once the player is inside of the club his next objective is to find Juliet without running into Tybalt. Juliet looks like all the other chicks at the club dressed in short skirts and belly tops. The only way Romeo can find her is by matching on Tinder. Once matched, Romeo can see how close he is to Juliet measured in feet. Finally the distance measurement on tinder will lead him to a door that Juliet is behind. The player then leads Romeo throw an obstacle course of climbing through lasers and being chased by bouncers until he finally reaches Juliet. The player has made it to level two.

In level two the objective is for the player to kill Tybalt, who wants to get revenge on Romeo, because until he is dead Romeo and Juliet cannot live peacefully. Level Two will be set in an alleyway where the player will have a shoot off with Tybalt. The player is only able to hide behind cars and trashcans. If the player kills Tybalt he advances, if not, he is sent back to the start of the game.

The players next step in level three is to steal capture Juliet from her home before she is forced to marry a man she does not love. To capture Juliet, Romeo has to work his way through the hotel that she lives in sneaking past or killing anyone he sees. If the player takes too long to get to Juliet she may already be drugged and therefore unable to leave with him. The player must find different objects throughout Juliet’s house and mix them up into a special potion that will wake her up. If the player mixes the wrong ingredients together he will kill Juliet. If Juliet survives and wakes up the player will pass the level.

In the final level Romeo must drive Juliet to a far away land where they will both be safe. On the road to the far away land there are landmines, cars driving the wrong direction on the roads, as well as various other surprises. In this level it seems the whole world wants to keep Romeo and Juliet from being together. If the player can make it through the deadly drive he will win the game.

This video game will be a great seller because it has all the necessary components of a video game. There are girls, guns, violence, and fast cars. The target market for this game will be men because it has the misogynistic ideas that men always save the hopeless women. The game will be something players want to play multiple times because the tactics and locations of the enemies in each level will continue to change. Other features of this game will include a two-player mode where two people can work together to save Juliet. In the bonus pack there will be a version of the game where the player can play as Tybalt and the object will be to keep Romeo and Juliet from living happily ever after.