https://www.napostriouf.com/LaClasseDevaluee/indexen.html (the downloable version date from several years, the project is actually much more advanced now)
In this thread, I will essentially talk about the development and some of the subject gradually while developing the game. It might be inconstant, but I'll feel the need the write something I will drop it in the thread. And probably, with some image too. Since I'm now 41 years old and if I die (or become homeless) before completing the game, at least I'll have let some trace of it somewhere that could be archived. (No, I didn't say that I'm on the verge of dying, but you know everything is possible, especially for people with low income coming from an ostracized community.)
Introduction:
The Grade Of Devalue is a game that I've been working on since October 2022 and still have a lot of years of development in front. Essentially, in this game you'll take the role of my 6th Grade teacher for the school year of 1995/1996 in Montréal, which was in a public school during the last year that the Roman Catholic clergy were still ruling the school board. (Well, an inspired version of that, since I changed the names of characters and some of the places to avoid ostracization, to keep people in peace and to focus on the subject instead of the persons themselves. Which is why there's only 10 students in the class instead of what that should be 20.) The same year that Québec had his obviously stolen referendum and also the year when my life took a better direction despite all of heavy struggle I was living at the moment (which still have consequence to this day by the way). Heavy struggles that by the way I wasn't alone to live to some. Which is essentially the subject of the game that struggling is something subjective, of course, from the eyes of the others our struggle might sometimes seems more extreme than normal, but sometimes it's so much normalized, that "duh" what's the problem, what are you complaining about? You KNOW what YOU people did... Yeah... Yeah... You know the routine, but obviously reality has more steps in the ladder to not say layers of struggling and that's essentially what the game explores.
Despite the game has an English version of my website, it's currently written in Quebecer French with some Hochlyhoodian dialect undertone depending which character is speaking. At the end of the project, I intend to make a standalone version of the English version instead of dual language, to be sure to not forget the translation. Obviously, since the story happens in Québec, the English used will be full of Quebecism made on purpose, like in my horror game Sainte-Vibrisse. Because contrary to a popular make believe to match anti-Quebecers propaganda, Quebecers do speak English on a daily basis even though our first language is French Quebecer. And Quebecism in English is actually widely use and not less acceptable in English. That being said, I don't exclude having eventually a third version with international English, but the main challenging is about how to keep the undertone, since Quebecer talking is all about the variable of tones speaking. Which is why sometimes our sentences when we speak might seem incomplete, there is usually something said behind that absence of words with the tones.
Synopsis: (subject to be re-written eventually)
In 1995, Josée Francoeur, an substitute teacher, sought a permanent position as a 6th grade primary school teacher at a school in the eastern part of Montréal. The school, on the verge of closure, presented an opportunity for her to secure a permanent position within the school board. Will she possess the necessary preparation and resources to confront the challenges arising from the issues of a financially constrained school during a period of significant transformations?
School staff:
6th grade teacher: Josée Francoeur
Age: Early thirties
Description: She's a substitute teacher from the Plateau Mont-Royal living alone in a studio apartment who seek for years to get a permanence (and be a full time teacher) so she can't stop having to do side jobs to be able to pay her bills.
5th grade teacher: Hélène Lacasse
Age: Mid thirties
Description: She's known to be the most progressist teacher bringing "youthful" to the school energy. Some say she brings modernity, which make mad traditionalist.
4th grade teacher: Christianne Charette
Age: 58 years old
Description: She's a teacher that tries to avoid be involved in internal conflicts at the school. So, she usually side with those who have the most popularity momentum while saying the less as possible, so the spotlights are practically never on her.
3rd grade teacher: Gisèle Potvin
Age: 66 years old
Description: She's a religious extremist who is overly proactive in what she considers sinful behavior which led to abuses. To the point that she practically was fired, in the past, by the director Jacques Beaudoin until the union and clergy lead by Mister the Pastor Gendron reverted the decision which had consequences on some of the students.
2nd grade teacher: Denise Desmarais
Age: 63 years old
Description: She is a teacher that if she's not angry, then she most find something to be angry for. So, students with particular profile are indeed for her fresh meat where to pass her frustration on (and humiliate). She's the kind of person who will want to speak to your manager because you do think so bad whatever you do it right or not, to her you're a moron who does everything's wrongfully.
1st grade teacher: Raymonde Rainville
Age: 77 years old
Description: She's a teacher with idea from another epoch. Contrary to some of her colleagues, she tries to be just toward the student, but with backward ideas, which sometimes makes friction with how works modern society.
Kindergarten: Carole Sévigny
Age: 22 years old
Description: She is a new teacher to the school! She is a feminist extremist who has profound hatred toward everything that is male. Whatever the age! To her, all of the world's problems are caused by them and we should get rid of them.
Pre-Kindergarten: Sylvie Fléchette
Age: 27 years old
Description: She is a new teacher in the school. She seems pretty much normal despite that she barely speaks to other teachers, but she can sometimes be seen with Carole Sévigny.
Director of the school: Jacques Beaudoin
Age: 64 years old
Description: On the verge to retire while the school is also on the verge to close. He and the Pastor Gendron are in direct opposition to not say rivalry about how to administrate a school, to act toward mischief and to manage conflicts in-between students.
Pastor: Mister the Pastor Gendron
Age: 72 years old
Description: He is the leader and the pastor of the Roman Catholic's parish of Saint-François de Sales. He is part of the Orders of Friars Minor (Ordo Fratrum Minorum) more commonly known as the Franciscans Orders. He is in direct opposition to Jacques Beaudoin especially about how to administrate a school, to act toward mischief and to manage conflicts in-between students. And he also teaches at the school, catechism and pastoral once a week to every class.
P.S.: Never call him anything than the full formula of Mister the Pastor Gendron otherwise you might have him on bad terms.
Secretary: Cécile Plante
Age: Seventies
Description: She is a secretary who way passed the age of retirement working alongside the director Jacques who literally saved her job after she got fired from a previous school for trying to help a heavily ostracized and bullied kid who had been raped. Because the previous director of that school was seemly scared of the waves it could make in the school board which would prevent him getting a promotion.
Janitor: Léon-François Joseph
Age: 45 years old
Description: He is a black janitor from Haïti that most teachers hate for "unknown" reason, but that director Jacques Beaudoin is however in very good term.
Music teacher: Jocelyne Laforêt
Age: 42 years old
Description: She is a strict workaholic teacher that might sometimes look cold but is a very fair progressist music teacher that Jacques describes as the best he ever encountered during his career. He also said that she would make a wonderful art teacher in secondary school!
Students (sorted by seniority of arrival at THAT school):
Student 1: Geneviève Bigras
Age: 11
Description: Despite her obesity and acne, she's said to be an average girl with average grades. She's the best friend of Myriam Canard who is far from being average.
Student 2: Alain Viau
Age: 11
Description: His parents are always at works, so he is most of the time alone in the home with his little sister. He tends to have a very little low temper tantrum tolerance aka gets easily angry. He is the best friend of Jean-Philippe Lipton.
Student 3: Nathalie Caron
Age: 11
Description: From a working class family, she's known to have an illicit relationship with Patricia Ste-Croix, with whom alongside Valérie Bourdon she tends to bully Myriam Canard. She says she wants to work in administrative someday, so she could be with Patricia.
Student 4: Patricia Ste-Croix
Age: 11
Description: From an extremist religious family, her illicit relationship with Nathalie Caron is not well received by her mom. She passes a lot of time at church despite being not very interested, but she acts to, to shut her mom's mouth. She also's a known alongside Patricia Ste-Croix and Valérie Bourdon to bully Myriam Canard.
Student 5: Valérie Bourdon
Age: 11
Description: She lives with her grand-mother because her parents are too irresponsible to have her in the charge. Which there seem to have much more to the story since when the school is done, she's not allowed to get out of her home until a another school day. She's obviously frustrated and is part of those people who bully Myriam Canard.
Student 6: Jean Taillefer
Age: 10
Description: He lives in a monoparental home with his mom, sister and brother. His dad, an artist agent is in prison for "unknown" crimes that he would have committed at his job. Jean loves to make/play musics, he is a great musician and do a lot of cycling. And seems to be more secretive than he might look at first glance. He also skipped one school year because of his good grades.
Student 7: Jean-Phillipe Lipton
Age: 11
Description: With a fragile health, he is somebody half Canadian, half Quebecer, but consider himself Canadian since his dad a prestigious tax specialist from the Lipton family. Despite his fragile health, he plays in a hockey team as a goaltender, known to be the best of his league. He is the best friend of Alain Viau.
Student 8: Myriam Canard
Age: 11
Description: She is the daughter of Patrick Canard, a famous Humorist and comedian, and of Lynda Lemieux a famous Singer and Comedian. For which, she gets a lot of attention, well, too much attention. She's also doing a lot of theater play in which she is forced to try to keep an image, which is a exploited by her bullies. Teacher are known to harass her because of the clothes she wears, since they tend, based on their opinion, to be totally inappropriate for a girl of her age. Which enable even more bullying on her. She's bad at English, Mathematics and Religious Teaching. She's the best friend of Geneviève Bigras.
Student 9: Nelson Vigneault-Gagné
Age: 13
Description: He's just arrived at the school since he got expelled from his previous one. He's well known for his mischievous behavior to the point he's labelled as a delinquent. He sometimes arrives at school drunk and stoned, which doesn't help his case. And known to have no friends since he bullied people at his previous school. He's part of a family known to be in underground drug dealing despite his parents having two legit jobs.
Student 10: Daniel Saindon
Age: 11
Description: Living with a mother that is a nursing student and his older brother, he's an Hochlyhoodian kid that is known to be the most intelligent with the best grade of his class. He's also known to have been kidnapped twice in his life under very mysterious circumstances. In which, he still has some major trauma about. A group of very suspicious woman follow him everywhere he goes in a white van. Daniel has a long history of school incidents, being bullied and ostracized because of his Hochlyhoodian origin. After all, he's the son of a man who is known to be one of the most dangerous men in the country and the godson of the founder of a notorious Quebec separatist group sometimes labeled as terrorist by the medias. Well, there's more to the story!
Secondary characters:
Cop 1: Roger Lalonde
Age: Near retirement age
Description: A cop that has a profound hatred toward Hochlyhoodians because back in 1974 his partner (who also was his best friend) got assassinated by somebody associate to them after a notorious prison escape. So he is doing everything in his power to get them out of the map. In a legal way or not.
Cop 2: Claude Galipeau
Age: Mid thirties
Description: He is the current partner of Roger. He tends to moderate him, despite he also has Hochlyhoodians in very low esteem. Comparing them to vermins, but he thinks they are rehabilitable, which Roger totally disagree!
Places:
School name: François-Maurice Lepailleur
Church name: Jean-François De Sales
District (where the story happen): Tétreaultville (a worker's district); which the south-west part of the district is inside the parish of Jean-François De Sales.
District (where some of the ostracized character come from): Hochlyhood (which is a 100% Quebecer nomadic society that initially was part of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, but doesn't mean they are the same; an Hochelagan doesn't mean Hochlyhoodian. Hochlyhood being a word that originate from the 1970's October crisis being a sarcastic word to say in English the Superstar of Hochelaga street to nargue the imperialistic occupant to say they are there to fight them which created a society in parallel and became different and which a lot of criminal came there to hide themselves since it became a no cops land.)
District (where the teacher is from; and home is there too): Plateau Mont-Royal (people with mid-high revenue where a lot of artist are living)
Water: St-Lawrence Fleuve (sometimes mistranslated as St-Lawrence River, since a river and fleuve isn't the same thing, but English language doesn't have equivalent word for Fleuve)
Big Park: Des Riverains Park (alongside the St-Lawrence fleuve)
Fast-food restaurant: Le Beau Québec (which is a kind of diner inspired by Le Petit Québec and La Belle Province)
House of culture: Taillons (The House of Culture Taillon host public library and some play which is based on The House of Culture Mercier.)
Food:
Name: Poutine
Description: A poutine is a Quebecer plate that basically have these ingredients: "Belgium style French fries, white cheddar cheese curds and a yellow onion based gravy sauce with chicken fat."
Name: Tourtière
Description: A Quebecer version of a meat pie with clove spice, usually eaten during the Christmas holiday.
Name: Pets de soeurs (Nun's farts)
Description: A rolled Quebecer desert usually made with butter & brown sugar. And sometimes maple syrup or molasses are added, depending of the specific family traditions.
