The Game is Afoot!

OK, kids... I have an epic plot.

Basically I was perusing my storyline and really couldn't see any way I could use a coherent story in what I'd laid out. There was no motivation and no conclusion, it'd be just a worthless few minutes of a quicktime file that you would have no reason to remember.
So I broke it down. "What leaves a good impression?" I asked myself. Well, humor does... but the style that I plan to animate in for this piece is not conducive to humor as a global motivator. I'm going for a cluttered, common, every-day look with emphasis on age and imperfections. What about exploring imperfection?
I hit on a great idea. Despite myself being a positive person, I really wanted to have this animation touch a heartstring or two. It would bring unity and a message to my animation and really give me a reason to sit down and work out almost 2 minutes of material. The scene change is minimal (excellent, less painting of backgrounds for me!) and the number of active characters is small.

I'm going to introduce the concept of a rat family, dad (protagonist), mom (supporting), and 2 new kids. Except when dad the packrat goes out on his daily search for food and random items to bring home he just doesn't come back. the short can open and close with the same bookending of scene and characters and really pull it all together.
I'm still not sure how i want to (excuse my blatancy) "kill off" my father character, as the style of the film is kind of kid-friendly and i certainly dont want a violent death. maybe he's getting the perfect thing for his kid and something falls on him, that's what I'm going with right now.

But i like the new direction. It has the chance of elongating my story by up to a minute, but i'm more than confident that its within my realm of ability.