Rambling ● I’ve had this idea for a very long time. I gave up on it before because I found it difficult to execute, but now that I am more familiar with Ren’Py, I’ve begun redoing it. Here is the original thread. I hope it’s all right if I make a new thread for this, considering the fact that the game has changed considerably since the original.
Also! I’m posting this in the ‘ideas’ subforum but it is very much a work in progress! It has been a work in progress for years. I’m only posting it here because it probably won't be finished for a while and because I don't have any visuals yet.
genre ● mystery, supernatural, horror
story ● The protagonist wakes up in a strange world: Lament. He does not know why he is there or how he got there, nor can he remember many details about himself. He soon meets several people, one of which is a phantom named Brink. His words to the protagonist are: 'Your body is mangled, and you are a nothing but a soul. You have been killed.'
But life isn't completely over. A soul can travel backwards in time by ten days, no more, no less. With these few days, he has a chance to go back into something called “The Real Past”, and seek a way to prevent himself from being killed. On Judgment Day, it will either return to its body or become a phantom, trapped inside of Lament forever.
characters ●
[you] – The protagonist of the story. He was murdered but has no recollection of his past self – even his name is a blur.
Brink - A mischievous boy. There seem to be two personalities infested inside of him – a childlike side and a dangerous side. It’s difficult to know if he’s trustworthy or not…
Karu - A spirit who keeps his distance from the others. He seems to be holding some type of grudge.
Sai - Despite seeming good-natured, his motives are clearly different than the rest. He doesn’t seem particularly interested in leaving Lament…
Arutea - She's extremely clumsy and ignores physical boundaries. She is usually seen with Brink, although they argue often.
Evri - A very plain high school girl.
[unknown] - A boy who appears one day in Lament in a white cocoon-like object. He rarely speaks.
terms ● Contains very mild spoilers.
Lament; A dimension that seems closer to Hell than Heaven. It appears to be a forest, pervaded by the odor of char… choked by a thick mist and constantly in a state of night, it is not a place where one can feel at ease.
Soul; The spirit of someone who was murdered. While it is not a physical form, it still contains enough Life to function as a human. Many souls suffer from severe amnesia, and as a result, are generally bleak and emotionless.
Phantom; A soul that fails to save itself within ten days becomes a phantom. Phantoms are not able to return to the Real Past, however, there seems to be other ways for them to get their lives back…
Shadow; Shadows are spirits who no longer retain their human form, are unable to speak, and have no hope of every gaining their lives back. They appear as black creatures that haunt Lament with their shapeless forms. What caused them to suffer this horrible fate?
Dead Reminder; A choker-like object that surrounds the neck of every soul. It displays the number of days a soul has left to travel into the Real Past.
The Real Past; A modifiable version of the past 10 days before a soul was murdered. This version of the past is purely hypothetical, and if the soul fails to prevent its death, any events that happen in the Real Past are reverted.
The Lake of Rebirth; A lake above Lament where bodies separate from souls. What keeps it afloat?
gameplay ●Soul; The spirit of someone who was murdered. While it is not a physical form, it still contains enough Life to function as a human. Many souls suffer from severe amnesia, and as a result, are generally bleak and emotionless.
Phantom; A soul that fails to save itself within ten days becomes a phantom. Phantoms are not able to return to the Real Past, however, there seems to be other ways for them to get their lives back…
Shadow; Shadows are spirits who no longer retain their human form, are unable to speak, and have no hope of every gaining their lives back. They appear as black creatures that haunt Lament with their shapeless forms. What caused them to suffer this horrible fate?
Dead Reminder; A choker-like object that surrounds the neck of every soul. It displays the number of days a soul has left to travel into the Real Past.
The Real Past; A modifiable version of the past 10 days before a soul was murdered. This version of the past is purely hypothetical, and if the soul fails to prevent its death, any events that happen in the Real Past are reverted.
The Lake of Rebirth; A lake above Lament where bodies separate from souls. What keeps it afloat?
While this will mostly be a visual novel, I’m also planning to make it an investigation game. This is wishful thinking from hereon.
The time spent in Lament is used to develop relationships and solve the mysteries of the rest of the cast, while the time spent in “The Real Past” is used to discover the mystery of your own past. To do this, you are required to search rooms and pick up important items in order to find out clues about your death. There are key items that are vital to solving the mystery, that you cannot get the true ending without. You will be given the opportunity to explore and pick up items each day you spend in the Real Past, with the exception of the final day. Between each day, you will return to Lament to reflect on your findings and interact with the others residing there. This may or may not be a NVL.
Even though I said I’m ‘planning’ to include this, I can’t make this into the game I want without this feature, so this game will never be released if I can't execute this properly. I think it’ll be possible to achieve this type of gameplay using imagemaps and variables, but I
This game is currently being written in 2nd person. I want the player to feel as if they are the protagonist – therefor, rather than saying “The protagonist did this” or “He did this”, it will be read as “You did this”. Since the protagonist is also essentially mute, there will be a lot of decision points. If you’ve played a Megami Tensei game – Persona or Devil Survivor, for example, you should know what I’m trying to emulate [to an extent].
Thank you for reading this! I commend you if you read it all.
I know visuals are important so I"m not really expecting any comments until I have any, lol.
But I'll have character concepts up soon. :]
