“For my body is dust and I shall become dust.”
In a world where only deserts of dust reign the land and the right to exist has died for all but Royals and Maps,, where names are defined by abilities, where trees are holy figures and where caravans travel the endless nothingness in search for long lost treasures you find yourself in a desperate situation: With your caravan dead, you have no choice but to become a slave in order to survive. Not any slave, though. You seek out to become a Map, a nameless being treated as the most valuable treasure of all because it provides the world with hope for a future. For the right to exist, the first bite of food and the first gulp of water you pay the ultimate price - to stop living as a true human. Now, you are just an object with scars on your back that show the places and wonders of the dust desert - but you are also full of hope. Hope that, maybe, you can figure out how and why your family died.
And maybe, just maybe, you can change how people treat those like you along the way.
- a 2D overworld with visual novel segments
- male and female protagonists
- 4+ character relationships (LGBTQ friendly!)
- personality traits defined through a quiz
- choices that influence the plot
- branching character routes
- over 10 endings
(each subject is portrayed sensitively, though it does exist)
- slavery
- mild sexual themes
- dark humour
The protagonist, either male or female.
After waking up and finding out that their entire family has died, they choose to become a Map and thus, give up their name and identity.
While they still struggle to accept their new life, they are determined to figure out the truth behind their caravan's tragic demise.
Though he is the youngest of the entire group, he is the one that takes care of making sure that those unfortunate enough to die get a proper burial.
He is fast at warming up to others, strangely, and the first to trust a person, even though he has problems showing it.
Despite being seen as rather distant, he is the only one to treat Maps like people – as long as no one watches, of course.
King [22]
He is the one to lend a shoulder to cry on and his humour is so bad that even Memory cracks a smile of pity once in a while.
King is a big hypocrite, though, especially wary of Maps. He tends to wear trouble on his sleeve – and his face, as evidenced by his scars.
The personality quiz grants your character four out of eight personality traits - each of them provide flavour text towards choices you make.
For example, if a Map with the humour trait tries to cheer up a person they will end up cracking a joke instead of comforting them through a hug.
@ Map generator by fantasynamegenerators.com, editing by Cirrocumulus-Cloud
Questions
1. Does the idea sound appealing?
2. What about the art style?
3. Should I include more information about the world aside from the map?