Lemma Soft Forums

Genre: Story/decision driven RPG

Overview: 2D RPG that follows the story of 10 strangers trapped in a world within their collective minds.
Emphasis on meaningful decisions, character relationships, and a compelling overarching story.

Brief Outline: The player is informed that they are currently falling to their death by an unknown narrator. The narrator continues by explaining that the circumstances leading to the player’s imminent death were uniquely inexplicable, and asks the player a series of questions about the kinds of decisions that they make. Before the narrator can finish, the player hits the ground. Leroy, the player character, suddenly finds himself in an unfamiliar world in an EMT uniform and with no memory of his past. He discovers that although he survived the fall, he is trapped in a coma with 12 ‘hours’ to escape or else he (and the 9 other strangers lost somewhere in the world within their collective minds) will never wake up.

Gameplay: The player must manage their time effectively and explore the memories within each of the visitors’ minds while helping them through their pasts. Exploring memories, recovering sanity, or bonding with visitors spends time, which is limited and puts a strain on the player to be productive and efficient. Whenever the player learns a virtue (bravery, patience, focus, etc) from an NPC through interacting with them, colored cards are transferred to the player’s deck, which are used in this game’s engine to defeat the nightmarish figments that guard memories in a rapid-fire, real time, asymmetrical battle system (See: attached images/video). Certain cards are more effective in certain visitors’ minds (i.e., while in the mind of a character who struggles with fearfulness, cards that came from the visitor that is brave would be effective, and cards that came the fearful character would be ineffective or even detrimental) so the player must strategize on how they approach the various challenges within each memory.

Tone/Direction: The story, despite the dark subject matter, horror-esque nature of the game design and plot, and the fact that the entire character roster consists of people with tragic downfall backstories, the dialogue and metagame is hopeful, fun to play, and aesthetic-driven and spends no time dwelling on melancholy. The darker themes primarily act as backdrop for character motivations and to drive the pace/plot while meaningful, enjoyable character interactions and adventures take center stage. Nearest neighbors: Angel Beats (anime), Persona (videogame series), Catherine (videogame)

I would talk about the cast and story further, but since meeting the strangers and figuring out who they are and what their personalities are like is part of the game, I can't say too much. Instead, I'll post a few art resources and screencaps so that you can see how this all looks, with spoiling as little as possible The game is in active development, which you can follow on the twitter link: https://twitter.com/ChromatoseDev
Ask me anything. Questions/comments/critiques all welcome.

Cheers

This is a super cool idea, I like the idea of using character cards. Are the cards single-use, or do they stay in your inventory even after being used in battle?

I love the art style! Lilith is very pretty.

I really like the art style. Visually it also reminds me a little bit of Ghost Trick, which is very nice by my book.

The card system is still a little bit confusing at the moment for me since I cannot represent it in my mind. I hope to see more about your project! (Also having Persona as a reference is a +1000 for me <3)

Zelan wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 08, 2018 5:41 pm

This is a super cool idea, I like the idea of using character cards. Are the cards single-use, or do they stay in your inventory even after being used in battle?

I love the art style! Lilith is very pretty.

The cards are "single-use per battle". To explain this more clearly: if I've spent a lot of time with one character, I may have collected 10 cards from that character, and therefore, before a battle, I can build a deck with up to 10 cards from that character. The cards will not disappear from your inventory after use, but you can only use as many cards as you've collected and built into your deck. So if I only used those 10 collected cards in my deck, then I could play 10 cards in battle before running out of cards and losing.

Thank you!
Lilith says thank you too, haha

Zure wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 11, 2018 3:18 pm

I really like the art style. Visually it also reminds me a little bit of Ghost Trick, which is very nice by my book.

The card system is still a little bit confusing at the moment for me since I cannot represent it in my mind. I hope to see more about your project! (Also having Persona as a reference is a +1000 for me <3)

The card system makes sense when you play it as it is presented as opposed to me describing how it works, because I can only say so much without outright spoiling big parts of the game, haha.

You're actually the second person to mention Ghost Trick's art style, interestingly.
I usually get Persona, Bakemonogatari, or something else from Shigenori Soejima.

Glad you like the art!
And I'll most likely be posting more about the game in the future, either as I have more to show or as people ask about things.

Cheers

PrivateKaisser wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 11, 2018 3:58 pm

The cards are "single-use per battle". To explain this more clearly: if I've spent a lot of time with one character, I may have collected 10 cards from that character, and therefore, before a battle, I can build a deck with up to 10 cards from that character. The cards will not disappear from your inventory after use, but you can only use as many cards as you've collected and built into your deck. So if I only used those 10 collected cards in my deck, then I could play 10 cards in battle before running out of cards and losing.

Ah, that makes sense! It sounds like a balanced system, I'm excited to see how you implement it. c:

Zelan wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 11, 2018 4:51 pm

Ah, that makes sense! It sounds like a balanced system, I'm excited to see how you implement it. c:

Thank you!
Cheers~

To those posting before and anyone who happened to take a glance-- I've linked the facebook and twitter in the OP for anyone who wants to content and progress!

Just did a massive update on the information/content above, assets and links have been updated.

This looks very unique and interesting. Good luck! I am really curious about how this is going to be.

I'm loving the new art you've posted. Keep up the good work! c:

Zelan wrote: ↑

Mon May 21, 2018 6:03 pm

I'm loving the new art you've posted. Keep up the good work! c:

DirkB wrote: ↑

Sun May 20, 2018 11:41 am

This looks very unique and interesting. Good luck! I am really curious about how this is going to be.

Thanks guys!

This looks so interesting! I can't wait to play it ^-^

Neeka wrote: ↑

Tue May 22, 2018 2:17 pm

This looks so interesting! I can't wait to play it ^-^

Thank you! Glad you like it!