✦ Perchance to Dream ✦ [BxB][BxG][Platonic] ✦ A Bittersweet ‘Voluntary Death’ Game Where You Choose Who Lives and Dies

[EriPiO]

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CONTENT WARNING: The following game contains discussions of... Anxiety, Depression, Character Death, Grief, Homo/Bi/Transphobia, Mental/Emotional/Physical Abuse, Racism, Religious Extremism, Self-Harm, Suicide / Suicidal Ideation, Violence
While we do our best to handle these topics with respect and care, please engage with caution according to your needs

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I don’t believe in “soulmates” or “love at first sight.”
But I do believe that sometimes meeting someone can change your life.
Even if they’re just a pebble cast into a pond, sending ripples through everything you thought you knew…

Four men who want to live, one man who doesn’t. THAROS, an enigmatic government-sponsored research facility, has just unveiled the revolutionary Life Switch technology…there’s just 1 teeny problem. They need human subjects to test it. Thus a one-of-a-kind experiment is born wherein a suicidally depressed NEET is asked to make the ultimate sacrifice for a total stranger: Exchange the life he no longer wants to save another’s that is about to end. All that’s left is to answer the question who, if anyone, will he pick? 5 characters. 5 stories. But by the end only 1 will make it to a happy [?] end.

That choice is up to you…

Perchance to Dream (P2D) is an upcoming visual novel that is part “dating sim,” part depression simulator, part pseudo-philosophical tangents, and all fun! (Well, except the fact that everyone dies… but that’s fine!) (it’s not fine). Gameplay is character-focused and, like a dating sim, structured around spending time with the 4 Life Switch candidates (and the helpful “Ultimate AI Therapist” who runs the THAROS facility), allowing the player to get to know them all just in time to decide which lucky winner gets to live~ That’s the script set out by THAROS, anyways. But you know what they say! Scripts are written so you can go off them! …That is the saying, right?

|► Rating: Your mileage may vary, but just know there is some strong language, discussion of mature themes (see: content warnings), and mildly suggestive humor.

|► Genre: Near-future science fiction. Romance. Dark humor. Dips its fingers into mystery and horror.

|► Tone: Surreal and contemplative. Somewhat dark. Bittersweet.

|► Themes: LGBT+ ∙ AI ∙ Government Conspiracy ∙ Cults ∙ Medical Experimentation ∙ Surfing ∙ Classical Music ∙ Art ∙ Crime Drama ∙ Living with Depression ∙ and More!+

• ▇||YOU WILL GET||・
  ______________________

꒰❀ 10+ hours of content! (Final estimate TBU)
꒰✿ 6 rich, fully-realized characters with unique sprites (and some alternate outfits if things go as planned) stunningly rendered by our artist, Tea
꒰❀ Hundreds of beautiful background CG thanks to Creative Commons
꒰✿ Personalized music for each character and route thanks to Creative Commons
꒰❀ 30+ endings!
꒰✿ All completely FREE!

• ▇||LEARN MORE||・
  _____________________

・||► Explore highly developed characters while navigating a larger sense of intrigue
Against his will Z is dropped into a realm of cults, crime, and conspiracy. It’s not his job to solve the world’s problems, but when they turn up on his doorstep, can he really turn a blind eye?

(Click to enlarge)

(Development may not match final product)

・||► “Mix-and-Match” routes - You choose how you play
Players can spend time with any character or no characters and can "switch routes" at any time! Chancing upon the right combination will lead to special scenarios and secret ends. Speaking of endings…

・||► Over 30 unique endings planned!
Admittedly this may be trimmed down (or expanded) over the course of development, but currently each character will have at least 5 specialized endings and there are several “secret” ones to discover as well. Some sad, some happy, some dark, some very dark, some romantic, some hopeful, and some completely random! (Yes, please forgive me, there are a few endings triggered entirely by RNG).
And, of course, in each ending most of the cast dies~

・||► Will there be romance?
While the structure is dating-sim adjacent and the game is "implicitly" romantic (with an emphasis on relationship building and having the exploration of attraction and queer identities be an integral part of every route), only one route will be "explicitly" romantic. Otherwise it is up to the player's interpretation. Since the story takes place over just 5 days and the focus is on a mental health journey, this option felt the best to me. But I don't think anyone looking for romance will be disappointed.

(Click to enlarge)

(Development may not match final product)

∙||► Secret stats will influence your journey
There are 3 stats to keep in mind as you play: “Exposure" (how much time is spent with each character),” “Companionship" (how well the characters get along), and “Mental Health" (how Z is faring on his mental wellness journey). The way these stats interact will influence certain scenes and options.

• Note: Originally I planned to have these stats be invisible, but I'm considering giving "hints" about the player's progress at the end of each day. I don't want stat-building to take over the game's enjoyment, so this seemed like a fair compromise to those who don't like invisible stats. Please let me know which you prefer!

∙||► A “unique” approach to CG gives a dream-like cinematic effect…
In lieu of traditional CG and as a budgeting prostrat, we utilize a different approach. Thanks to the breathtaking imagery provided by the CC photography community, scenes gain a surreal sense of engagement across time and space:

(Click to enlarge)

(Development may not match final product)

∙||► Mental health resources
We want people to enjoy this game but do so as safely as possible and at their own pace. It is being made following recommendations for reporting on suic*de by the National Su*cide Prevention Lifeline and will have an in-game menu with resources to seek help. Release will also include an accompanying walkthrough with clearly labeled triggers so you can see which route paths work best for your needs. This game will get heavy! It explores difficult, complex topics and aims to be at least a somewhat realistic portrayal of mental health struggles. Please keep this in mind as you play.

• ▇||DEMO STATUS REPORT||・
  _______________________________

Script: 85%
▇|▪︎ ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧
Programming: 70%
▇|▪︎ ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧
Sprites: 60%
▇|▪︎ ✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧
Backgrounds: 80%
▇|▪︎ ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧
Audio: 90%
▇|▪︎ ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧
GUI: 10%
▇|▪︎ ✦✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧

~Demo Version 1.0 (consisting of Day 1 for all routes) is set to release by March 2023, exact date TBU~

• ▇||MEET THE TEAM||・
  ________________________

Introducing...

꒰✿ EriPiO (myself), who is in charge of writing, programming, visual design, and sound design

꒰✿ Tea (my dear friend), who is in charge of sprite art, key visuals, consulting on character design (especially with App), and being a bouncing-board for ideas

꒰✿ BNSP (a kind cousin), who consulted on logo design and conceptualized the THAROS logo

꒰✿ And finally...
A very, very grateful thanks to countless contributors who have released their work Royalty Free or under Creative Commons, each of whom will be fully credited in the game's release.

In the future...

I am potentially interested in expanding our team to include:
✦ Composers for 1-3 custom tracks (including an experimental remix)
✦ Trailer Editor to promote the game once the demo is complete
✦ GUI Designer / Programmer to make Tea's amazing art and the CC contributions look even better
✦ Beta Readers to point out the 9192819th time I misspelled decision

...If this is something in which you might be interested please feel free to DM or e-mail me, or keep up-to-date with game development on our socials for any recruitment announcements. Whether your services are free or paid, please keep in mind I am just 1 working lad so my budget reflects thusly.


Follow Us!: ✦ ✦ ✦

Get the Inside Scoop!: ✦ ✦ ✦

Support Development!: ✦ ✦


I will be posting regular updates in this thread as well so please feel free to follow along, give feedback, or ask anything on your mind.

Thanks for reading! We hope to meet you soon~ ✦✧✦

[EriPiO]

Hello, LSF! ( ´ ◇ ` )ﾉ

I know it has been quite a while, real life stuff between Tea and I ended up being more insane than either of us could have predicted. However we have been diligently working behind the scenes to continue production! I just wanted to keep quiet until more art assets were finalized and... ta dah! New characters are finally in!

Today I'll be introducing "Patient A":



He is a member of a fictional cult (yes, it's a cult) that will play a major role on his route. Unlike the other characters he hasn't been diagnosed with a terminal condition, but he will have his own trials to overcome. You can learn more about how he ended up at THAROS and the Church of the True Vine by playing the demo.

Speaking of which...

Originally, my (unannounced, secret) plan was to release Demo Version 1.0 on November 17th in time for Z's birthday. Well, unfortunately I had an unexpected emergency so everything's been pushed a bit back. But not by far! I still expect to get the demo out this year (probably in December), and will decide upon the exact date once I'm in possession of all the art assets and can get an idea of how long coding in the sprites will actually take.

BTW, in honor of A's arrival we now have a new banner:



(For reference, here is the old one).

Once Tea is done with the sprites she will take a much deserved break be working on a snazzy key visual for the game, but until then I think this does pretty well!

A keen eye might see that adding A isn't the only change I made. One of the many fixes I've done over the past several months is realize I made an error in resizing the artwork for the game (and all promotional images), giving them a fuzzy quality ヽ(´o｀； That has now been fixed! And why stop at just the banner?
In designing A's intro, I decided to go back and re-do the older profiles as well, updating some (minor) things that were bugging me. I hope you like the new design!

You can read about that and much, much more on our Discord server where I have been trying to keep a more or less steady log of my progress. We also have more information and resources, so feel free to join! (Even if it's just to make fun of my newb coding errors xD).

On that note, here's a little taste of what you can find on the server... a route-by-route progress bar!:

Demo Progress:

A | 90%
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧
B | 90%
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧
C | 70%
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧
D | 90%
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧
App ︎|60%
✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧

*Current Words: 74,419 (as measured by Pages)*
(Coding is estimated to be ~1/3 of word count)

As you can see we're incredibly close to finishing!! But also still a ways to go!

I promise it won't be such a large break this time, and I look forward to introducing the next character (Patient C) to you all soon.

Pio OUT!

[Edit: If you saw the typo in the profile no you didn't]

[EriPiO]

Hello everyone, hope you are having a happy Halloween weekend!

As promised, I have returned (much sooner this time) to bring you our 5th major character, "Patient C"!



And you know what that means...we get a brand new banner!



We're working hard to get the 6th and final character out next week and after that it will be full steam ahead to finish the demo. Not gonna lie, things have been kind of difficult for me but I'm doing my best and still having a lot of fun working on this project. I also plan to start posting more on social media soon so I can have more casual updates about the game.

Hopefully will return next week with another update, but until then have a happy Halloween!

[EriPiO]

Hello Hello! Hope the holiday season is treating you well!

I've returned once again to introduce the 6th and final member of the main cast, Patient D!



D is quite the oddball and mysterious guy, but that's all part of his charm You're never quite sure if what he's saying is to be taken seriously, and he can say some terrifying or outlandish things with a perfectly straight face. What is someone like him doing in a game like this, anyway? How did he get here, why is his profile different from the others, and can he even be trusted at all!? Well, those are all questions for you to answer yourself, in due time~
As the oldest member of the cast, he has led quite the storied life and sure has a yarn to spin about it! I think he's a very fun and interesting guy, and I hope you will grow to like him, too.

I actually dropped him on his b-day a few days ago in our Discord! But it's been a really rough past couple weeks so it's been very difficult to find the time / energy to do everything I want. Nevertheless, that should die down soon and Tea and I are speeding to the finish line on this demo!

On that note, I have some exciting updates to announce:

* A became the first route to be 100% completed! B and D are soon to follow (may even finish B this weekend if god and anime allow), and C/App will be the very last since they have proven to be a bit trickier.
* I finally installed a script to get an accurate word count! Currently the total is sitting at a fresh 54,824 which means my estimate of 1:3 ratio of code to text wasn't too far off!
* We had our first major scare where an entire script got erased; thankfully I had made a recent backup so only a few days of work were lost which I've already re-done, but still it was very scary and I've taken as many precautions as I can to ensure it doesn't happen again.
* I decided to create a Tumblr! While the main goal of the Tumblr is to talk about the game, it will also be more of a personal space for me to post other fandom and life things as well, so know what you're getting into before you check it out

https://the-mausoleum-of-hope-and-desire.tumblr.com/

I had a lot of fun coming up with the design and all of the music are pieces I sourced for the game, so you can get a little preview of the soundscape if you'd like.

And last but not least, I'd like to reveal the final version of our banner with all the characters together

BANNER


(Well I say final but there's still some tiny adjustments to be made, )
(And also I want to commission new art for them next year but )

It's crazy to see we started this journey back in April and are just now finishing A lot of wild and unfortunate things happened this year for Tea and I, but in the end we are still kicking and the finish line is in sight! I'm so excited to finally get this story that's been bouncing around in my head for so long out to other people. And a little scared, if I'm being honest.

That being said, due to the many delays the demo release has been pushed back to late January as of now. However, once I get the remaining art adjustments in I will have a special little teaser to make up for the long wait (the demo has a demo?...yes).

In any case, thank you to anyone who has followed along on this journey thus far, I hope you will be pleased by the end!

Cheers,

-EPO