The Space Between [Sci-Fi / Horror] [NaNo 16]

[LateWhiteRabbit]

Alright! Let's do this! I changed what I was doing just a couple of days ago, because my first idea had an interesting setting,
but no gameplay or story potential. So concept art will follow very soon.
With that out of the way, allow me to introduce:

The Moirai Corporation. Enjoy the future with CRT scanline monitors and mechanical keyboards.
The ship's mainframe runs off of datatapes!

I'll be using the Unity engine.

SPECS:
Single Character Story with Self-Conversations (Talk to yourself!)

3-4 Major Endings with 2 Minor Variations

HD Art - 1080p Widescreen, though Unity will allow me to build in multiple resolution support.

This is more of a proof of concept for myself, and will be rather short -
I expect around 20-30 minutes of gameplay, with around 15 minutes of variation
depending on the endings you lock in on.

Questions, comments, and concerns are more than welcome! Check back here for updates.

[Alcor]

A hidden sanity meter that actually effects what Emma perceives sounds absolutely intriguing! I'm really looking forward to seeing how you implement that. Also, if the header images in the thread are any indication of your final style, I'm sure I will absolutely love this game.

Best of luck!

[LateWhiteRabbit]

A hidden sanity meter that actually effects what Emma perceives sounds absolutely intriguing! I'm really looking forward to seeing how you implement that. Also, if the header images in the thread are any indication of your final style, I'm sure I will absolutely love this game.

Best of luck!

Thanks! The aesthetic of the game is very much going to be "8-track future", with a blend of 1970s-1980s futurism.

The player will be informed that there is a Sanity mechanic, but they won't have any kind of UI or system feedback to check where on the scale Emma is currently at. You'll have to gauge that yourself, based off of self-talks and whether or not you think what you are currently seeing and reading is credible. There are ways to restore Sanity, but sometimes being a little paranoid is a great way to boost perception and pick up on clues not otherwise visible....

I'm frustrated I wasted a week concepting my other idea for NaNo, so I'm already a little behind. I'll have to step it up!

[KiloTango]

Really loving the aesthetic of this! Those header images are pure hotness, '8-track future' is the best future.

[potouto]

My favourite genres combined into one game :0 I wonder if this will be similar to Alien: Isolation with the creepy alien on board. I'm filled with excitement just reading the description! And it's rare to see you working on visual novel too so I'm really hoping you will finish this and release it! Good luck!

[LateWhiteRabbit]

My favourite genres combined into one game :0 I wonder if this will be similar to Alien: Isolation with the creepy alien on board. I'm filled with excitement just reading the description! And it's rare to see you working on visual novel too so I'm really hoping you will finish this and release it! Good luck!

Thanks! I'm going to release SOMETHING at the end of the month. There's a reason I restricted myself to one character and a closed environment!

And there are definitely similarities to Alien: Isolation. Just no alien monster - other monsters, real or imagined, may be present. But the interaction with the environment is very similar. Lots of environmental story-telling.

'8-track future' is the best future.

It really is! I hope to do it justice. I've been watching old Soviet-Era Russian sci-fi movies that are inspiring me as well.

[YossarianIII]

I've seen a bunch of cool-looking horror titles in the NaNo forum so far, and this looks like another one to add to the list! I love Alien (and Alien: Isolation), so I'll be sure to follow the progress on this one.

Having one character in an enclosed space sounds like an interesting way to do some cool exploration stuff, while keeping it manageable for the deadline.

Best of luck, LateWhiteRabbit!

[LateWhiteRabbit]

Updated the original post with a first look at the character of Emma!

[MimirollCookie]

Good luck with NaNo!

[LateWhiteRabbit]

I've updated the original post with the new style I'm using for the sprites. It was taking too long to do the more realistic style, so I've been abstracting the art to a much more anime style, which is allowing me to produce sprites twice as fast. So much art left to do .....

Let me know what you think of the different style. You might also notice from the snippet of the color visible that the uniform of our protagonist has gone more from late 70s to early-mid 80s.

[Nylan]

The sanity meter's effects are right up my alley. I'll be following this one closely. Good luck!

[Renmiou]

I quite like the style, particularly on the younger-looking portrait!

I always regretted not playing the The Thing PC game, which also had a sanity metre (though I think that wasn't hidden?) and I don't see so many horror or sci-fi vns, so I'm going to hope really really hard that you manage to finish this! Best of luck!