Dream's Dénouement [Psychological][Fantasy]

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CheeryMoya
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Dream's Dénouement [Psychological][Fantasy]

#1 Post by CheeryMoya »

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Click on the logo to visit our website!
Disturbed by the disorder in the Waking World, Pasithea began toying with the idea of simply ending it all. Hypnos has convinced her to give life a chance to show some sort or redeemable quality, and so to test them, Pasithea begins randomly pulling humans into the Dream World to observe them. If the humans can overcome the nightmarish trials of the Dream World that they themselves created, they may save Waking World. However, if they fail, all life is doomed to eternal slumber...

One thing is for certain: Failure is not an option.
~~~
Official website: Dream's Dénouement (more info, pics, development blog and other cool stuff).

Writing: 100%
Sprites: 40%
BGs: 60%
CGs: 0%
Music: 50%
The percentages above apply to the main part, scroll to the bottom for progress of individual modules.

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  • Jungian psychology
  • Large-scale visual novel
  • Awesome original art and music
  • CG gallery
  • Music Room
  • Unlockable bonus content
  • RPG and other gameplay elements (in individual modules)
  • All gameplay elements are optional / skippable
  • One of the biggest collaborative VNs
  • 100% free
This is non-commercial game, that will be released for free. We're working with a 13+ rating, with minimal swearing and no excessive violence or gore. The game will be released in 2 episodes. Each episode will include ~5 modules (20,000 - 30,000 words). Episode 1 is scheduled to release in the end of October.
  • Enter the Dream World: A world with limits that are unknown even to its inhabitants. Explore the individual worlds created by the captive human souls.
  • Escape the Dream World: Humans aren't here on vacation, they want out. But here,even your own perception of the way things are is no longer trust worthy.
  • Experience the dangers of the Dream World: It's just a dream, but the pain is very real.
  • Ride the Emotional Tide: One experience can go from paradise to hell in seconds, from a love story to a full-on night terror, from bliss to absolute ruin.
  • With a wide cast of characters, some original and others recognizable from other series, you can experience life in the Dream World through numerous perspectives.
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Pasithea is the one with the Collective Unconscious, she experiences and knows all of humanity’s sorrows, rage, disappointments, and joy. Pasithea has absolute control over the Dream World, meaning that she dictates its shape, rules, and fate. She has the ability to peer into the Real World and the individual realms created by visitors and residents of the Dream World. She’s become rather pessimistic lately.

Hypnos is husband of Pasithea who has a bit of a sweet tooth, often spotted carrying slices of cake. When he gets sad, he'll plop some ice cream in the waffle cone on his head and nibble at it slowly. His daily routine consists of monitoring the realms that pop up in the Dream World and making sure nothing too serious happens… He’s somewhat of an optimist and idealist.
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Norse can travel through time using the clock he sits on to get around everywhere. Oftentimes he uses his power to entertain himself, going to past events to relive a different experience. Deadpan and nonchalant, he doesn't get along well with grumps, tsunderes, or otherwise annoying people. He likes to take things easy, with his life's pace almost snail-like. Other likes include salty food, clockworks, and reptiles. His true age is unknown, although he might not be as young as he looks!

Octalus IV is a picky, misanthropic, grumpy, bad tempered old wizard who can't even grow a beard, so he slaps on a fake one. He hates people who waste his time, green vegetables, excessively loud noises, bright places, flashing lights and overcooked meat. Despite all that, he isn't stingy with his knowledge and takes in anyone who wants to be an apprentice, though he drives them up the wall through constant nagging. Likes to badmouth other wizards. Also likes gossip. He travels in this.

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Episode I:
The world has fallen into an eternal night and time has stopped in order for Pasithea to consider all things in both the Dream and the Real Worlds. Pasithea is on the verge of abandoning both realms completely because she is disturbed by the sheer amount of apathy and cruelty present, but Hypnos insists on giving humanity one last chance. Pasithea thus proposes an experiment: she will pull in few Creatures from the Real World into the Dream World and see if they can escape the realms that their hearts create. If there are positive emotions, escape should be easy; if there are negative emotions, the realms, the Creatures are in, becomes a nightmarish horror.

If all of the transported beings are able to return to the Real World, then all is well and the Pasithea has her faith in humanity restored (for now). If not, then Pasithea will force the destruction of the Dream World, which is invariably tied to the Real World, causing chaos to spread to the Real World. Her motives for doing this are because she’s tired of seeing humans hurting each other and repeating the same old mistakes, and she’s one step away from being convinced that there is no chance for salvation. “Better to end it all now than to let it continue on like this.”

The mood is fairly somber and serious, and themes include ones revolving around human nature, idealism vs. realism, etc. Still, the residents of the Dream World joke around, while Pasithea is not amused.

The story follows the characters and the places where they were transported to, and the world that they created. Characters are initially unaware, that this experience is inside of the Dream World, but they sometimes realize what’s happening during the module when something surreal happens or they realize that the events are impossible in the Real World (in psychological terms, they would now be in lucid dreaming).

Terms:
  • Dream World – A surreal world which co-exists with the Real World; no one, not even the Pasithea or Hypnos (who have been there since the day of its creation), knows why it exists. Perhaps it is supposed to give temporary relief from the Real World, but the ability to mold the landscape into a twisted nightmare land contradicts this. Whatever happens here is only limited by creativity and imagination.
  • Real World – Also called the Waking Life by residents of the Dream World. Humans and what have you live here, and nothing too mindblowing happens here :/
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Note: Some of the modules below may not be included in episode 1. The titles of the modules are subject to change.
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(Visit the Media Gallery on our site to view all screenshots)

Seaside Anniversary:
Joshua and Elise (from That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles) go to a romantic restaurant by the beach for their one year anniversary of dating. Elise desn't like how Joshua is always toying with her, but she still likes him. It's a make or break point for their relationship.
  • Number of words: 3,000
  • Writer: CheeryMoya | Sprites & CGs: Tag- | BGs: Zylinder | Music: Ziassan & Retribute
  • Writing: 100% | Sprites: 100% | BGs: 100% | Music: 25%
Adventure Time!:
It's adventure time for Janelle (from Astral Transparency: Cole's Gate) and Chiara (from Lotus) as they find themselves in Candy Kingdom. Prince Ben has been kidnapped by the evil Ice Queen in order to marry her! Will they be able to rescue Prince Ben from her evil clutch and save the Candy Kingdom?
  • Writing & Sprites & CGs: Maltagliati | BGs: Leon & jghibiki | Music: Ziassan & Retribute
  • Number of words: 3600
  • Writing: 90% | Sprites: 50% | BGs: 100% | CGs: 50% | Music: 66%
Superhero Madness!:
Kouji from In This Dream of Ours wakes up in a mysterious city. It's kind of like a cartoon world full of superheroes, vilains and everything in between. Can Kouji and his new allies defeat The Evil Dr. Zorkasplorken and stop his evil plans?
  • Writing: Kaleidofish | Sprites: Fungii | BGs: Leon | Music: Ziassan
  • Number of words: 6,000
  • Writing: 95% | Sprites: 54% | BGs: 100% | Music: 66%
Point of View:
Malron was preparing most of his life for a mission to establish first contact with an alien race, but he got retired before he was needed. However he is about to get a second chance. His wife was sent on a mission, but she dissapeared without a trace. He is sent on a mission to investigate his wife's dissapearance and continue her mission.
  • Writer & BGs: Leon, Sprites & CGs: dark-deeds
  • Number of words: 3,000
  • Writing: 100% | Sprites: 10% | CGs: 50% | BGs: 100%
The Tattoo of Happiness:
When Carly was a little girl, a magical being appeared before her and offered her a gift: a magical tattoo with the power to make all her wishes and dreams come true. Now anything she sings, happens without fail.
Carly really likes her friend Aldrin, but he is just about to tell her about another girl, that he likes. She is about to find out, her 'gift' can be both a blessing and a curse...
  • Writer: Maelstrom-Fenrir | Sprites and CGs: Patty | Music: Ziassan
  • Number of words: 6,000
  • Writing: 100% | Sprites: 100% | Music: 100%

A few more previews:

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Check out the Media Gallery section of our website for more sketches, WIPs and previews!

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The collab is organized in a way that there's one overarching storyline and within each episode there are several smaller stories (AKA the modules). While the main story will have a single, cohesive art style and plot, all the module creators are free to do whatever they please in terms of genre and art style.
Imagination and a touch of Jungian psychology is our only limitation here, and we intend to use the mystery of dreams to its greatest potential.
Our goal is not only to complete a VN built upon collaborative effort, but also to help members create connections to one another for the future.

Here are the awesome people, who are working hard on making this happen.
  • Writers: CheeryMoya, Compulsive Liar, Enigma, Hijiri, Kaleidofish, Maelstorm-Fenrir, OrochiWolf, SilverxBlue
  • Editor: jghibiki
  • Artists: dark-deeds, Fungii, Lennonhead, Maltagliati, myapple, mirae1212, Nottiebutt, OnchoPoncho, Patty, Purplefinch, Sunlit-Dreamer, Tag-, WeakJounin, Zylinder
  • Composers: Antoniojf, JKOL, Retribute, Skulesta, Ziassan
  • Programmer: Leon
  • Beta-Testers: azureXtwilight, Omnificent, Valethar
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Topics for discussion:
  • What features / extras would you like to see (voice acting, more CGs, ...)?
  • What do you like/dislike about the concept?
  • Do you think Pasithea's motives are justified?
  • Who are your favourite characters and why?
  • Are the characters believable?
  • Who wants some of Hypnos's cake?
Your feedback is greatly appreciated!
Last edited by CheeryMoya on Mon Feb 18, 2013 4:50 pm, edited 13 times in total.

Weakjounin
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Re: Dream's Dénouement [Crossover][Fantasy]

#2 Post by Weakjounin »

Shadow Race: *Anbrekhren*
In Jungian psychology, there are Persona and Shadows. Shadows are the darker sides of a person. Shadows are the things that wreak havoc in the Dream World as remnants of stuff people who dream leave behind when they have bad emotions.
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Steps:
1) I started with this and played with the colour purple to get a feel for something sinister.
2) Then I worked a bit and added darker colours to emulate more sinister looks.
3) At this point I changed the background to black to show the more sinister side. Added more features like the mouth, more highlights and the horns.
4) I mixed the colours a bit and played with the curves a bit.
5) I fixed some final details and go it to look this way.
Total time taken: about 20 minutes

gekiganwing
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Re: Dream's Dénouement [Crossover][Fantasy]

#3 Post by gekiganwing »

CheeryMoya wrote:The world has fallen into a deep night and time is grinding to a slow crawl.

There is a being whose whim can easily destroy the world of Dreams and the world of Reality, and she's on the verge of abandoning both realms completely because she is disturbed by the sheer amount of apathy and cruelty present in humanity.

But, with a bit of persuasion, one last experiment will take place: a few beings shall be plucked from the Real World and placed into the Dream World in order to see if they can escape the realms that their hearts create. Should they succeed, life will continue as before. Should they fail... the consequences shall be dire indeed...
This concept sounds a bit similar to Persona 4. Don't worry, I'm not accusing you of copying it. But make sure that your story has enough distinctly different aspects.
CheeryMoya wrote: The story you see here serves to tie together a number of smaller, modular stories into a single cohesive game. The modules encompass a number of genres and visual styles, promising something for everyone to enjoy. A few characters will come from our very own WIPs, making this a crossover game.
I'm curious how this will work. Are you essentially writing a collection of short stories which all have similar themes?

CheeryMoya
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Re: Dream's Dénouement [Crossover][Fantasy]

#4 Post by CheeryMoya »

gekiganwing wrote:This concept sounds a bit similar to Persona 4. Don't worry, I'm not accusing you of copying it. But make sure that your story has enough distinctly different aspects.
It's been a concern of mine that some people might make parallels to this game and the Persona series, especially since both are going to draw elements from Jungian psychology. Having played SMT, I assure you and everyone else that this game is nothing close to the P4 story.
gekiganwing wrote:I'm curious how this will work. Are you essentially writing a collection of short stories which all have similar themes?
The modules don't really have a similar theme (I'm assuming you mean literary ones), and the thing that ties them together is that the characters must escape out of the dreams that they create. Writers are allowed to write any genre, and at least halfway through their module the characters must realize that they're in a dream. From that point on, they have to find a way to escape before they get hurt or something bad happens.

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Applegate
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Re: Dream's Dénouement [Crossover][Fantasy]

#5 Post by Applegate »

I'm a huge nerd for Jungian psychology ever since I played Majora's Mask, so I look forward to see what you come up with.

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azureXtwilight
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Re: Dream's Dénouement [Crossover][Fantasy]

#6 Post by azureXtwilight »

This sounds exciting! May I apply as beta-tester? :)
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CheeryMoya
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Re: Dream's Dénouement [Crossover][Fantasy]

#7 Post by CheeryMoya »

Applegate wrote:I'm a huge nerd for Jungian psychology ever since I played Majora's Mask, so I look forward to see what you come up with.
Hm... I don't remember any psychology whatsoever in Majora's Mask :/ It's been a while since I've been able to pick it up though, so maybe my memory isn't perfect.
azureXtwilight wrote:This sounds exciting! May I apply as beta-tester? :)
I'll send you a link to the forum, though we won't need beta-testers for a long while. Still feel free to contribute ideas to anything since you're contributed in the past though!
Last edited by CheeryMoya on Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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leon
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Projects: Lemon Project, Porcelain Heart, Dream's Dénouement
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Re: Dream's Dénouement [Crossover][Fantasy]

#8 Post by leon »

(sounds of fanfare)
We have a website for Dream's Dénouement VN!

Well actually we had it for a while, but we kept it hidden for now, because we wanted to make it really awesome first.

There's a bunch of cool stuff to check out:
  • more info and pics of our characters,
  • all sort of sketches, concepts as well as finalized art in our Media Gallery,
  • some music (also in the Media Gallery),
  • a development blog - all people on this project are blogging about what we do.
There is also some other stuff like polls and more info about our team.

We keep adding new content all the time, so make sure you check it out now (or there will be too much stuff for you to read and see it all at once :D ).

Oh yeah, almost forgot... here's a link to it - Dream's Dénouement.

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DeepObsession
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Re: Dream's Dénouement [Crossover][Fantasy]

#9 Post by DeepObsession »

This is totally eye-catching & I'm a super fan of the Persona games. Definitely looking forward for this, and I feel bad I can't actually contribute to this, but I definitely thank you guys so much (even if it's not enough xD) and good luck ^^

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Applegate
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Re: Dream's Dénouement [Crossover][Fantasy]

#10 Post by Applegate »

CheeryMoya wrote:
Applegate wrote:I'm a huge nerd for Jungian psychology ever since I played Majora's Mask, so I look forward to see what you come up with.
Hm... I don't remember any psychology whatsoever in Majora's Mask :/ It's been a while since I've been able to pick it up though, so maybe my memory isn't perfect.
One of the four kids in the final dungeon asks you about your true face behind the mask, in a world where everyone wears masks. It left an impression on me and when I talked with a friend about it he pointed out the similarity to Jungian psychology, and I became a fan of the idea.

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Re: Dream's Dénouement [Crossover][Fantasy]

#11 Post by CheeryMoya »

DeepObsession wrote:This is totally eye-catching & I'm a super fan of the Persona games.
If you're looking at this thread and expecting an homage to the Persona series, you're going to be disappointed by lack of similarity beyond a few nods to Jungian psychology. I'm serious when I say this :C
Applegate wrote:One of the four kids in the final dungeon asks you about your true face behind the mask, in a world where everyone wears masks. It left an impression on me and when I talked with a friend about it he pointed out the similarity to Jungian psychology, and I became a fan of the idea.
Oh yeah, now it's coming back to me. My childhood seems so long ago :'D We'll probably have a few things about the deceptive identity masks that people wear.

And brb laughing over this coincidence. I honestly didn't know! Anyhow, Tag- signed up to be the lineartist for the main story, and she worked on some of Pasithea's default lineart!
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This will be colored in by another artist to lighten the load off a single artist to complete the sprites for the main portion. Keep an eye on the blog for more updates as they come ;)
Last edited by CheeryMoya on Thu Sep 27, 2012 7:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Dream's Dénouement [Crossover][Fantasy]

#12 Post by leon »

This is a screenshot from Maltagliati's module.
Screenshot of "Adventure Time" Module by Maltagliati
Screenshot of "Adventure Time" Module by Maltagliati
This module is still a WIP. The final version will likely see a few minor changes. The textbox I did for this is not really very fitting the theme. It may be replaced in the final version and this one used for another module...

Some stats about this module:
Work title: Adventure Time
Targeted number of words: ~3600
Writing: 90% by Maltagliati
Sprites: ~60% by Maltagliati (main characters done)
BGs: 100% by Leon
CGs: 100% by Maltagliati
GUI: 90% Leon or Maltagliati (maybe?)
Music: 0% by Retribute and Ziassan (maybe?)

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Re: Dream's Dénouement [Crossover][Fantasy]

#13 Post by Astrid »

Hi there >.<

I've only just signed up but I was looking for things to get involved with and this looks really good. I'm looking to get started writing in VNs(and maybe doing basic art eventually) and this looks like a really nice platform for some ideas I have. I have written some stuff before but I don't want to show it until I polish it up. I would like to get involved, but I understand if I might be too much of a dead weight if I'm new. Maybe I could start off as a proof-reader?

CheeryMoya
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Re: Dream's Dénouement [Crossover][Fantasy]

#14 Post by CheeryMoya »

Hi Astrid, welcome to the forums! Unfortunately we are not actively recruiting right now. However, we will be recruiting for proofreaders and other positions later when the time comes for that phase. I have bookmarked your profile, as we would like to take you on that offer if you will still be available later.

On another note, Weakjounin has been working to chibify some characters in the main story. He's working on Gabi Lai, a pirate gentlewoman(!?) who you just don't mess around with. It's a bit large, so check her out here. What's missing is her monocle and a cherimoya on her top hat.
... We never said the Dream World made sense.

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Re: Dream's Dénouement [Crossover][Fantasy]

#15 Post by Fungii »

Lady Reptilia Flex
Lady Reptilia Flex
This is Lady Reptilia Flex, one of the characters I'm drawing for module 10, Superhero Madness! (working title)
She can poison people on contact, paralyzing them. She's also super strong (way stronger than Mackten another character in the module) and very acrobatic. Moves like a gymnast on acid. Tough. Won't let anyone stand in the way of justice. Doesn't like playing around.

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