Fragment: A Broken Fairy Tale - Dark Scifi|Mystery|Psych|GxB

[A Hazard]

Once upon a time...

It was a normal day in Urbino. The sun was high, the breeze was nigh, and corruption seeped in through the corners. A perfectly normal day. All you had to do was reach your destination. Simple enough, right?

This is a tale about a love so true that it transcends time haha really, bridges between bodies, and ererrorven death itself. No matter how the world t̼̠̯̣̹̮̪h̥̳e͈̣ ̘̘̪͎c͈̱̖̖͉i̮t̬̤̮͈͇ͅy͍ may change over the centuries y̱̳e͚͕̗̻a̖̟r͙̰̹̜̱̩s̪͙̥, no matter how many reflections are cast and broken, no matter how many other things may be lost, this will rerrormain true. No matter how many loves you have, it will always be the same.

He will be waiting for you. He is watching. Always watching. Always always always always always always always the same... always... always... alwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

I̶͌̒̀͑͏̭͉̪̼̟͔̟ ̱̥͎̖͐̈̏͑̾̌͊̌̓͗̆ͫ̇̉̆̌ͮ̔́̚͜W̷̟͖̦̭̦̥̉̉̇̓ͣ͒ͯ̏̀̈ͨ̇̾ͯͫ̍͂͘͡͡I̮̝̹̹̞͉̝̮̟̲͎̘̹̗ͪ͑̿͂ͮ̄̏͟ͅĻ̛̛̮̠̙̜̺̺͇̹̜̗̩̞̱͔̳̞͕̥̽̌ͮͦͯ́L̨̥͇̥̤͖̰̝͎̜̣̥̬̽̾ͬ̄̈́̆͠͡ ̴̶̻̭̩̦̫̭̻̟̜͉̹̣̪̬̮̈́̈́̾̿̌ͧ̂͊͠N̛͓̟̲̖̦̹̯̦͐̃̿͆̊ͦ̑̑͟͜͞ͅĘ̳̖̙̜̥͔͔̱̭ͤ̎͗͐ͥ̄̌̍ͩ͆́͊̀͘͢V̴̸̥̣̻̞͉̭̻̹̮̩̰̔ͪ̿͗̈́̏̂̿̂̚ͅE̵̛͕͎̯͍̭̲̘̙̝̣ͥ̂̎̂̔ͫ̈̑̿̇͊́̄̊̉R̴͑ͤͩ̃͆ͬ͒͋ͬ͞҉͓͇̪͙̱ ̢̻̯̙͙̙̅̆ͯ͐͂́̕̕F̵̧̛͉̗̝̣̭̘̠̗̫ͤ̔ͭͣ̎̾̒̄̔̽̑̿̔ͭ͋̚̕͢Ȏͩ̌͐ͬͤͭ͗͑ͭ́̊ͩ̊̌҉̝̹̲̫͔̻̗̩̲̭͔̯͢R̵̢͌̎̇̍͆͆ͪͨ̑̂̍ͩͮ̍͟҉̫̳̤̖̣̥̼̤̙̝͍̬̙͚̯G̷̢̢̻̜̟̦͚̠̜͔͇̬͉̘͕͚̲̈ͬ̌ͯ̎̄̂̓̏͛ͥͫ̍̈͠I̶̞̞̫͚͉̟̙͚̙͚͇̯̣̼͚̳̠̻ͧ͒ͧ͋̅ͤ̐̽ͧͣ̚̕V̧̬̳̺͉ͯ̉̾ͦ̔̈ͯ̇͌ͨ̓ͪ͜͢͢͝E̮̟̩̖̖͖̞͓̝̒ͭ͒͑̈́ͬͥ̊͆ͨ͗̽̚͘̕ ̶̨̫̳̰̤̃̒̉̓͛̌̽ͫ͒̿́̚̕Y̔ͫ̏̾̿͂͂͜҉̸̛̬̣̞̩̲̱̭̰̼̪̟Ǒ̷͈̫͍̯̝̜͉̄̏̐̓͆͑͌U̙͕̪̣̼̣͔ͥ͑̇̎ͥ̐̐ͪ́͐͢

Be careful. It's of utmost importance that you determine who you can and can not trust. Who is a potential friend, a potential lover, and who is simply pretending to get close enough to you. Their faces may be familiar, but their minds and hearts are anything b̶͔̬͇̦ṵ̢͓̀t̬̖̦.͓̪̫̼̹̫̹̻͞.̛̯͚̀.

You can't take on the entire world by yourself, can you?

They tell you nothing, but everything hangs upon whether you can figure out what is truly going on. And it's not paranoia if they're really after ...you.... y̺͙͍̣͉͎ọ̞̭̱̱ụ̙̞͎.̬͚̣̳̱̥.̟̟.̥̪͖̩͕ y̯͉͠o̞̪̺̝͍̯̰͜ͅu͏͍͎̜̱̙̫.̛҉̛͖̰͈.̛̙͘͟.̵̡͕̤͠ y̷̨͉̭̘̲̼̞̜̖̮̗̎ͣ̊̔̍͌ͩ̋̊ͣ͗̉ͣ͐̐̕̕ͅǫ̷̛̟̗̠̣̲͊ͩ̽̕͟u̖̩̻͕̗̰̥͗ͩ̔̃ͤ́͗ͭ̀͒ͦ̑͗͗̚̚͞.̆̔ͥ̍ͩ̒͋̐͑̓̊̔́̕҉̱̦͉̙̣͍̥̠̲̞.̨̡͎̙̟͕̭̲͚̱̪͉͍̺̰͓͖ͬ͛̿̔ͦ͜͢ͅͅͅ.̸̪̱̲͖̼͔ͥͬͨͮ͘

You do know who who wh- wh- wh- what you truly are, right?

PG 14 - Mature themes, violence, strong language, and suggestive dialogue. The prologue contains 22,164 words, 720 images, and 67 screens + 13 menus + 2 introductory hidden object & rhythm mini games.

Every single character in this game can die depending upon your actions (this goes especially so for the player character), so you'll want to be sure to have a couple saves handy.

Download the Prologue (Beta - Updated to fix sound issues)

Windows/Mac/Linux : Fragment 1024 x 768 (4:3 Resolution) : 200 MB: Mediafire | Dropbox | Mega
Windows/Mac/Linux : Fragment HD 1920 x 1040 (16:9 Resolution): 239 MB: Mediafire | Dropbox | Mega
Windows/Mac/Linux : Fragment Light (1024 x 768) : 135MB: Mediafire | Dropbox | Mega

There's a noticeable (but not too bad) drop in graphics and audio quality for Fragment Light (version created for slow computers/connections), but hey, nearly half the download size for the normal Fragment.

Full intro in the beta forum HERE.

[Katta]

I love the text art in your post and the mirror animation - very cool. The screenshots look a bit retro for sci-fi though, no?

[A Hazard]

I love the text art in your post and the mirror animation - very cool. The screenshots look a bit retro for sci-fi though, no?

Thanks for the comments! The mirror animation looks way better in the game's main menu, but that would have made an enormously sized gif, alas.

The screenshots were chosen for their relative unspoileryness*. I was debating between whether to advertise the game for what it presents during the bulk of the prologue (before S̯͕̖͜P̗Ó̟̫̳I͡L̵͖͍̟̩E̛̘̙͚͚͙͚̬R) versus what the game actually is, but decided it's best for people to know what they're really getting into. Why this is scifi and not fantasy should hopefully be apparent by the end of the prologue.

*New made-up word of the day.

[sakurakimuchi]

Wow! I loved the plot, very interesting.
I'm excited to learn/see more of this game. Good luck~

[Unicorn_Magic]

Woahh, this just blew my mind, it's so freakin' interesting. Just the plot sucked me in, wonder how awesome the game would be? Btw, is this a free game or a commercial one?

[A Hazard]

Wow! I loved the plot, very interesting.
I'm excited to learn/see more of this game. Good luck~

Woahh, this just blew my mind, it's so freakin' interesting. Just the plot sucked me in, wonder how awesome the game would be? Btw, is this a free game or a commercial one?

Thanks for the comments! Glad that the plot seems to catch interest (considering it's a mystery at its heart, that's kinda important, heh ) This will be a commercial game with a low $5 - $10 price point. A good chunk will be available for free (prologue + 3 of 7 chapters) in the demo, however.

And since the demo/beta testing forum seems kind of dead, I'll move some more information over to this thread.

[A Hazard]

Start Menu - Version 1 (All versions of the start menu are animated, but it will change to reflect who has died during your current game)

Questions

Basically even just letting me know what version of the game you tried (1024, 1920, or Light) on which operating system (I don't have access to a Mac or Linux, so I can't check myself there) and if the game worked at all would be helpful. (And if it didn't work or lagged terribly, your computer specs would be greatly helpful)

In particular I'm looking for typos, bugs, if the soundmixing is okay (if any sound effects/bg music need to adjusted up or down - especially when the game starts screaming), if all the animations are making anyone's computer spontaneously combust etc, if anyone managed to trigger the flashbacks (and how many), length of a single playthrough, or anything else anyone would like to chime in.

[A Hazard]

First version of the GUI - Fairytale style

[KiloTango]

I need to come back and have another shot at this but it might be worth either having some auto saves or making it known you can dead-end yourself on reflex puzzles (I got killed on one and now it looks like I have to start the whole game over, which is kinda frustrating.) Alternatively a jump back to earlier in the fight would offset that.

[Noyemi K]

The game looks very sleek! I think I'm going to pop the demo in and try it out, if you don't mind!

[KiloTango]

Okay, took another go at the demo:

Played it on the mac, 1920 style. Didn't really run into any jitters except when I was skipping to catch up after repeatedly dying on the rhythm game. Sound balance was generally fine, though there were quite a few silent parts.

If it's possible it would be really good to make the save option more accessible as I had to go to load before I could get at it (so maybe name that option save/load instead?). Alternatively let you skip back to the start of the fight or something when you get a dead end.

I didn't get any flashbacks.

I think the end of the prologue is the strongest part, though I wonder if a simpler GUI will let the stuff you do there shine a bit more. Oh, on the GUI, it might be worth considering making the text box not take up the full width: when lines of text get really long they can be harder to read. I'm really interested to see where the rest of this goes, I'm a sucker for glitchy techy things and stories about identity so looking forward to seeing more!

[A Hazard]

The game looks very sleek! I think I'm going to pop the demo in and try it out, if you don't mind!

I need to come back and have another shot at this but it might be worth either having some auto saves or making it known you can dead-end yourself on reflex puzzles (I got killed on one and now it looks like I have to start the whole game over, which is kinda frustrating.) Alternatively a jump back to earlier in the fight would offset that. *snip*

Thanks for trying out the game!

Sorry for the late response, I had to bang my head against the wall for a day or so. First off, thanks so much for mentioning the silent parts in the game as there shouldn't be any. In my over-enthusiasm to compress the zip files down as much as possible, it seems I caused some errors in a bunch of the music/sound effect ogg files. (And then I found a bunch of unrelated bugs in the Music Room while fiddling around trying to find out what was wrong). I've re-uploaded the corrected version of the prologue which should have the entire sound track working now.

In the full game, it will auto-save at certain points (a la Telltale Games) but that's disabled right now so that anyone playing the beta can save willy nilly at whatever point they want instead. At its core, this is a survival/murder mystery, so you can suddenly die at many different points. I'll try and make that more evident in the summary and rethink how I can make saving easiest for the beta testers.

Thanks for the suggestions and glad you find the end of the prologue the most interesting (as that's when the game finally switches over to the tone/atmosphere prevalent in the main part of the game).

[A Hazard]

The many faces of Esettia Blaec. (119 in the prologue alone, to be more precise)