Inspirations talk!
- alexbjames423
- Oct 15, 2020
- 2 min read
For me, my main inspiration for my project was my own experiences with my memory being an issue, as well as severe dissociation. I had a mental health crisis in August which included my memory failing every few minutes, leaving me constantly stressed and confused about where I was and what I was doing. I decided I want to help other people understand this experience by creating a game that will give a player a similar feeling to what I went through. I described it as if my brain was a computer that was soft resetting every few minutes, and I like that way of explaining it so that's a large theme for my project.
I had other inspirations for things such as background designs, name ideas, and atmosphere. I'll talk about these more now.
Unnamed song series by Unnamed Artist
I was able to find a series of songs on an unnamed youtube channel, thanks to one of them coming up in my recommended feed. These songs talk about the story of Kisaragi Station (a station in Japan that doesn't really exist and is also known as Demon Station and Other-world Station). The two uploads on this channel with full artwork specifically are some of my inspiration - mainly for atmosphere and background ideas as I love the unnerving appearance of the artwork that stems from the contrast between the character and the environment. I want to communicate this in the artwork for my visual novel.
Doki Doki Literature Club
DDLC is a visual novel made on the same engine that I plan on using - Ren'Py - that uses a lot of neat little tricks to achieve interesting affects that you wouldn't assume are possible through the engine. I found a video detailing the simple effects they used to deceive the player into thinking more the scenes were more complex than they really were. I think this game showcases well how Ren'Py can be used to create something unique if you use the tools it offers well.
Liminal Spaces & AI generated rooms
Eerie photos of liminal spaces (spaces that are in a boundary between two other places), and photos of rooms generated by an AI are incredibly inspiring to me for backgrounds in my game. They give off a very strange and unnerving atmosphere, as something that is both strange and yet familiar at the exact same time. I’m considering taking some photos of liminal spaces myself and editing them to look as if they have been generated by an AI for my game, or editing photos to look "off". I've looked through a lot of images through various sites.
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