Brief. Back in 2022 I made some art during Inktober that looked like screenshots from a video game. A fake video game if you will. It was mostly an exercise to try out different characters but soon enough I came up with a vague plot and some fun characters. So now I kind of want to turn it into a video game for real. Damn. All the art in this post is from 2022 so if the names of the pictures don't match the names in the text, that's why. If I ever do manage to make anything it would probably be a pixel-art side-scroller that throws you into a battle when you come across an enemy. The fights would be strategy and turn-based, like Fire Emblem. I also want a party system like in FE or Eternal Sonata. The story would be told in visual novel style with sprites and some additional art. There may even be possible romancing options (likely with the other 3 MCs: Cami, Wylie, and Elio). The genres are supernatural, mystery, and horror.
Premise. You are River Graves (I know, the name is so edgy, I've just committed to it). You were raised in Mistake, a small and forgettable town. You left there as soon as you could when you turned 18 and ran off to the first university that would take you. Now, 9 years later, you are forced to return after you receive news that both your parents were killed in a car crash. After the funeral you have to deal with their estate. But not all is what it seems... you come across familiar faces, meet strangers, and uncover dark secrets. Does the statue in the graveyard move or is it a prank? Why do so many children born in Mistake often have a single pale eye? Why has no one but you ever gotten out of Mistake?
Setting. The town name: Mistake. Or something like that, I'm still brainstorming. Population: around 3000. The vibes? Horrible. Mistake is a remote and desolate place that has almost always been in disrepair but it becomes even more obvious to the MC when he goes back after a long time away. The town is surrounded by mountains and a thick forest. All he services and tech is really outdated, buildings are abandoned, and business is bad. Why even live here? Well, that's one mystery...
Main Cast.
River Graves, 27. River comes back to his town after being gone for years and everything is just like it was before. He's here for one thing only, to wrap up whatever his parents left for him before they died in a car crash. River is pretty reserved, over everyone, and likes being alone. He isn't happy to be back.
Camille 'Cami' McLain, 24. Cami is three years younger than River and when they were kids she wanted nothing more that to hang out with the older kids. It's still kind of true... Cami is energetic, trying to hard to be cool, and easily hurt. However, she is incredibly tenacious and can do almost anything herself.
Wylie Reed, 27. Wylie is River's best friend and a real trouble-maker. He seemingly hasn't kept a stable job ever and gives everyone grief. He's a party animal, he's super charming, but will also stab people in the back as is convenient to him. It's all a mask he wears to hide with how hard he finds it to be himself.
Elio Aliprandi-Reed, 27. Elio is the brains of the friend group, he actually had the most promise as a kid but stayed in town to work with his dad at his mechanic shop while River left to university. He's optimistic but still a realist, kind of a know-it-all, and a bit of a mother hen. He's calculated and brave. He was always pretty jealous that River was a closer friend to his cousin, Wylie, than to him.
Support Characters.
Moira McLain, 40. The middle child of the elder McLain sisters, Moira is good-natured, teasing, and has hidden wisdom she usually keeps to herself. She likes a bit of ego-stroking but she knows when you're lying.
Andrea Aliprandi-Reed, 27. Elio's self-absorbed and vain fraternal brother usually spends time trying to relive his glory days from high school. Though he's usually a total dick he sometimes helps out.
Rhona McLain, 30. Rhona is the cool aunt, the youngest of the eldest McLain sisters. She doesn't have kids and doesn't want to despite the urging of her mother. She's a free spirit, pretty mysterious, and risk-taking. She is a reluctant ally to the mission.
Juli Ikin, 12. She was still just a baby when River left town but now she manages the student council at the only primary school. When she's not falling into bouts of sleep she's kind of bossy.
Oscar Lemoine, 12. Oscar is Juli's right hand man, he's shy and overshares about his many peculiar medical conditions.
Dante Barzetti, 29. The older of the Barzetti brothers, Dante is hard-working and often not appreciated. He lives in the shadows of others and it often brings him down.
Edith Briley, 67. Once a kind and gentle lady, Edith was hardened by hardship and is now pretty hostile to everyone. Her only passion is plants but even when she swears she'll never help anyone again she can't turn away the protagonists in their time of need.
Blu Reed, 25. Blu, younger sister of Wylie, is nearly mute, she's barely talkative with anyone that isn't a family member. She spends most of her time in the outdoors, doing stuff seemingly without reason.
Kit Reed, 21. Kit is sarcastic and antisocial, he prefers to read sci-fi and avoid literally everyone. He's the younger brother of Blu and Wylie.
Jackson Aliprandi-Reed, 53. Father of Andrea and Elio. A real stoic guy, he hasn't been the same ever since his wife, Silvi, disappeared. She's been thought to have likely died but Jackson never lost hope... until he did. He doesn't feel much but stress these days.
Seonaid McLain, 78. One of the older people in Mistake, Seonaid knows everyone and everything. She can be quite biting but she has the weight of the entire town on her shoulders. There's many things she cannot say...
Antagonists.
Dr. Ivoire, 61. A suspicious doctor that hasn't operated in years but when he did seemed to have more patients die on the table than live.
Father Kenan, 38. A friendly if not slightly off-putting priest. Or that's what he was once.
Emissary, ???. Redacted.
Old Man Otto, 72. The cooky local old guy, no one believes a word Old Man Otto has to say. He's a cautionary tale for the player.
Statue of Saint Trudi, 325. Does she move? Or is it a trick of the light?
Mayor Bamford, 76. Sleazy capitalistic douche bag. Need I say more?
Innes McLain, 50. Innes doesn't want to fight you, much less her own daughter, Cami. But you stand in the way...
Gio Barzetti, 26. He's not really an antagonist but he antagonizes his brother and that kind of annoys you.
Silvia 'Silvi' Aliprandi-Reed, 54. Mother of Elio and Andrea, wife of Jackson. She was a very fun, caring, and out-spoken woman. She has been missing for ten years and thought to have died. But did she?
Blair McLain, 27. Blair has inherited the strongest of the McLain family gifts. She's very serious and self-important about it. But she's also struggling and often in pain. She says she must do what is required of her... but how far will she go?
Lucas Reed, 51. Wylie, Blu, and Kit's dead-beat dad. He's Jackson's brother and his total opposite. Absent, a drunk, and a real let-down, he has failed everyone in his life. Maybe he'll be redeemed.
Derek Linwood, 55. A local detective. Why does such a small town need a detective? Who knows, but he's basically all the law enforcement Mistake has. And he's not really doing it to help people...
Inspiration. There's some really obvious ones when it comes to mystery of it all: Twin Peaks, Gravity Falls, Professor Layton, Hotel Dusk: Room 215, and Night In The Woods. There's so many good mysteries out there, supernatural and not. I'm blanking a bit on any others but if it's set in a small woodsy town filled with off-putting townsfolk it likely caught my eye at some point.
Notes. This one is really calling to me but I need to make some much smaller games first before I can take a dig at something this big. I'm planning to make a demo for a visual novel story before the year ends and have a hand at making some very simple games in Godot. Would you play a game like this? Let me know in the comments.
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