Dorian Faulkner, a father and husband, suffers from increasingly abstract and frightening dreams whilst traversing the empty, ghost town of Fleetswood. Driven by reclaiming fragmented memories and the sole purpose of finding his son Oscar, the horrors and danger that he will encounter are unlike nothing he has ever experienced before. In a careful balancing act of maintaining his own sanity and delving deeper into his psyche, all that stands between him and his goal is an omnipotent research group named ELIZA, a small but troubled group of former citizens, harrowing visions and nightmares, and a hunt for solace in a slice of America's best cherry pie.
Oneirophrenia is a Lynchian-esque survival horror game, inspired by the aforementioned director's works such as Twin Peaks and Eraserhead, though also taking inspiration from titles like Silent Hill, Don't Starve and The X-Files. Survival and traversing a bleak, dark and unforgiving locale are key to the gameplay, with a firm focus on scavenging, outwitting your surroundings and finding safety wherever possible, whilst moving forward with a changing story based on your actions and gameplay choices.
[from left to right]
- Dorian
Sifting through layers of waking amnesia and processing his troubling memories, Dorian's only task is all that he can remember. Find his son, in Fleetswood. A man with many vices, though his greatest being alcohol, he has trouble trusting anyone and anything - and the eerily familiar Fleetswood seems all too easy for him to traverse.
- Henry
An ex-cop and a large figure of authority in what's left of Fleetswood, Henry lives in a motel and drives his decommissioned police car around town, believing himself to be above the law and the go-to problem solver of his people. Brash and charming though quick to anger - he's dangerous, but makes for a good ally in troubling times.
- Victor
The pastor of the local church and an advocate of peace. Though preaching widespread love and harmony, the doors to his church have been locked for some time. Rumours began to circulate regarding his mental and physical well-being, though as the people left Fleetswood, the further he secluded himself.
- The Surgeon
An enigmatic doctor, whose origins and motives are unknown. She seems to appear from nowhere, and instigate bizarre and curious events. She shares no common knowledge of the other citizens, but has a great deal of information regarding Dorian and his past.
- Dahlia
A botanist, though a fierce advocate for justice. Dahlia's sister was found dead in a series of killings leading to the desertion of Fleetswood. With no real leads in the case, Dahlia stayed behind to loot the empty homes and scour the police records for any details of her sister's death.
[please note that art is still in progress, and as such these screenshots are either subject to change or simply their raw representation sans editing for use in RMVXA.
also they might be big as the resolution is quite large.]
Spoiler
- A game very much centred around survival. Dorian will require food and drink and proper sleeping cycles if he is to be in his best condition. Rather than this being a tacked on gimmick, I want this to be an important aspect of the game in which everything else revolves around. If your hunger rises you may feel weaker, which may affect your pushing strength in various puzzles - and similarly if you're tired, the way you react to certain events may be altered. To this end, crafting your own meals and scavenging for food will become a vital aspect of your exploration.- Exploration will also be a major gameplay focus. Nourishment will be sparse and human contact will be sparse. Exploration will be adequately rewarded.
- Multiple endings and open-ended gameplay. Though the actual main story will remain somewhat linear, the choices you make in game with other characters and how you act towards them and yourself will determine a lot in how the story plays out, including several endings and branching storylines. You don't like how Henry talks to you? You're welcome to kill him, should the opportunity arise.
- An intense, atmospheric setting. The setting is probably the most important thing to me in this game and I want to make sure I nail it completely. I want to capture that feeling of solitude. Fleetswood is a fictional town in Kansas, and if you live in Kansas/have driven through Kansas, that place is flaaaaaaaaaaaaaat. I want that feeling of looking off into a foggy horizon, completely unsure of what lies within the mist to be prevalent even with a more pixel-art and retro looking aesthetic. The atmosphere, and the story/gameplay intertwining with that is the most important thing to me.
- Not a feature per se, but Oneirophrenia will have fully custom artwork and soundtrack:
Depending on how everything goes, I'm aiming for a demo release hopefully by the beginning of next year, so we'll say late January-early February. There's still a fair bit to do on the resource end of things, including the art and music, but it's in the works as we speak. Things are happening, and it's not going back into dev hell any time soon! Basically what I've done is completely uproot everything and started from scratch with a fresh vision. I know it sucks for you guys who've been waiting for a while on a demo, but I am sorry and I'm truly thankful you've stuck with this project for so long. I hope it'll pay off when the demo is finished!
- Tilesets and sprites by the excellent Zoë Patrick, though earlier iterations of the characters were crafted by the very talented VexedEnigma.- Facial art you see on this thread was put together by the awesome Ronove.
- I'm not using any scripts in the current build just yet other than the High Res DLL, but I'll update as I go.