Engine: RPG Maker MV
Synopsis: The game will be about a demon named Lorelei who is tasked with infiltrating a holy city with the goal of stealing away the inhabitants’ souls.
The city, however, has been under the protection of angels since time began, and because of this, the very atmosphere is toxic to any demons who try to enter. Lorelei has only recently become a demon - she is the only one with enough humanity to enter the city, and she gains the skill to transform into anyone whose soul she has taken in order to reach more of its inhabitants.
What will make this game unique is that the player gets to choose how Lorelei will act; punishing only evildoers as an avenging angel (well, demon), giving in to her demonic instincts and levelling the city, or even discovering a way to fulfil her contract by resolving the city’s problems with her powers - leading to a different ending depending on her actions.
A bitesize piece of lore in the game is that when someone becomes a demon, they lose their skin - kind of like a snake. Instead of seeing muscles underneath, however, we only see blackness, an inky void of some sort, proportional to the sin/guilt/anger/negativity in the demon's soul. Upon entering the city, Lorelei has a health bar that drains the more time she spends in the city atmosphere - it's as if the air was poison, and breathing it in will eventually destroy her. To counteract this, Lorelei is given her skin back she can wear it, and it acts as a second health bar - after some time, it rips, and she becomes exposed to the atmosphere again. Lorelei must absorb the souls of the city's inhabitants, but she can't do this with her skin on, so if she wants to steal a soul she must rip it off to begin the "soul-sucking minigame", which will be mostly QTEs. Thanks to her skin, Lorelei can talk to people and lure them into abandoned locations to steal their souls. Assuming she is successful, the second part of the game begins when she has to find a route back to her demonic sanctuary (house in the centre of the city) unseen - if she gets caught, a suspicion variable will rise if the witnesses' souls aren't taken as well.
There will be certain people who have powerful souls (plot-related characters), that have the power to transform her skin into their own appearance, so characters that may have ignored lorelei before might now follow her because she seems more vulnerable, or because she has assumed the form of one of their friends. There will be a chance for Lorelei to make "soul substitutes" after taking someone's soul so that she can still transform into them while keeping the owners alive. By making soul substitutes, Lorelei can act as a guardian angel, solving problems and obtaining the people's "blessings". Because of this, there will be different endings based on the player's actions - Lorelei can either purify her soul and ascend to heaven - secret ending, take the souls only of evil people, take the souls of everyone and break away from hell, now a powerful cryptid creature of neither heaven nor hell, or take sufficient souls and fulfil her contract, becoming one of hell's famed soul hunting demonesses.
Positions needed, in order of importance:
- Digital artists, traditional artists and designers
- Pixel artists and animators
- Concept artists - we need your sketches!
- Musicians and Composers - SFX too!
- Writers, working on story or character design
- Voice actors
The game won’t be massive; we have a realistic view of what we want to achieve with this project, but nevertheless, there are plenty of opportunities to get involved with all kinds of media skills.
My position: Aside from managing the project, I will be working as its main writer and eventer.
Skill trade: Not to blow my own horn, but I'm a very talented writer; I've been crafting my own stories for years. I'd be very happy to help create characters, worlds or stories for anybody that needs them!
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions! We look forward to having you on the team!
-loreleiproject