I Will Forget You

[death by moogles]

I Will Forget You

Table of Contents:
I. About/Themes
II. Characters
III. Plot
IV. Setting and Atmosphere
V. Features
VI. A Word or Two from the Designer

First of all, I have a disclaimer. I Will Forget You is a literary work which involves many controversial themes and ideas. I sincerely apologize if reading the following offends you in any way. I assure you that offense is not my intention. I hope that you can read on with an open mind, and that the following ideas will provoke some sort of interest or thought.

Spoiler: I. About/Themes

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===== I. About/Themes =====
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I Will Forget You is a psychological horror starring seven-year-old Yoko and her elder brother, Hideki, who is 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 years old and stays at Yoko's side at all times. Yoko's personality is inherently contradictory; she is very, very lively, almost to the extent of being incapable of sitting still. However, she is absolutely introverted, being completely apathetic towards everyone except for her mother, Hanako, a washed-up teen idol who's finally made it out of the spotlight, and Hideki. She won't even talk to anyone other than the two, and frequently won't even talk to her mother.

Yoko is spacey and bubbly, easily entertained, and fun to watch. She prefers the dark because it doesn't hurt her eyes, will not have scruples when she blatantly ignores you, and frequently zones out, momentarily losing touch with reality.

Her lip-lockedness poses a great problem when Hanako is brutally murdered and Yoko, along with Hideki, are left to the care of their successful father, Soichi, a small-town boy who moved to the big city fifteen years ago to marry the love of his life.

The loss of her mother detaches Yoko from reality even more, and, without the social interaction that we all require, she eventually depersonalizes completely, slipping into nonexistence. In the realm of that which does not exist, she meets a monster who is afraid of the dark. The monster tricks Yoko into letting him escape into her world, and uses her body as a conduit in order to be real. In return, he gifts her with the ability to become nonexistent at will, promising more presents and powers as the bond between them grows. She becomes fond of the monster, affectionately referring to him as Kuma, but Kuma's odd requests have a dark undertone to which Yoko's young mind is naive.

I Will Forget You takes advantage of a scattered storyline, being nonlinear in the sense that the player's choices determine the outcome of our beloved young Yoko, as well as being nonlinear in the sense that the story unravels in a manner that is not strictly chronological.

I Will Forget You is heavily rooted in depersonalization and a feeling of detachment from one's self. Accordingly, the game also plays a lot with the value of the self, the concept of existence versus nonexistence, and the finer details of death. A few other significant themes explored in I Will Forget You include the concept of alternate realities, the naivety of youth, possession, the significance of truth and lies, and the psychological repurcussions of murder.

Spoiler: II. Characters

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===== II. Characters =====
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Yoko Maekawa
Age: 7
Appearance:

Talents/Hobbies: Cooking, Fishing, Making Believe
Occupation: Primary School Student
Hometown: Chiba, Japan
Social Class: Middle Class
Bio: Yoko is a young Japanese girl with a severe case of depersonalization disorder who lives in a small house with her father, Soichi Kimura, in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Her disorder expresses itself outward; she is a very lively, spacey child who is always on the move. However, her only friend is her big brother, Hideki, who stays with her at all times. She refuses to talk to anyone other than her mother, which poses a problem for her father, as well as everyone else, after her mother's death.

Hideki Maekawa
Age: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
Appearance:

Talents/Hobbies: Teaching Yoko, Building Forts, Flying
Occupation: Secondary School Student, High School Student
Hometown: Chiba, Japan
Social Class: Middle Class
Bio: Hideki is Yoko's elder brother. Hideki often has trouble with things, such as remembering the name of his school. Hideki is frequently bullied at school.

Kuma
Age: None
Appearance: None
Talents/Hobbies: None
Occupation:
Hometown: None
Social Class: None
Bio: Kuma was an unnamed, nonexistent being until he tricked Yoko into opening her soul to him. Unsatisfied with the ability to exist outside of the darkness, drunk on the massive amounts of life in this world, he craves for more: a life of his own, prompting a malevolent plot that somehow involves our adorable protagonist.

Soichi Maekawa
Age: 37
Appearance:

Talents/Hobbies: Drinking Booze, Smoking, Empty Sex
Occupation: Police Officer
Hometown: Kitsuki, Japan
Social Class: Middle Class
Bio: Soichi is a widower of two weeks who is dealing with his bereavement by submerging himself into a sea of drunkenness and debauchery. Since the day that he moved to the big city, he has been with Hanako; now he has lost her, and with her has gone his attachment to this world.

Hanako Maekawa
Age: 34
Appearance: Bloody and Slightly Dismembered
Talents/Hobbies: Laying
Occupation: Minion of Nothingness
Hometown: Chiba, Japan
Social Class: The Caste of the Soon Forgotten
Bio: Hanako was a cherished teen idol until she drowned in the next fad. She found herself in high waters, but was saved by a man named Soichi visiting from the country, with whom she promptly fell in love. Slowly, she faded from public view, and the world forgot about her.

Spoiler: III. Plot

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===== III. Plot =====
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The basic story of the game is that of a young Japanese girl named Yoko, who lives with her widower father and elder brother. Yoko has a severe case of depersonalization disorder, and with the extreme stress at the loss of her mother, her strongest, and perhaps only, attachment to this world, Yoko slips out of reality and into a world of nonexistence, where she becomes friends with a horrifying monster. The monster wants more than anything to be real, fearing the unending darkness in which it has been forever imprisoned, and decides to use the young girl and her frail attachment to the corporal world to become real, tricking her into sacrificing her father in order for the monster to harness the recently departed man's fragile existence, in exchange granting Yoko the ability to manipulate the minds of others, along with the ability to become nonexistent at will, a power that she is far more interested in than the ability to alter the cognitive functions of those around her.

After her father is sacrificed, Kuma, the monster who tricked her, promptly departs, and all memory of Soichi is erased from the existent world except for slight traces that the young girl has, which are strengthened gradually by a new monster that she meets in the nonexistent world, this one taking the form of a shadowy version of herself and seeming to understand Yoko on a subconscious level. Yoko's strings are pulled by the creature, and this new monster begins its graphing of her will, manipulating her into killing multiple people, each one increasing the monster's boldness and vitality.

Will the young girl never learn? Will a time ever come when she is not puppet to a horrid shadow? As her affinity with the nonexistent world increases, the 'perks' that Kuma mentioned when the two first met begin to become apparent, as Yoko discovers that she can now easily tell truth from lies, kill by simply wishing one dead, and perform other incredible, horrible feats. Her naivety piquing not, she happily stacks victim upon victim until the victims catch onto the plot at hand and begin to strike back, believing Kuma to be the culprit.

The motive of the new monster's demands hidden far beyond Yoko's youthful spirit, the brother-sister team cut down the remaining victims, only to learn a striking truth about Kuma and the new monster, along with the many victims and the world of nonexistence itself.

Spoiler: IV. Setting and Atmosphere

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===== IV. Setting and Atmosphere =====
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As previously mentioned, I Will Forget You takes place in Chiba City, Japan. However, game play frequently switches back and forth between this world and the world of nonexistence. The world based on nonfictional Earth is just that.

The interesting part is the plane of nonexistence, which is dubbed "The Tantalus" by Hideki. The Tantalus is a dark and twisted world, featuring shrilling horrors of all kinds, with which you'll be forced to interact in order to learn the secrets behind your victims, what makes them tick, what will allow you to tap into their deepest subconscious and break them.

The Tantalus won't be an easy thing to bear, for Yoko and for you. At no time will anything pop out for a cheap scare, but the atmospheric music will whisper in your ears and breathe on the back of your neck. I guarantee you that you will be scared. You will fear the darkness around you as much as the darkness around Yoko. You will hear the horrors whisper the same way that she does, see twisted faces in your peripheral vision the same way that she does, and you will know that you must protect her from these terrible horrors, because she can not defend herself. You must keep her safe.

Spoiler: V. Features

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===== VIII. Features =====
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- A simulated side-view platforming system adds to the feeling of Yoko's narrow social ability and understanding.
- Yoko's detachment from all things real grants her the ability to travel between the worlds of existence and nonexistence simply by pressing the Shift key.
- Switch back and forth between Yoko and Hideki at any time. NPCs, horrors, and other events from the world of nonexistence respond differently to Hideki than they do to Yoko.
- An extensive rumour system based on a concept from Persona 2 allows you to investigate rumours heard from passing conversations. Based on the context of the rumour, you essentially choose whether or not the rumour is true. Want there to be a monster in that haunted house down the road from the school? If you answered yes to this question, there is now a monster in the haunted house down the road from the school.
- An interesting keyword system much like numerous SNES games enables Yoko to remember keywords from alien conversations. Hideki can then ask people and things from the world of nonexistence about the keywords.
- An unnamed system that I commonly refer to as "True Sight" displays lying dialogue in red script and true dialogue in blue script.
- A dynamic lighting and weather system utilizes real weather patterns of Chiba, Japan in determining weather, which will change throughout the day based on realistic daily weather patterns.

Spoiler: VI. A Word or Two from the Designer

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===== VI. A Word or Two from the Designer =====
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I have a few great endeavours for this project. First and foremost, I want you to feel for Yoko. I want you to know her. I want you to genuinely care for what happens to her. I want you to feel as if you're protecting her from the darkness from which she can not escape.

Second, I want you to be scared. I urge you to try to play this game at night in the dark, and I want you render you completely incapable of doing so. I want to be that prickley feeling edging its way up your back, those goose bumps on the back of your neck, that whispy voice in your ear. I refuse to resort to petty horror in order to accomplish this, however. The fear you feel will be the result of ambiant darkness, dark musical scores, and psychological stress, not cheap tricks like abrupt sounds or images.

Third, I want to teach you. I want you to take something from this game. I want you to be inspired, I want you to learn, I want you to feel. I want a moral that will mean something to you.

On a final note, I would like to specify that, though I Will Forget You takes place in Japan and features many nonfictional areas from Chiba, I will be refraining from cultural references and themes. This is a personal game, not an epic one.

I genuinely hope that this project is a success and that those who support my endeavours and play the game will be entertained, at the least.

Now, one thing in particular on which I'd like criticism:

The game will be heavily driven by character development, plot development, and exploration. There are no battles at all - or, rather, there are no conventional battles. The 'battles' that take place require hours of game play and involve the systematic destruction of an enemy's psyche by gathering information about them in the Tantalus and then using it against them. After a sufficient profile of the potential victim is accrued, Yoko will be able to use a power of hers not previously mentioned in this thread, which allows her to enter through her victim's eyes into a realm projected by the target's subconscious, a world created from the darkest parts of their mind. Through accessing this world, Yoko can sabotage her newfound victim's thoughts and feelings, breaking them into submission, eventually killing them. I would really like some feedback on this concept, as it's the basic substructure for the entire game.

I'll update character information and other general things as I can. I look forward to some critiquing!

Thanks for sitting through such a harsh read! I hope you had at least a decent time.

 

[moxie]

wow! i have to commend you for being so thorough in your concept. it looks really interesting and if/when you have a demo up i'll download it in a heartbeat.

you asked the question of "how to create atmosphere?" in another thread, and, while i can't help you all that much because i'm not all that knowledgeable in the way of 2d horror i can give you my thoughts. it sounds like you've good a pretty handle on that stuff already because of how you talk about suspense and not wanting to rely on cheap tricks, but like i mentioned in the screenshot thread, try to not rely on pitch-darkness too much!

yume nikki barely had any(if any? i don't remember i can't bring myself to play it again) dark sections but it was more atmospheric than any 2d game i've ever played because the visuals were just so bizarre and twisted. i'm not sure what look you want to go for when it comes to your dark otherworld area, but i would definitely take some inspiration for this. plus you can make a lot of the weird visuals be symbolic of the person's neuroses and all that good stuff.

it's probably old hat to bring up yume nikki in a 2d horror game thread but i swear that game managed to frighten me more and make me more uncomfortable than any other game, except make silent hill 4.

i'll try and comment on your gameplay mechanics sometime soon, because they look very unique, if not a little offputting (i'm not sure if i'm too big of a weenie to make it through a game where the goal is systematically destroying the psyches of innocent people or not!)

 

[Misery]

Yeah sound good but i need a bit of help understanding the story
how could hideki be 10 12 13 and 14
and how do you mean "Psychological Stress?

 

[death by moogles]

I wasn't sure how this concept would be received, so I didn't add it to the initial post, mostly because I wasn't sure if I'd keep it or not, but I'm fairly confident that I can add it in to good effect. There will be frequent times when you, the player, will speak directly to Yoko. Keeping care of Yoko is your responsibility, and this is true from the beginning of the game onwards. Yoko will frequently ask you questions, to which you will reply directly to her. You don't play as Yoko; you play as her protector.

wow! i have to commend you for being so thorough in your concept. it looks really interesting and if/when you have a demo up i'll download it in a heartbeat.

you asked the question of "how to create atmosphere?" in another thread, and, while i can't help you all that much because i'm not all that knowledgeable in the way of 2d horror i can give you my thoughts. it sounds like you've good a pretty handle on that stuff already because of how you talk about suspense and not wanting to rely on cheap tricks, but like i mentioned in the screenshot thread, try to not rely on pitch-darkness too much!

yume nikki barely had any(if any? i don't remember i can't bring myself to play it again) dark sections but it was more atmospheric than any 2d game i've ever played because the visuals were just so bizarre and twisted. i'm not sure what look you want to go for when it comes to your dark otherworld area, but i would definitely take some inspiration for this. plus you can make a lot of the weird visuals be symbolic of the person's neuroses and all that good stuff.

it's probably old hat to bring up yume nikki in a 2d horror game thread but i swear that game managed to frighten me more and make me more uncomfortable than any other game, except make silent hill 4.

This game is actually inspired a lot by Yume Nikki. Top inspiration has to be Lovecraft though ;3

The darkness is, I think, an atmospheric boost. Yume Nikki made up for this in its vague gameplay and unexpected nature. Yume Nikki played a lot with unclear, confusing locations and beings, each of which had unexplained properties that had to be wandered upon by accident. You, as the player, feared the areas because of this aspect; you had no clue what would happen. This contrasts a lot with what I'm doing with I Will Forget You. Yoko doesn't understand her surroundings, or what she's doing, but the player does. The player sees the pure, disgustingly evil nature of Kuma, but, try as you might, Yoko will not forsake him.

However, I think that it's important to note that darkness does not reign supreme. The Tantalus is dark and eerie, but it's not the only location that will serve to add that scary feel to the game. Each of Yoko's victims features their own unique dungeon-esque area, most of which will not be dark at all, relying on other aspects of the area and dialogue, the mere understanding of where you are, what you're there to do, and the manner in which the victim's subconsciousness is going to defend itself all providing that sense of horror. On top of this, there's the understanding that you can easily escape the Tantalus at any time, but not these other worlds. They come with their own appeal.

i'll try and comment on your gameplay mechanics sometime soon, because they look very unique, if not a little offputting (i'm not sure if i'm too big of a weenie to make it through a game where the goal is systematically destroying the psyches of innocent people or not!)

I look forward to it :3

Also, I have something to say regarding your remark about innocence. Though it's not a large part of gameplay, there is a sense of mystery in the game. You'll be gradually unraveling the reasoning behind the second monster's requests; you'll be growing to understand exactly what this second monster, along with Kuma, is; you'll be coming to comprehend the meaning behind the Tantalus; you'll be making up your mind on whether or not Yoko's victims are in fact 'innocent.'

Yeah sound good but i need a bit of help understanding the story
how could hideki be 10 12 13 and 14
and how do you mean "Psychological Stress?

What exactly about the story would you like for me to explain? I'd be happy to clarify anything that I can!

Hideki's age isn't really important, and I'm not quite willing to talk about it.

By Psychological stress, I mean that the story won't rely on screamers and other cheap tricks for the fear factor. Try listening to the Silent Hill soundtrack in the dark. It doesn't matter what else you do; you're unable to focus, because your periphery is filled with unimaginable horrors just waiting to make eye contact with you. There's a whisper in your ear, and you're not sure if it was part of the track, but you highly doubt it, because it's saying your name. I'm hoping that I Will Forget You will take the hints that Lovecraft is giving: it's not what you don't understand that will scare you; it's what you do understand. It all relies on me pulling it off correctly.

EDIT: I'd like some criticism on the concept of adding a basic battle system.

Yoko won't do the fighting. She's controlled with the arrow buttons, interacting with the Enter button, but has no fighting capabilities. However, enemies can be warded off by using the mouse. The mouse would be used to attack enemies, hide Yoko, throw Yoko out of the way of enemy attacks, block enemy attacks, and other things of the sort. This would bring into play the physical avoiding of enemies with the arrow buttons in tandem with the defending of the protagonist with the mouse. I don't have much more on the battle system as of yet, and I'd like some criticism to get the creative juices flowing.