Core Gameplay
Core Loop of the game:
Mechanics:
Visual novel-based
The core base evolves around telling a story. The opportunity to “choose” possible endings is not too obvious, and it depends entirely on the choice of pictures, the effectiveness of solving puzzles, whether the player pays attention to the dialogues at first passing, or follows the scenes.
Puzzles/ painting restoration
One of the main mechanics of the game involves recreating paintings that partly contain clues related to real places/objects in the main character’s home. Restoration of paintings will be a small point-and-click puzzle, with finding the correct sequence of work steps, mixing colors, and other elements characteristic of the process of restoring paintings. (Research page includes articles related to this theme)
Exploration
The player is in a limited space, where, following previous suggestions, must find the necessary object that would lead to one of the scenes with memories, giving the player a khat stage.
Thinking about how to portray this moment, I came to the decision to use color. The areas of the pictures, which contain hints in themselves, will be especially highlighted by color (or are originally the center of the composition of meaning load). In the next player will be able to find the same item, highlighted against the background of the general visual of the room of the same color. Example of visual given below…
Original image (Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1984):
Edited version in the game, as well as a rough sketch indicating that the required item will be highlighted by contrast and hue in the game location:
Systems and Constraints:
The player’s progression must be limited to a certain number of days, as well as the amount of time spent on scenery. Since the choice of pictures and their plots also partially affect the ending, the player will be allowed to choose only a few available.
After each work on the picture and a new unlocked memory, the player acquires a conditional episode of the story that he is able to record in the journal, which simultaneously acts as a visual record, as well as a narrative limitation. Having collected enough memories, the player can plot a specific line of story that will lead to a certain ending.