HOW TO PLAY (in theory)
ideally the game would be thriller T for teen First person VR visual novel. Each playthrough should be able to complete in 1 or 2 sessions.
Replayability and story-driven players are the target. Twitch Roleplay streams and Speedrunning community is a secondary target.
a frame of reference might be elements of the Myst Series, Nancy Drew, escape rooms, FNAF, and choose your own adventure novels.
randomized and procedurally generated dungeons to explore and puzzles to solve. Each playthrough is unique in both design, and in decisions made.
the full story is for completionists. The goal being to play through several times (or from save points), unlocking new secrets from different characters.
the player acts as a spirit medium and empath, with a secondary specialized skill and personality traits which they choose. This explains the audience's ability to see or learn about memories of the past, and unlock NPCs secrets. It also adds other factors for the player, such as a sensitivity to the supernatural, making objectives for the player more spiritual than physical. The player is NOT a combatant, however, some crew members are, and their fighting ability would be used in puzzle-solving situations of which the player directs. The chances of the fighter surviving are based on how well the player knows each character's abilities for specific situations. This is learned by talking to NPCs, paying attention to their side chatter, and player knowledge from new game plus.
these custom feats allow the player to build relationships with different NPCs each playthrough. It may also be feats that are duplicated in other crew members, making some crew obsolete compared to others.
As the story progresses, crew members begin to abandon Fellyne, new people join the party, or crew members turn on each other. It's the player's job to be a peacemaker, and make the tough decisions on who to comfort into staying, and who to aggravate into leaving. There is no one right way to complete the story, but each decision changes the dungeon navigation based on party ability, and each decision opens new and interesting conversations allowing players to unlock hidden secrets from compelling characters to understand the entire scope of the lore and story. Each crew member also has a certain set of skills, and losing them at the wrong chapter may make the game more difficult.
gameplay outside of dialogue and crew management minigame consists of hide-and-go seek mechanics, scavenger hunt, puzzle solving, escape rooms, time challenges, maze navigation/exploring, and roleplaying. A blend of them all may be required to progress each new section of the dungeon.
