Week 1: "Every murderer is probably somebody's old friend"

Hello everyone! Welcome to my project: “Designing Themedior: Immersive Narrative and Characters.” In today’s post, I’ll briefly summarize what I’ll be doing for the next three months, from an introduction to my project to my final goals.

But first…I’d like to tell you how this project came to be.

I. Prologue: The Birth of Themedior

The year is 2020. Stuck in my room all day with nothing but my stuffed animals and computer, I soon discovered a treasure trove of boredom-relieving content through binge-watching streamers: video games. I was not only thoroughly entertained by their contents and mechanics, but also greatly inspired by the impact this medium could emotionally have on viewers. Who knew watching a playthrough of Rakuen for 10 hours (with breaks in between of course!) could teach me so much about loss and community? Who knew Disco Elysium could immerse me so deeply into the mind, morality, and trauma behind an amnesiac detective and his fellow acquaintances?

With my background in traditional art and interest in medicine, I wanted to design a game that could similarly engross players in its fictional world through a diverse cast of characters, while investigating the human psyche and how it’s affected by an individual’s upbringing and surroundings. And, in my opinion, there’s no better storytelling genre for this task than, you guessed it, a murder mystery.

II. Dedication Page

I will be working on the dialogue, story, and illustrations for the video game Themedior. My fellow conspirator Catherine Zhong, who has a blog of her own that you should 100% check out, will aid in animating and coding the project. If you have any free time, feel free to view all our progress pictures and videos at https://themedior.artstation.com/.

My wonderful external mentor is Dr. Side Xi, a pediatrician who has been working at Visalia Health Care Center since 2004. To avoid any confusion, I’d like to note that despite our identical last names we are not related. Finally, I can’t finish this section of my post without mentioning my two incredibly knowledgeable internal advisors, Mr. Brady and Ms. Bhattacharya.

III. Raising Themedior

Due to time constraints, my goal is to ultimately finish Chapter 1 of Themedior, which will serve as an introduction to our protagonist Cynefin Alcestis and the disappearance of his wife Everly Crow. Nevertheless, I still plan to brainstorm the narrative and plot points of each remaining chapter.

Here is my current timeline:

Week I: Watch gameplay of story-centered games such as We Happy Few and Omori; brainstorm the main storyline 

Week II: Read/watch murder mystery books and movies, finish the first draft dialogue

Week III: Finish the second draft dialogue, start character designs and sketches

Week IV: Finalize the dialogue and narrative, work on expression image pack lineart for each character (similar to visual novel games)

Week V: Finalize expression image packs and all character illustrations

Week VI: Draw enemies and start skill/battle VFX, begin background illustrations (for Mentalcanvas-like puzzle)

Week VII: Finalize art for enemies, continue detailed background illustrations 

Week VIII: Work on game menu design (chapter selection, title screen, etc.)

Week IX: Draw scene illustrations (full-size images for specific scenes in each chapter)

Week X: Add final touches to characters and all scenes before beta round, begin design work for a trailer

Week XI: Host beta test round with friends and peers, edit visual and narrative elements based on testers’ suggestions

Week XII: Edit final touches (backgrounds, etc.), finalize and publish the trailer

That’s all I have for today! I hope you enjoyed reading about my project and want to learn more about the intrigue and mysteries surrounding the world of Themedior. I’ll be back next week to introduce the world setting and characters, and perhaps sprinkle in a couple of clues. Stay tuned!