Rita Chang
Reverie
Reverie is a single-player puzzle game combined with a visual novel. Throughout the story and gameplay, the main character will use different perspectives to solve puzzles and complete stages. This will be based on the story of the main character, Aaron(Sheep), who is trapped in a dream by Snake. The main story will focus on how Aaron escapes the dream by recalling his true memories.
The goal of an escape room is to solve puzzles in the room and obtain a key or password to escape and complete the game. In the real-life version, it is often timed, and players can form a team to solve it together. In video games on mobile and computer, it is usually single-player and not timed. From escape rooms, people often get a sense of accomplishment after completing difficult puzzles and successfully solving them on their own. In Re: Reverie, I have designed four stages for the player to solve puzzles. After completing each stage, the player not only gains a sense of accomplishment but also the stories between the characters as a reward.
Character Design:
Game Design:
4 stages(symbolize a sleep circle includes three non-rapid eye movement stages and one rapid eye movement stage)
Stage 1: making the audience thought that snake is the person who trap sheep and introduce the basic background setting
Stage 2: Show the memory of Snake and sheep when they first meet and the confused stage of Sheep(what is real and what is fake)
Stage 3: Pick up Snake’s secret notebook
Stage 4: Find out the way to break the curse by talking to all the people who seen Snake before
Current Progress for Gameplay:
Summary of the Story:
Aaron, the main character, is trapped in a dream. His memories tell him that the culprit is also a supernatural being like him. This culprit, one of the most powerful creatures in the underground, is known by the code name "Snake," though no one knows his true identity. As Aaron continues searching for a way out, he finds Snake's secret notebook and learns that Snake has been trying to break the curse for over 1,000 years. Snake has written down various hypotheses and crossed out the ones he has tried and failed, all in an effort to stop the resetting of memories every 100 years. The newest entry, which hasn’t been crossed out, says, “Let Aaron experience the same curse by gaining a powerful ability like mine and test what he will do to break it.” At this point, Aaron realizes that he wasn’t trapped by Snake’s ability, but by his own curse. But then, if that’s the case, what is my power? Aaron wonders. As Aaron progresses through the stages, he uncovers his true memories, hidden by Snake’s ability. He remembers that he had once met Snake before the last memory reset. The true memory reveals that Aaron had sincerely wanted to help Snake break the curse because Snake seemed heartbroken and had poured his feelings out to Aaron at that time. After that day, Snake disappeared, and Aaron couldn’t find him until 10 years later. However, Snake seems different in Aaron's eyes now. He is no longer the person Aaron once wanted to help. Despite this, Aaron still volunteers to help because he believes that if he can break the curse, the Snake he once knew will return and help make his dream come true. Throughout the story, Aaron discovers that he holds the key to escaping the dream. However, once he escapes, he will immediately enter another dream. After exploring all possible options, he accidentally drops the key. Aaron believes he will be trapped in this dream forever, but it turns out the key is his power. When he drops it, he loses the ability to travel through the dream, which also breaks the curse he had. In the end, he wakes up in Snake’s laboratory, with the answer that has troubled Snake for 1,000 years. “Finally awake,” says Snake. Aaron isn’t sure if Snake is referring to himself or Aaron, but he smiles and responds, “Yes, finally.”