Game Making: Start By Healing the Player

After the conversation between the two doctors, the UI popped into existence, and the game began in earnest. 

The dialogue is simple, containing snark and sarcasm, such as when the player interacts with the dead squirrel on the ground, and the general banter between the doctors. 

“The details are pretty good so far, the dialogue is a delight to see, just like in ‘Undertale’, very detailed.” Dong Zhen gave his thoughts while moving the characters around and interacting with the environment. 

For example, when clicking on a signpost near the car, the characters will complain. 

[ Putting up a sign when they live in the middle of nowhere is like asking to be robbed ]

And while he enjoyed the dialogue, it made him feel a little awkward. Like an unemployed person standing in a busy store. 

Adding flavor to the dialogue is what he usually does, but it feels a little hard to do when the game is already quite witty. 

“Is this going to be a story heavy game? Don’t mean to complain but it feels a little dull so far.”

Besides dealing with a “boulder” blocking the path, there were no other notable happenings or special gameplay. The two doctors continued walking and talking to each other, making their way to the house. 

At least in ‘Undertale’, there were the bullet hell combat segments that broke up the monotony. But so far in this game, the only thing that truly stood out to Dong Zhen was the music. 

From ‘Mirror’, to ‘Undertale’, to now this game, the music has always been good. Dong Zhen briefly joked to the chat that if things don’t work out for Chen Xu, he could still make it as a composer. 

Graphics-wise, Chen Xu has made massive improvements compared to the version of ‘To the Moon’ in his past life. but in this parallel world, these graphics can only be considered average, still a far cry from being outstanding. 

While Dong Zhen was immersed in replying to chat and controlling the characters, the two doctors finally arrived at their destination, the large house on the edge of the cliff. 

They knocked, and a middle-aged woman answered the door. She had a kind looking face, marred with fatigue, and was introduced as Lily. 

She explained her role as the caretaker for an old man named Johnny, and the two little dumplings who were playing the piano earlier were her children. 

After some brief conversation, she led the two doctors up the stairs. 

As soon as the adults were out of sight, the children raced back to the piano, competing for the parts they would play in a duet, soon the music they played filled the background. 

It was the same tune that was playing before the two doctors crashed their car. 

So Dong Zhen guessed that it should be the main theme of the game. 

As the banter between Eva and Neil continued, they were introduced to Johnny’s medical doctor, who was there to bring them up to speed with the old man’s condition. 

Johnny is now bedridden, and has been in a coma for a while. The medical doctor estimates that he has only one or two days left. 

His last wish was to go to the moon. 

But why does he want that? Lily doesn’t know, because even though she has been taking care of the old man for two years, he is a man of few words and keeps to himself. 

“Huh, this old man’s pretty wild! He wants to go to the moon, so I guess the main goal of the game is to find out why, and find a way to grant his wish?” 

Dong Zhen slapped his thigh and boasted to his chat, “A puzzle solving type of game, is it? Well guys, you’re in luck. I’m 200 IQ, very good at this, trust, trust. Believe in me!”

The following conversations between the characters gave players a clue. They needed to find key pieces of information before they could enter his memories, then change those memories to help him achieve his wish. 

Human memories lasted a long time, so it would be an impossible task to go through each and every memory to find key events. Objects and information about the most impactful moments are needed. 

Dong Zhen chose to let Eva work on the machine, while controlling Neil to explore the house. 

“Wow, this old man’s rich, this is a very nice house!” 

“But one thing’s for sure, he’s lucky to have met me! Going to the moon? Easy-peasy. I’ll even bring him up to Mars if he wants to!” 

He interacted with the two children in hopes of getting some useful clues, but they were mischievous and demanded his help to get a large candy cane from a high shelf. 

“Bah, kids these days have no respect for their elders. But forget it, I am a generous and understanding man. I’ll play along.”

He moved to the kitchen, only to find that he couldn’t reach the candy cane either. So he had to move a stool and step on it to get the item. 

“Shut up, chat, shut up. This is Neil who can’t reach it. I’m obviously 6 foot 5. How could I be too short to reach such a low height, why would I lie to you, we’re brothers right?”

The chat was spamming their usual mockery and Dong Zhen had to struggle to maintain a serious look as he reprimanded them. 

He gave the candy cane to the children and got a clue from them. 

Apparently, when Johnny could still move, he would go down to the basement a lot, to a place the children called the “funny room”. 

They also explained that the piano pieces they liked to play was what Johnny always played when he was still able to. 

Led by the two children, Dong Zhen found a key and used it to enter the small room inside the basement of the house. 

It was pitch black, and there was a lamp near the door.

But as soon as Dong Zhen turned on the light, the game’s soundtrack changed. 

It became strange, gloomy and uncomfortable. The dim light of the lamp illuminated the contents of the room, revealing countless origami rabbits placed all over the floor and furniture. They were of different colors, and all standing undisturbed. 

“Yo what the fuck. Chat, help me check the genre tags again. Is this a horror game? I can’t deal with horror games man.”

The change in atmosphere happened quickly and without warning, giving Dong Zhen goosebumps all over his body. 

The room wasn’t very large, and seemed more like a warehouse or storage room. 

And sitting among the rabbits, on a table near the doorway, was a platypus doll. It looked old and worn, and luckily it was more cute than creepy. 

But this entire situation was psychologically taxing! 

If not for the constant scrolling messages of his chat, Dong Zhen might have chickened out of the game right this instant. This wasn’t cowardice mind you, it was a strategic retreat!

• [ Feels like we just stepped into the underworld ]

• [ It really doesn’t have a horror tag, what’s happening? ]

• [ Stop whining, I’m more afraid of mosquitos in broad daylight ]

Looking at the chat, Dong Zhen calmed down and adjusted his mentality, he actually checked the tags before starting the game too, so he remembers it really doesn’t have the horror tag, just adventure and story rich. 

Don’t panic, don’t panic, so what if it’s a horror game, it can’t hurt you. I’m a 6 foot 5, intimidating dude. I can dunk on these ghosts, I got this. 

He began searching the room. 

The platypus doll was collectable and seemed to carry some significance as a key item. 

“Haha chat, are you scared? Don’t worry, big brother is here to guide you, come hold my hand.” 

“This is getting interesting, let’s see how things unfold, why does the old man want to go to the moon and what is up with this freaky room.’

Dong Zhen lightened the mood by interacting with the chat, continuing to advance in the story.