Spooky Shiet

I like, motorbikes, horror in general and aaa... bakery I guess?

[violet-reiter]

What Lune and Sciel’s tattoos tell us about them 

If I’m not mistaken, Lune and Sciel are the only two characters in the game who have tattoos. We don’t know much about these tattoos except for a conversation Sophie has with a man in the Prologue. Thanks to this man we learn that these tattoos are some sort of pictos that are etched with chroma onto the skin. So, the purpose of tattoos is basically to give the person who has them certain powers. By using them, Lune can cast spells, heal people or fly around, and Sciel can use her cards. That would be the practical explanation of their tattoos. But what about the ✨symbolic✨one?

I’ll start by saying that what you are about to read are mostly just theories I came up with because I’m not the kind of person who settles with the “it looks cool” explanation. (Even tho the tattoos do look freaking amazing on them and it would be completely valid if their only purpose was to make Lune and Sciel more interesting and distinctive visually. Long live l’art pour l’art). 

Spoilers ahead!

Lune’s golden tattoos 

Lune has golden art déco inspired patterns on her left arm and hand and on her legs and feet. The first surface where we can spot similar golden patterns is on her expedition uniform so, that could tell us: the uniform spreads onto her skin too, in a way. There’s no barrier between her and her mission. She has offered even her body to it (a controversial choice, given that the man who speaks with Sophie basically tells her that you have to be “cuckoo” to put pictos on your own body, and Lune has a bUNCH of them). 

Now, there’s more. We can see these golden art déco patterns in many other places. They can be found all over the world, from the urban furniture of Lumière to the armors, clothes and bodies of nevrons and mythical creatures like our beloved and cuddly Esquie. However, the place where they shine the most is definitely the Dessendre Manor. That place is fILLED with them. I think that these art déco patterns represent the Dessendre painters and their power over the canvas: they are golden, the color of royalty, and they follow the laws of symmetry and geometry, something that can be interpreted as a symbol of order. And what does all this have to do with Lune?

In order to understand it, let’s get back to the expedition uniforms for a second. The expeditioners take these patterns associated to the Dessendre and use them on the uniforms of their organization. An organization whose purpose is to fight against the Paintress, a Dessendre. Similarly, the expeditioners are learning how to manipulate chroma, the prime matter of their world and source of the power of the Dessendres, in order to use it against their creators. So, Lune’s tattoos could represent the laws of the world that she’s learning to manipulate as a mage. 

The black pictos on her face 

Her face tattoo is particularly fascinating to me so I might get a bit creative with its interpretation dhgcvchgv I think there’s a very interesting duality to it. First, it’s important to notice that it seems to be centered around the eye. Our eyes allow us to observe, and observation is the base of analysis. All those little black pictos could probably give Lune different abilities that allow her to “scan” things or “see through” them. 

Second, the way the lines of pictos fall from her eye, all the way down her throat, remind me of those cartoony exaggerated flows of tears. Tears basically represent intense emotion, something that seems very unlike cold and composed Lune. But the truth is that, as she tells Maelle in the conversation they have at camp after burying Gustave, she learned how to use all her feelings in order to make sure she continues.

So, yes, she’s analytical and distant, but what truly keeps her moving is emotion. She truly believes in what the Expeditions are trying to achieve, so much so that she sacrificed most of her life for it. Could those “tears” also represent the things she’s lost because of her mission?

Speaking of things Lune lost because of her mission. Let’s get to Sciel.

Sciel’s chest tattoo 

The fact that Sciel's tattoo is located on her chest could tell us that her chest is where her power comes from. It comes from deep within, intimately linked to her emotions and sensibility. She uses cards and seems to be interested in fortune telling, and she also has a special bond with the sky (remember how her father taught her to talk to the stars), so she probably has a special kind of intuition. She understands things through feeling them, in a way. She feels the world and the people around her, that’s why she’s so perceptive and empathetic. 

But she doesn’t only feel the good things. She understands the world is beautiful and terrible at the same time. She’s experienced both the brightest and the darkest of emotions. Experience is the key of Sciel’s knowledge and emotional maturity. Thanks to everything she’s been through, she accepted that life is both darkness and light and that death is an inevitable thing. This acceptance shields her, makes her stronger, like the tattoo on her chest, which resembles some sort of shield.

[srspookypancakes]

-Rockefeller Street (Nightcore) -Pump It by Black Eyed Peas Both are one of the best soundtracks for the most speed, brutally violent and gore shooter game you've could imagine, seriously try it, and if you want some more try Moskau by Dschinghis Khan, top shelf stuff kiddo

and a little sticker that I ""made"" the gun is from the game Sunset Overdrive, one of the most fucking amazing games in this shitty world Anyway, kisses <3

[violet-reiter]

Here's a little Expedition 33 craft I made. I guess you could call it mixed media because I used colored cardboards, oil and acrylic paint, (low-cost) gold leaf and a metallic pencil, just to name the main materials. There's many things I could improve, but it was so fun to make. Working on anything related to Expedition 33 is an absolute bliss.

Keep reading for some details about how I made it.

This is the reference I used. I love this beautiful illustration sO MUCH and at the beginning I just wanted to try and copy it to play around with oil paint and gold leaf, but I ended up adding more and more materials. My craft doesn't look as elegant and refined as the original one, mainly because I still struggle a lot with understanding light and depicting it correctly and, well, also because I suck at oil painting lol. I still have so much to learn.

The proportions are also a bit off, but that's because I drew and painted pretty much everything by eye and my eye is not that well trained yet. But, hey, in the era of generative AI, I gladly embrace my mistakes and I tell myself that imperfections are great mentors. They are part of the process of learning, improving and finding what defines you as an artist. Let what you can and cannot do be dictated by your own process of creative self-discovery, not by a program owned by people who have no understanding of what art is meant for (and I'm gonna shut up about this because I could go on and on about it).

In this picture you can see how the golden leaf and paint shines in the light. You can also see the low relief in Maelle's costume. I did that cutting different pieces of white and black cardboard and pasting them on top of a bigger bottom piece. The little roses are in high relief, just like the petals.

Something I'm obsessed with is the tangible quality of crafts and artworks. I love it when art pieces are made of different materials and textures. It's something I try to learn how to do and working on transforming that wonderful Expedition 33 illustration into something more three-dimensional has been a great exercise.

Here's a closer look at the little petals. They're literally just simple pieces of red and white cardboard, but there's something so cute about them. Maybe it's just my obsession with colored cardboards.

Anyways, if you've read all that, thank you so much for your interest! <3

[violet-reiter]

The sky meets the moon at night. Lune and Sciel stargazing scene analysis. Part 3.

“What are the stars whispering to you?”. That’s where we left it in the last post. Like I already said, I believe this question is Lune’s first step towards reconnecting with Sciel and she succeeds, because Sciel’s answer is a confession: “Actually, I’m the one whispering to them”. We can hear the vulnerability in her voice. She’s sharing something very intimate with Lune here. As such, we see her face from a frontal view, clearly lit for the first time in the scene. We fully see her now and so does Lune. Until this moment, we’ve been seeing Sciel lying down on the ground, gazing at the night sky, but, just like Lune, we didn’t really know what was going on in her head.

With her question, Lune tries to understand that. What is it about the stars that has Sciel so captivated? What secrets could they be revealing to her? Is she seeking answers in the starts? Lune’s question speaks of the way she understands the world: as a source of information and meaning, waiting to be unraveled. Lune aims for the bigger questions, like the inquisitive academic she is. 

However, Sciel reveals that, actually, she is the one who's whispering her secrets to the stars. As she says this, the camera slowly zooms out of her face and then, we finally see the starry sky she’s been whispering to. A beautiful night sky, where the moon’s closeness stands out in front of the tiny stars, which are barely the size of the fireflies that mingle with them as they fly around.  

From this point on, with Sciel’s revelation, something very beautiful starts happening in this scene: the sky and the moon begin to reconnect with the actual sky and moon as witnesses. The same as the time they first met. The shot of the starry sky is a bridge between Sciel’s confession and Lune’s reaction to it. “Oh?”, Lune says, intrigued, encouraging Sciel to go on. Right after that, the shot of the starry sky changes and the camera focuses on Lune again. She gives Sciel a wide smile as she turns even further towards her. She doesn’t close the journal, but at least Sciel has all of her attention now. 

As Sciel begins explaining the origin of her intimate approach at stargazing, we see her in a wider shot than before. “It’s something my dad and I used to do”. There’s a wide space beside her, an empty spot left by the absence of her father. It’s just her talking to the stars now.

If I’m not mistaken, this is the only time in the game that Sciel mentions her dad and I think it’s no coincidence that she decides to tell Lune about him, of all people. Lune was there when Sciel was grieving him, so Lune must be somehow connected to the memory of her long-lost father. It’s easier for Sciel to talk to Lune about him, because Lune already knows about him. 

Lune’s reaction is to remain quiet and listen carefully, aware of the very personal territory this is heading into. In their world, talking about their parents can be a very delicate topic and, additionally, she witnessed firsthand how hurt Sciel was after the loss of her father. So, yes, she does know, and she’s probably getting a déjà vu feeling. 

As Sciel keeps opening up, recalling what her dad taught her, the camera, once again, brings us close to her face. “When I was scared…”, she glances at Lune, before rising her eyes towards the sky, where they will remain as she keeps talking. “…or anxious…”, she has a reminiscing look. She probably remembers moments with her dad as she looks at the stars, moments that warm her heart in the dark of the night. Light and darkness are, once again, a duality painted across her face.  

“…or even when I was happy…”, as Sciel says this, we see her distorted by the light of Lune’s journal. I like to believe that this could be a representation of how Lune sees what Sciel is saying. She can’t fully listen to her talking about her dad without thinking of her own parents. She probably never shared many carefree and heartfelt moments with them. Her relationship with her parents was distorted by their mission and so are her memories of them. Just like Sciel is in this shot. 

“He’d say…”. Lune’s still intently looking at Sciel, contemplating and understanding the beautiful nature of Sciel’s bond with her father. 

“…share it with the stars…”.  We see Sciel and the sky. The moon at the center, aligned with Sciel’s face. 

“When it’s hard to talk about things…”. Could she be looking at the moon as she says this? 

“The stars’ll understand”. The stars… Or the moon. A girl named after the moon, the one who is now listening to her as a fully grown woman, understood her that night, when it hurt so much to talk about things. The camera lands on the night sky once again as Sciel finishes speaking and it lingers there for a bit, in silence. The moon’s presence is hard to miss in the night sky. That’s probably what imprints Lune into Sciel’s habit, somehow: every time she talks to the stars and sees the moon, she remembers that night with Lune. 

Next time we see Lune, she is looking towards the sky too. Now she understands what Sciel was searching for in the stars. 

What Sciel seeks in the stars are answers about herself, about her own life. By encouraging this habit of talking to the stars, her father taught Sciel the importance of expressing and externalizing her feelings. Whatever she might be going through, even if it’s hard to voice, she can tell the stars about it. The stars are eternal, unlike the people she might lose, and they will listen silently and attentively, allowing her to figure herself out with no judgement. This habit could possibly be the foundation of Sciel’s emotional intelligence. That is the legacy her dad left her: work on yourself, grow fond of the beautiful world that surrounds you, build intimate bonds with it and let it help you build intimate bonds with those around you. 

What a beautifully tragic coincidence it is that, exactly the day she lost her father, Sciel met Lune under the starry sky. They might be different people from that day, fully grown now, at the edge of their lives, but the stars are the same that witnessed the moment they shared that night. This fact could be visually conveyed by the overhead shot in which we see them from the star’s perspective. They are at the edge of the cliff, each of them next to a different source of light, doing something that connects them with their long-lost parents.

As we see this image, a music box replaces the bawu and the piano in Lune’s campfire theme. The tender and youthful sound of this music could represent the memories of their childhood that might be silently flooding their minds but, in this context, it could also speak of the loss of innocence and the violent introduction into adult life that came with the loss of their parents. A loss of innocence that Lune and Sciel witnessed of each other, a loss that made them find each other under the night sky.

⋆.˚⭒.˚⋆.˚ ☾⭒. ˚ ⋆.˚ ⭒.˚

This analysis is fINALLY back!!! Sorry I took soOoOoOo long to post this new part, I actually struggled a lot with it. I have so many messy notes about this part of the scene so it was a bit hard for me to turn them into an organized and digestible text, especially as I was going through a writer’s block hwhdgfhwq I hope I did this part of the scene at least a bit of justice because it is so beautiful. 

If you’re still reading this despite the extremely uneven update schedule (if you can even call it that), thank you so much!! <333 I will absolutely finish writing this analysis, don't worry about that, but it will take some time. However, in the meantime, if you're interested in what my thoughts are about a specific part of the scene I haven't discussed yet, and you don't want to wait for the updates, or if you just want to talk about Scielune, I'm more than happy to chat! :D

[srspookypancakes]

I've been spending the last few mornings jotting down ideas and other things and browsing Pinterest for tutorials, tips, and visual inspiration to give me some artistic guidance… And what I've found a lot of are people saying things like, “It's extremely difficult; you need a big budget and an ultra-original idea for your game to be a bestseller and succeed; even if you follow the tutorials to the letter, you'll still fail; the key is in the assets…” And well, in part I guess they're right, in a way… but on the other hand, I think they should take their whiny little dicks out of their mouths and say things that make real sense instead of playing “the internet crybaby” with people who want to start in this projects. I know it's a difficult hobby, that it involves many steps and causes a lot of headaches, but you have to differentiate between people and what they are looking for with each project. In other words, if you are looking to monetize your work and make a living from it, then maybe you will be in the same boat as your colleagues say. But if, like me, what you're looking for is simply to create something that makes you proud and that you can share with others, leaving aside “budgets, legacies, and recognition,” then you can still enjoy the process and deliver something that may not be the best game ever created, but at least it's YOUR game and a fun experience to create and play. That's just my opinion, of course. P.T: Coincidentally, two out of three had links to their “video game development guides”… but I guess it was just a coincidence and not the typical “I'll scare you shitless and then sell you my snake oil as the universal solution to your problems” approach, because obviously people don't do that…

[srspookypancakes]

Well, I've been practicing some freehand strokes with a pixel art tool in my spare time and… holy shit, I have no doubt that the hardest part for me is going to be the art and music for the game. Writing and planning the scripts, situations, and everything else is fine, defining the aesthetic I'm looking for is also no problem, coordinating scenes and even programming will be difficult but I can handle it, but creating the sprites, designing the world artistically, and composing a cool soundtrack… that shit is going to monopolize most of my learning and practice, no doubt about it. What can I say, I'm not good at visual/sound art, but as they say, drawing is a matter of practice, time, and patience, and luckily I have all three (well, more or less xd).

[srspookypancakes]

Well, I already have the main tools installed, at least almost all of them, since I have to make a small investment of about 17€ in a pixel art tool that's on Steam and, from what I've been able to find out from reviews, forums, and searches, it's really cool and stuff. Although I'll probably use a free online tool first to learn how to manage things with tutorials. Honestly, I don't know how the project will turn out, but every time I look at more stuff, I get more excited about it. Now I just need to finish up some studies and get started on something that really interests me. I'm going to have to keep studying anyway, but at least I feel a little more clear-headed

[srspookypancakes]

Well, here I am back again to keep bothering you with my stuff. In today's episode, I'm going to tell you a little bit about the progress I'm making. I've already written the plot for the first mystery and what will probably be the demo, if I manage to get something out in the end. Honestly, writing is the part I'm best at, because it's the only thing I know how to do. I've also decided that the game will definitely be in a 2D pixel art style, since it's a style that I personally really like and find easier than 3D modeling or environments. I've also created a small visual tip using The Sims 4 from the first map, a museum. And to answer your question, yes, I use a free-to-play game to create things. Everyone adapts to what they have, and until March, when I finish something that's been driving me crazy, I don't have enough free time to fully immerse myself in learning new things. But I'm not going to just stare at the wall and forget about my ideas, because honestly, I'm seriously committed to getting this done, and I want to dedicate a few moments of my limited free time to it every day. And that's it, kisses and take care.

[srspookypancakes]

I designed this monstrosity with Paint, yes, I'm that cheap, but at least I don't mess around with free AI and say, “Hey, look, I'm an artist.” Go fuck yourself if you're one of those people. Anyway, this is the prototype map I've created and the little I have done (apart from a handful of ideas about mechanics, gameplay, story, and design). My idea is to create a coastal city by mixing some elements with the vibes of New England-type cities, but softened with some Mediterranean architecture. Yes, it sounds weird as hell, and I'll see how I do it or how it turns out. The marked locations are mainly places where the mysteries will take place, places where you can customize your character, or mini-game-type “side jobs.” As I said, I know the quality is terrible at the moment, but hey, I've just started, and if there's one good thing about the internet, it's that anyone can share whatever crap they can think of, so this is mine. As I said, I appreciate any advice, tools, or similar things to help me continue with this project. You can also ignore it or give it a like, that's up to you, buddy

[srspookypancakes]

Well, lately I've been mulling over an idea for a project I'd like to undertake in the coming years. It's a personal project with the sole intention of doing it for myself. If anyone else likes it, that's cool, but I don't want to turn my work into a “product.” The work in question is a “small” investigative horror video game, but with a slightly more lighthearted vibe, not as edgy and super dark as things have been lately. In fact, it's kind of like “Scooby-Doo made into a video game.” I have quite a few ideas, although I'll be releasing them little by little because I don't have a budget, I'm on my own, and I don't have a clue about programming or design, but I don't have any hobbies, so I said to myself, “Why not?” I'll upload what I come up with, but it will take a long time because I'm pretty lazy and, as I said, I'm building it on my own. Nothing else to say except that, thanks for your attention, and if anyone is interested, feel free to ask me questions, give me advice, tools, or whatever you think you can contribute.

[violet-reiter]

What the Prologue tells us about Lune and Sciel

There’s something very curious I noticed in one of my last playthroughs of Expedition 33: the first time we see both Lune and Sciel, we can’t talk to them, we can only see them perform as a part of the Gommage celebrations. So, their performances speak for them, in a way. I believe they could be telling us really interesting things. 

The first one we see is Lune. She’s playing the guitar on the side of the avenue that leads to the harbor. Sophie points it out as she and Gustave pass by. Judging by the way Saphie says this, it seems like she has heard Lune play before, but we don’t really know when she did. Does Lune only play for her friends or does she offer public concerts in special occasions such as the day of the Gommage? Does she annually play at the Gommage or is she doing it this year as a goodbye to Lumière? She’s a member of Expedition 33, as her uniform suggests (notice how she’s the first member of the main crew we see wearing her uniform), so maybe she plays a goodbye in the name of all expeditioners. When words aren’t enough, that’s when music speaks, right? I believe music is definitely Lune’s main ally when it comes to expressing feelings. 

Actually, if we join the crowd that surrounds her and listen to what she’s playing for a while, we realize something vERY interesting. She’s playing the instrumental base that we can find in two songs that will come up later in the game: Until Next Life and Aux Lendemains Non Écrits. Because they both share the same instrumental base, we could say that Lune is playing both of them. At this point, we don’t know their lyrics, but they actually display the main themes of the story and, with them, the truth of the world. This means that Lune is hinting at the truth of her world. 

I think it’s very fitting how Lune is the one who plays this truth to us. She’s the character that's most concerned and intrigued about the mysteries of their world and she dedicated her whole life to studying it. The only thing she has as a means to express herself in a personal way, something she does for herself simply because she likes it, is music, and through music it is that she tells us the truth of her world.

This reminds me a bit of how the ancient Greeks thought that music was the secret language of the world. Because of that, learning to appreciate and play music allowed you to understand the universe and become one with its harmony. Music is what brings Lune close to the truth of her world too, even though she doesn’t seem to be aware of it. With her guitar, she’s probably speaking about the tomorrows her own people will never get to write and hoping for a next life where they might be able to write them. She plays about loss, unknowing that loss is what created their world. 

When it comes to Sciel, she’s a bit harder to notice. She’s sort of hiding at plain sight (very Sciel thing to do, in my opinion). I say this because, maybe it’s just me, but if it weren’t for a Reddit post, I wouldn’t have noticed that she’s one of the women dancing at the harbor. All of the dancers look pretty similar, wearing the same outfit Sophie does, so I didn’t see Sciel at first, even though she’s at the front of the stage. However, if you look closer, you distinguish her nose scar and the Pictos tattooed on her neck, stark features that tell her apart from the other dancers. 

If you talk to the man who stands in front of the dance spectators, Henri, he mentions how crazy you have to be to etch chroma into your own skin. According to what we learn through his conversation with Sophie, these Pictos seem to be responsible for the chroma spectacle. The only dancer who has Pictos on her skin seems to be Sciel, so, probably, she’s the one throwing those charms around (we see her doing something similar later on, at the gestral arena). Maybe she’s trying to give her own personal touch to this dance, having chroma dance too and, this way, making it more impressive than usual. If there is a “usual”. Is this dance part of the annual Gommage celebration? We could actually ask more questions about it. The dancers are wearing flower necklaces, like Sophie, so are they women who are going to Gommage? We don’t know much about it, but we can speculate what this dance’s purpose could be.

The dancers wear white and red, which are the colors that seem to represent the imminent Gommage. They dance like the falling petals we see everywhere, carried by the salty breeze of the sea, something I understand as a representation of how fleeting life is in Lumière. However, the women are dancing in front of an expedition banner. A duality is present there: resentment, but also hope. Someday, their dance could be a celebration of life, but for that, they must keep fighting. 

Sciel represents that duality very well. She joined the expedition, and she went as far as to etch chroma into her own skin for it (something that, if I’m not wrong, only Lune did aside from her, a post about this is comiiiinngg). By doing so, she chose to fight for her people, to hope. However, she also knows very well that she might end up dying, just like maaaany expeditioners before her. Probably that’s why she’s wearing a flower necklace too: she empathizes with those who are about to lose their lives to the Gommage because she herself will probably lose her own life soon. Like Sophie tells Eloise: “My friend Sciel always says, do your best, either it works or it doesn’t”.