Hello, my dream is to share my OC's and make a Visual Novel.
Hi! Since childhood I have loved creating comics and making stories. Actually I started creating Katharsis in my head when I was 12. I've dreamed that in the future I'll manage to publish it. I wanted it to be a webcomic but I don't feel too confident in my drawing skills to draw a whole webcomic so I decided that maybe creating a visual novel would be a better option. I don't have to draw every panel and it gives me more freedom since I can make different routes. The minus is that I have to work on all the technical stuff 😭 But still, I hope that I'll manage to make it. Recently I started finally doing something with my ideas, I started drawing character sprites creating Katharsis in the RPG maker (I hope I'll manage it to look and work fine 😭). I always lived by the rule that I don't publish my OC's publicly and it's because I want to publish my series anonymously & I've always been scared that "what if I publish some drawing at 14 yo and then I'll manage to publish my series in the future and people will find this old ugly drawing" XD (now I'm adult). I've always been insecure about my skills XD Also it was for my future safety, maybe I've been overthinking it but I don't wanna be doxxed or anything (like if I shared it on somewhere I put my name and face). But I wonder if maybe now isn't the time I should start openly publishing and talking about my OC's? Since I finally started the project. Because of how used I am to that I never talk about my OC's publicly I feel very anxious about that for some reason though...
The girl from my PFP (at least in the moment I'm writing this) is one of the protagonists, Rei. Actually it's a bit funny because the two protagonists are named Ray and Rei XD. I'm a bit scared of sharing my art because additionally now there are bad times for artists in terms of AI 😭 But okay, I'm not sure if I did it right but I added some pictures that are supposed to be AI disturbance ig... I'm still not sure what nickname I want to have as a creator so I signed by my current username for now XD I know the filter is too strong but as I said I'm anxious about the AI, idk 😭
And it's Ray ^ the main protagonist :3 He's half Polish half British. He'll have the nickname Shin. I put an easter egg in his design because he has pin of Rei from Evangelion because haha, the two protagonists Rei and Ray with a pin of Rei XD The nickname is not from Shinji tho, it was his name before he was named Ray (in very early projects when I was a kid I was inspired by manga so I gave all my OCs Japanese names XD).
These are supposed to be sprites for the game. I want the story to talk about serious or sometimes even taboo topics, mental health, traumas, I want to show world's cruelty and suffering. I want it to be a psychological horror and philosophical series. The motive of how the world is not black or white also will be an important thing. I'm a bit scared tho, that people with bad critical thinking & reading comprehension skills may not understand it and idk, accuse me of being "problematic" because of something or, idk, for example because my OC did this or that XD So at the beginning I'm also saying that some characters may do questionable things, and the characters are not black or white because people are not black or white (I'm talking about morality not race ofc XD) and even tho someone may do bad things, them having good traits too won't mean that I "excuse their actions" or that the bad actions of the character are not bad. I don't want antagonists to be shown as heartless monsters and protagonists as perfect creatures that do no wrong. Because humans are complex creatures. And that's what fascinates me in them, it's why I love humans and why I love learning about other cultures, I love other animals too and I love the world's complexity. And it's why I want to show it in my game. In general, I want it to be rather 18+ because of all that and ofc because it's horror there WILL be triggering stuff. I mean, at least I hope I'll manage to do it all as deep as I want to XD But yeah, I want it to be deep so I'm a bit scared that not everyone may get it and they'll miss the whole point of the series... But I really hope I'll find my audience!!
The lore
Okay sorry, I talk a lot but I should talk about the lore too XD Like, more about what exactly it is. So, in Katharsis the multiverse theory is true (I also believe in this theory myself). The main character, Ray (Shin), will accidentally teleport himself to another universe with a strange device he found. The universe he accidentally teleported himself into is called Universe 306. The universes has their own numbers, Ray (Shin) is from Universe 307 (mirror of our real life universe). He will meet Rei, the owner of the strange device (that kinda looks like a wrist watch). She wanted to teleport herself to U307 but failed and the device teleported itself without her. It's how Ray (Shin) found it, it just suddenly fell before him, he messed with it from his curiosity and well it's how he ended in U306. Unfortunately, the watch didn't work anymore so they had to fix it. So they shared a goal, they both want to travel to U307. Btw U(number) = universe (number).
Here I want to add some RPG elements. I want it to be visual novel but also intertwine with RPG mechanics, I find such games really cool so yeah. It's the most complicated element... But I hope I'll learn and manage the mechanics of making that...
Okay, and later after the RPG element they'll meet another character - Mayumi. The mysterious girl is a princess of Kumikinang Tala, a country in U366 (don't confuse with U306). Mayumi asked Rei for help with a clan slash unofficial underground country slash kinda cultish umm people, race, clan, idk I struggle with how to name it because they kinda have their own culture but they're mix of every race and they all have one surname but it's unofficial underground metropolis-country and well. They are called Meguriya's. They have a Katharsis ability and thanks to the ability (I won't dwell into details now) they can create an artificial universe that will be a bridge between life and death - it's the goal they're working on. In Universe 366 reincarnation doesn't exist. And it's why Meguriya's want to invent reincarnation for U366 with this plan, unfortunately they have to sacrifice a lot of human souls for that and that's why they're the whole world's enemy.
There are universes that are in contact with each other, they have visas and stuff (no, Rei doesn't have a visa, she lived in U306 illegally XD) but they have a rule that they can't contact first with beings from another universes and just tell them about it all if they're not on this level of knowledge/advancement. It's why Ray (Shin) had two decisions - either his memories will be erased and he will be sent home, or he can join them and help them as an outsider since Meguriya's are a bit sensitive topic to share to the public. And well, he chooses to join them. It's how they'll go to U366 and their journey will start.
U366's languages
Btw I took our real life world languages but the countries are NOT based of the countries of languages they use, since it's a different universe and there are similarities (like human species, the same sounding languages) but there are also a lot of differences (human races are more diverse like they can have elf ears or tails for example, the languages doesn't match the world's cultures at all, technology is way more advanced...). I really hope people will get it and won't get mad why the characters don't look like the culture/race of the language they use. No, I don't mean that they'll all be white but that their race and culture does not align with the race and culture of the IRL language they use. So you know, someone speaking Mandarin doesn't mean that they're Chinese and that their culture is China copy paste. You know what I mean, how in series like Genshin there are fantasy countries that are based on real life cultures. I don't want it. I want to get creative, to maybe get some inspiration from various human cultures but do not base a country of an existing culture. I want to try to make my own thing, not an earth copy-paste (I hope I'll manage it!). As I said before, I find humans, cultures and all that fascinating so I hope I'll create something that is somehow different and somehow similar to our real world. I want to intertwine differences and similarities to our world. It's an alternative universe so it's totally possible for something to be similar to our world and the other thing to be completely different. I want people to remember that to avoid any drama or misunderstanding.
Please, please, please, if you are my targeted audience or another OC, indie game / animation or a webcomic creator interact with me!! I really hope I'll find anyone interested in all that....