Not... really? I have a basic idea of the plot and ideas I want to get across but have yet to fully decide how to realize it. Although basically you can expect TWM family issues with player awkwardly stuck in the middle of it.
Dorian's OneShot Analysis Insanity:
Defiance and how the World Saved itself.
Yesterday I had found the an amazing animatic for the game. The Sad Machine x Shelter One
After listening to it along with a beta version of one of the tracks I spiraled down into searching for a lot of meaning in the game. I shared this in a discord server and thought releasing it into the wild if anyone is interested. These are a little mixed but if you want something to read I guess it works :>!
The insane rambling in question.
I found the usage of the line "I'll give them shelter like you've done for me" and how it's used along the animatic amazing, specially the three instances where it happens. Because in a way EVERYONE in Oneshot even during the darkest hour of the world was just that. I think part of the point of Solstice is not only showcasing the world as this dark and awful place, but tell the player the things the author saw in the world. It would be weird that the author chose to create the simulation with a dying world, right? Why not just build it as before the sun went out, he was perfectly able to do so I think. But he specifically wanted to depict the hardship, or better yet the will everyone to persist despite the it. The defiance of fate with each doing it in their unique way.
Now that I replayed through a good chunk of the refuge a line got me thinking.
"Disheartened, most people abandoned their research and resolved to peacefully live out their final years."
"But... some people did the opposite."
"Even though saving the world was impossible, they didn't want our existence to be in vain."
While the first line sound more like a defeat, I think someone like the author would understand. By choosing living in peace instead of despair they stay defiant to the calamity looming over them.
Calamus standing as the big brother even when there would be no reason, Alula and him would die anyway. And yet he strikes forward. Alula in exchange a ray of sunshine that slips by the dark.
Ling still serving and greeting clients with a smile while now more than any time he would be excused to close.
George doing the same still classifying books even if there's a possibility there would be no one to read them in the near future.
Lamplighter giving up his body so others don't have to face darkness, to stretch the normalcy for a little longer.
Magpie even when losing his collection sets up shop in hopes of starting again.
Kip even with resources stretched using every second she has to research buy time.
Mason a bastion of life in the middle of a city that slowly forgets what fields, crops or even plain trees look like.
Kelvin a safe haven for those who want to give into despair.
Prophetbot relaying a message thousands still cling on to.
Silver even in her hopelessness still tending to duties of a head engineer.
Maize, her sacrifice a plea for even just one more day for others. And everyone else just choosing to keep going.
There's acts of defiance against the end at every corner of the world. Of course the Author would want not only show a peaceful world, but one that chose to keep going until bodies failed, servos snapped and phosphor dimmed. Wouldn't you feel safe with them? They were each other's shelter, and in exchange the Author decided to do the same, an attempt at creating a new home.
Kindness and love leading to more of it.
Ironically, it's the Author's closest circle the ones I think are closest to the despair others refused to engage with. Proto spiteful at copies at what was, Cedric unable to come to terms with said world, only Rue being the one closer to achieving some form of peace.
Of course the robot replaced by a copy would reject a new home.
Of course the more human like is still grappling with the dilemma of reality.
Of course the talking animal finds it easiest to engage with the fiction of this world until its real.
And can you blame any of them? Can you blame the three who still remember their home, their father? Do they lament missing some final moments with him due to the creation of The World Machine?
Speaking of, the second usage of the shelter lyric being the World Machine. Yet again and act of defiance, of belief, is the one that saves everything.
Niko believed in The World Machine not because of any premise of what's real but again as a defiance to the concept of this world being fake. If they were able to be comforted, to laugh, to love the people of this world then why does the realness of it matter?
Niko is the one supposed by prophecy to save the world, yes. But that wouldn't have been possible if not for every wonderful person they met along the way. It would've been easy to disconnect from the World and push forward to save themselves, but at every point Niko is still adamant in believing. Even when Proto's words broke them, when Cedric's denial pushed them back, when Rue's hopelessness was at is biggest. Niko was the chosen messiah because they had the empathy to look back, to get attatched and stretched their hands to all those people. Defiance yet again when faced with doom. An innocent belief in everything, everyone in THE World Machine as a whole. That small spark of belief that truly saved this world. Again Niko's role is only possible because the world chose to be kind. In various ways the world saving itself with Niko just being the spec of hope needed to push it forward.
Give them shelter like you've done for me.
Finally, the player and Niko. If not for the player Niko would be lost, either woken up alone or stranded in the depths of digital purgatory. It is player's defiance of the rules of this world the thing that allows the happy ending. That rejection of moral dilemma for an "I want both". It would be called childish, reckless, misguided. But that's what this game is about, not giving into despair, into the unfairness the world throws at you. What if I want Niko and The World to be happy? What are you gonna do about it? Your actions as a player save Niko, just as Niko saves The World Machine and the World Machine saves everyone, while everyone from the start were their own salvation with their actions.
This is a little more personal of a paragraph so feel free to skip it. I do share intense love for Niko, it hurts me deeply to see a child face so bravely what would break others. I would break and let defeat take me over, but not Niko. I find the comfort of them as a character something that inspires me to keep going. The unapologetical joy that comes from them is something that has allowed me to face some of my own stuff. When you see Niko as real, I like to think it as the emotions they make you feel as a character. Just like the NPCs made Niko cry and laugh the same goes to the player and Niko. They are not real, but the impact they have in people is. And isn't that what matters? Not your presence in the world, but the things you do.
There's a line in one of the trailers that goes:
"The world is ready for you. Are you ready for it?"
I truly love this question, since it yet again defies the concept of the falseness of the world. It receives you with open arms despite the dark and you can do the same. It's a choice, one that you must make. I truly think Oneshot is a game about love. About embracing each other during adversity, death, fear, grief. Of loving so deeply everything around you that even when its gone something remains with you, and if not with you with those that come after, and beyond.
I love this game so much.
I REALLY forgot to answer since I was indecisive on which word could be my favorite sorry!!! My I guess I would go with "Halal" mostly because a friend of mine long ago turned it into a vocal stim I can't stop using.
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