Oneirology Online

---

in our dreams/online, are we alone?

For the past 2 years, I've lived far away from my favorite people. The only times I've seen them have been through Internet communication, and when they appeared in my dreams. I started wondering about the differences between these places. 

I asked some friends to read a script and send me a picture of their faces. I manipulated the audio and image and used them to make one of the three dreamy vignettes in the game. 

The second one is a confrontational, guilt-trippy monologue. 

The third one depicts a personal journey through cyberspace, including ASMR videos, video chatting, cult videos, satellite footage, porn, and online maps. It examines the ways I've dealt with the distance from home, often fetishizing personal places like my favorite Mexican restaurant, and experiences like  sharing slideshows of our favorite movies.

Sweet dreams!

Thanks to: Tyler Jordan, Marissa Kamenetsky, Brandon Kinter, Chloe Murphy, Simeon Murphy, Charles Partida, Amanda Rae, and Hayley Thomas.

I can't feel anything...

Can you take me back to that sweet summer?

Crepuscolo dell’estate...

火災...

Can you help me out of the dark?

Would you share some stopped time with me?

Will you find my body?

the dark is a soft, warm pressure combines text vignettes, mini-games, video, and visceral sound to tell a story about nostalgia, regret, isolation, and our relationships to our bodies. It makes frequent references to depersonalization/derealization and was partially my way of asking myself "what does it mean to be inside my body?" and "how do we connect to other people? Is there really a way to feel what someone else is feeling?" 

It's structured as a series of one-way text transmissions addressed to the player, each one interrupted by an additive poem and a short gameplay scene. The speaker begs the player to "find" their body and help them out of the dark.

I created the text, music, sound design, video, 3D art, and some of the 2D art between 2021 and 2023. My very talented friends created most of the 2D art. Those people are (in alphabetical order): JP Eikam https://instagram.com/jpeikam Tyler Jordan https://tylerjordancomposer.com and Hayley Thomas https://hayleythomas.space

Alicia Huenefeld https://instagram.com/aliciahuenewhatnow provided anatomy consulting.

My incredible sister Chloe https://instagram.com/chlothemurph edited the text.

Featured in Indiepocalypse #35! https://pizzapranks.itch.io/indiepocalypse-35

THE FOREST OF NOISE is my first game. It is a text-centric 3D game that takes place in a shifting forest maze. The player must listen to the noises coming from different lights in the maze to start the next scene. THE FOREST OF NOISE asks some questions about death: how we get there, how it affects those left in its wake, how we deal with the absence it leaves, is there anything afterward...

I made the text, sound design (using Wwise), 3D modeling (in Blender) and programming (C# in Unity) in 2020-2021. 

It is available to download on itch.io.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

let the deathly ǹ̫̦̬̠̦̲̤̗̂̌͌̀͂̋͌̕͢o̡̡͎͕͇̯͍͆̓͐̒̿̈̽̒ͅḯ̛̤̮̹̲̜̳̘͔̖̬̱̘̹̺̣͂͑͊̀̐̓̉͆͒̉̆́̿̉͢͞͡ͅͅs̢͇̪̩̤̲̪̝͛̓̆̆͑́͝͞ę̺̘̻̣͖̫͕̜̾̈͆̎͌̒͊̒̐͢͞ guide you through a shifting forest maze with a text-based tragedy-strength story.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

•walk•

             •through•

                                       •the•

 •forest•

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

•••••••closeyourEYESandlisten

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

find    •             every    •             light    •

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

consider•death

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************