New Segment Of The Dreamworld

Concept:

A segment of the dreamworld, mirroring the dreams/nightmares of a precocious child. The child would presumably be one of considerable scholarly potential (or maybe had a couple too many ketsari-shakes). There would be a minor component of the area in the real world, in which all of the Freudian building blocks of the dream area would be put into place. In the real world, the child will have fallen into a deep, unbreakable sleep. The player will be tasked with bringing the child back to life.

Hopefully, some additional information regarding the dream world could be put into play, perhaps excerpts from Belerin's Codex of the Planes. Some alternate way that the player could be sent into the dream world would also have to be introduced, although in a non-trivial way.

The area itself would be a discontinuous series of mini-segments which could be traveled between by triggering key events (and perhaps through random shifting, to simulate the dreamer's consciousness). It would be primarily puzzle-oriented, and would perhaps be accessible to only one person at a time, and solvable once per reboot. I'm going with a structure that puts four-five different segments into play at once, each one representing both minor and major fears that the child has. There will be a time-limit that the player can spend within a given segment. If no significant progress is made within that time period, the dream will shift, and the player will find himself in a new segment. Once the player "solves" the area, it will remain static in its set position. A short story sequence will unfold, and the player will find himself in another segment.

Upon completing the minor segments, the player will find himself in one specific segment that will not change. This segment will represent the core of the problem, and its completion will wake the child in the real world. It will most closely mirror the child's real environs, and will reveal who the deliverer of the curse is.

Segments

The following are simply concept ideas. Ideally, each segment would have one or more Freudian block in the real world which it builds off of. A fear of the child's, obstructing one of his hopes, etc. Each one will need some overarching puzzle/obstacle to overcome.

• A labyrinth, similar to the one constructed by Daedalus in the Greek myth. Movement would inevitably hedge you closer and closer to the center. In the center would be a fearsome beast. A trick mechanism for being able to leave the labryinth would have to be employed (i.e. a twist on Ariadne's unraveling ball of twine). If the child is the Patrician's daughter, this dream would clearly be influenced by the Maze in the Patrician's garden, but altered into a darker and deeper version.

• A scarified version of the child's home, with one chamber being conspicuously kept locked. Play would involve searching for the key to the chamber, successfully evading the demonic counterpart to the child's father, or perhaps stepmother (If proceeding with the original plan of using the Patrician's daughter, use an evil counselor like Saevan). Inside of the chamber, there will be the corpses of numerous children.

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