screenshot of Oblivion

Oblivision is a narrative game. I was inspired by Chinese ancient story Meng Po. In Meng Po, the soul of the dead will drink the tea of oblivion to forget everything, before it becomes human again. The player will perceive the emotion in the story and help souls forget their life.

Background and Character designs credit to: Freeze

Music credits to: Yomi

Concept Design

It is a narrative game. The protagonist is a ghost who loses memory and works in the hell. She is the 17th Meng Po in this area. Other ghosts call her Meng 17th. Meng 17th needs to deal with the souls who are going to become human again. They will tell their stories about how they died and their life to the player. Player needs to choose the ingredients to make the tea of oblivion. When the soul drinks the tea of oblivion, it will forget everything.

screenshot of Oblivion

*Tea of Oblivion:

The tea of oblivion consists of eight types of tears: the tear of birth, regret, illness, old, bitter, lovesick, separation, and the sorrow of Meng Po. This defination derives from ancient Chinese myth and Buddhism. In Buddhism, people will have eight kinds of suffering throughout their life. Player needs to evaluate the emotions in the soul’s life story and make the tea of oblivion. For example, if the character lost his beloved when he was a human, player is supposed to add the tear of lovesick to the tea.

*The Hell:

The hell in Chinese myth is quite different from the hell in western culture. Every soul will go to the hell and be judged by the officials in the hell. Innocent soul will go to the river of Oblivion. Guilty soul will receive punishment. In the game, the hell is pretty modern. It is devided into numerous districts. Every districts has a Meng Po and other basic officials. And it has applied many automatic systems. The hell exists where people believe mysterious power will judge the soul. The system will collect the eight flavour tears from the human in this region. So everyday the amount of tears is not sustainable.

*Emotion load degree:

Because Meng Po is supposed to deal with human’s emotion and memory, she will be influenced by them and has emotion load degree. If the degree is very high, Meng Po may not stand it and vanish. This is why Meng Po usually lose memory before they become Meng Po.

Character Design

· Meng 17th

Background story

Meng 17th had mental disease before she died - she had short-term amnesia. She couldn’t remember things happened seventeen days before. She tried not to pay emotion to others, nor have too inimate relationship with others, in order not to be frustrated or hurt others.

Current situation

Because she used to have difficulty in perceiving memory, she could stand very high level of emotion load degree. Thus, she was chosen to be the 17th Meng Po.

· Meng 16th

Background story

She was a painter. When the Messenger brought her to the hell, the pieces that store memory in the soul were lost. So she became the 16th Meng Po to restore her memory.

Current situation

She reach to the extremity of her emotion load degree, thus her soul almost collapse. Fortunately, she had completed enough tasks. She could choose to become human or to be higher level official in the hell. She chooses the later one because she thinks the life in the hell is interesting.

· Xiao Gui

Background story

He was born in rural area. His parents left him and went to city to work. Xiao Gui became a theft because of his poor family background. In an earthquake, he and another kid were burried under ruins. He gave his water and food to that kid and died.

Current situation

As the souls that are hard to judge, he stayed in the hell and became a basic officials. His job is bring the souls to the river of oblivion. Currently he lost his memory about his life. He doesn’t remember his name. So other officials call him Xiao Gui.

· Yan

Background story

Yan was born in antient China. She was a loyal lady but she disguised as a man and became an imperial court. She dealt with several cases, but was sentenced because she was found that she was a woman.

Current situation

Yan has taken charge of this district for hundreds of years. Yan is also a code name referring those who judge the guilt of souls. Yan likes animation, so she often dresses like characters in animation. As a high level official, she will stay as “Yan” for a very long time, unlike Meng Po and Xiao Gui.