At its core, “Colourspill” is an unconventional coming-of-age love story about loving imperfectly. Coming-of-age, in this case, is a more general emotional maturity—not specifically the transition from childhood to adulthood—and love, not as romance, but in terms of the ability for one human to deeply recognize and care for another. It’s unconventional because of the player’s unique role in this story and the mechanisms used to push the emotional conflict to the forefront.
This quest explores emotional entanglement, co-dependency, creative parasitism, grief, trauma, identity loss, existential survival, impermanence, and friendship.
“Colourspill”
Paper Prototype of a Cyberpunk 2077 Questline
Design Goals
- Sharpen my storytelling instincts
- Practice shaping the moment-to-moment experience of a story into a meaningfully interactive questline
- Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of Cyberpunk 2077’s setting
- Tell an unmistakably Cyberpunk story
- Create nuanced and believable original characters
- Explore something competing worldviews through organic, emotionally charged character-driven conflict
- Craft emotions (earn?) + something about player agency
Two trauma-bonded street musicians acquire tech to synchronize their minds and embark on a series of all-or-nothing neural-linked performances, hoping to preserve their unraveling bond, while V navigates an ethically dubious corporate experiment and becomes the unwitting conduit through which the musicians confront the reality of their friendship.
“Colourspill” by I Monster inspired many of the themes and concepts explored in this questline.
Limn
21st Century Tank Girl - Jamie Hewlett
This character portrait by Jamie Hewlett is beautifully captures/is in-line with the muted intensity that I envision for Limn’s character. Her
Characters
Νόησις
(Noesis)
David Bowie - The Man Who Fell To Earth
This image of David Bowie in a promotional poster for the film The Man Who Fell to Earth captures the quiet confidence I envision for Noesis’ character/the character of Noesis for several reasons:
Noesis is a street musician who romanticizes suffering, mistaking momentum for healing. Limn is a street musician who intellectualizes emotion while Noesis is a street musician who sanctifies suffering. Both cannibalize their unresolved grief. Limn perceives Noesis’ devotion as grotesque deification while Noesis perceives Limn’s stagnation as glorified emotional suicide. Both are right.