DONNE TOI LA LUNE
Donne Toi la Lune is a dark fairy tale built on a lifetime of existing inspirations and myths within my universe.
The lore unfolds through illustrated screenshots of a video game from another reality.
WHAT IS DONNE TOI LA LUNE?
WHAT WILL IT BECOME?
This project will be an illustrated guidebook full of lore and fake gameplay info, as well as a soundtrack packaged to look like an actual game,
I spent much of my childhood in a very isolated setting. Video games offered me the freedom to explore worlds and stories as if I were living them.
I have no interest in actual game development, but I love the ‘what if’ factor. Real gameplay is amazing, but, for me games have always been about art, emotion, and experiences which is what I hope to provide with this project.
This is a dark fairy tale of a game that doesn’t exist in our reality. One we can explore only through a lost guidebook that’s leaked into our world, piecing together the lore and wondering if perhaps this game might have held more than the remnants that made it into our realm suggest.
WHY A FAKE GAME?
A raw talk about why I started working on this project
Support the creation of this project on Patreon and get behind the scenes process journals, lore and works in progress for as little as $1 a month
Gallery of finished works and lore
'Memories seem to wail at you from beneath the deadfall of the forest with each step you take. Old echoes of a life you can’t recall, yet long to remember. A golden glow in the distance makes you uneasy. You haven’t truly forgotten, have you? You’re haunted by a familiar light'
Memories truly can be a weight. We dwell on them, we silence them, we drown them in noise. What are the consequences of forgetting, and how will we suffer if we remember? The protagonists of this story are often faced with their shattered pasts though you, as the player, would be in charge of helping them to remember, or living with them in ignorance.
'In the dilapidated ruins of the castle garden, you find the graves. Gilded hands of a saintly corpse float in quiet beckoning above the shrine, inviting you in. Your heart drops as you take a step toward the shadows. You’re not alone. You sense someone long forgotten.'
An atmospheric study of part of the 'Castle-Tree Forest' A place where the trees naturally grow in structural shapes. Some wonder if they're mimicking the structures of another world only they can see. It wouldn't be the first time the nature of this world chose to do so. Some of the very largest of these trees form the Ochre Queen's castle, though here we only see the forest's outer edges, just before the trees stop growing like buildings and start being sensible again.
'In the light of the yellow meadow, static stirred a memory. Golden tears fell as the scales broke apart leaving you alone and wondering if anyone had ever been there at all' If you find yourself exploring the Castle Tree Forest later in the game, you will come upon a sad spirit who leaves you to ponder the questions that have been haunting you throughout your journey, 'What happens when you create a god? What about when you kill one?'
'Those long gone from this world used to worry over this forest, searching for the faces of friends and enemies in dreadful eagerness. Mourning cries mixed with chants of conquest still whisper through the wind here’ More world exploration for my fake video game Donne Toi la Lune. I’ve painted parts of the old castle graveyard with its carved death masks before, but this area exists outside of that, deep within the Castle-Tree Forest. The rocks here are strange, echoing the death masks from the castle graveyard. It’s said that before the death masks were being carved, the faces of those soon to die would grow on the stones here before they passed. Whether that’s truth or a legend that died out along with the faces of those on the rocks is unknown. Perhaps it’s merely another burial site. If you dig deep enough, would you find bodies here?
You’ve Surrendered to the Nightmare. So you’ve given yourself over to that bitter sleep? Though the way is bloody and the wounds still haunt you, you may pull from the source of your muse and return to the path where your body now lies without a soul to guide it. ---- Death screen for the Huntsmink
'As I have blinded those that loved me, I myself have become blind to the dangers of being so loved.'
You’ve Succumbed to the Dream. If you’ve met with an untimely end, you can call upon your sacred muse and you may return to the path from whence you were vanquished. But be warned, my dear, you may yet be haunted by that which drove you so deep into the sleep. ——— Death screen for the Ochre Queen
I love imagining the anthropomorphic protagonists of this story suddenly tossing their clothes aside to run on all fours. It seems so healing and freeing for them. Something they dearly need in the often miserable tale of their lives.
You've fallen into the longest sleep
I’ve been exploring how the normally anthropomorphic characters might shift into a wilder form as a way to heal themselves (be it mentally or physically) Playing with ideas through these small drawings has not only been incredibly fun, but it helps me process ideas in the slow way I need to.
You can't run from this. You're losing signal
What you’ve done cannot be undone. Will you carry this weight? Or will you forget and fade away into the longest sleep? A decision made is not always a weight lifted. Once we act upon something, we then have to live with it and this can be almost as unbearable until we find our footing on new ground and make something out of the broken pieces. This scene takes place before the opening of my fictional video game, Donne Toi la Lune, moments after the Huntsmink committed what would be considered one of the most vile acts in the Queendom. Red stains on his hands, tears on his face, he knows that everything he’s ever loved is over. A decay will settle in his mind and spread throughout the spiralling landscape leaving shadows deeper than the queen’s light can reach. How would you grieve such a loss? With whom would you remember?
Your Lamp Can’t Reach Us, Little Unicorn, We’re Light Itself ‘There in the Hauntling wood, you felt a thrumming beneath the earth. Distant wailing like the cries of a dying star filled your ears before you saw them. You cast your lantern, but the light of them made a mockery of all that you know' If you meet with those who cannot be returned unto themselves by your light, you’ll have no choice but to run or choose their death and hope you survive to reach them beyond the veil’ Our lady of golden light, the Ochre Queen, futilely casts her lantern in an attempt to restore the souls of her pursuers that taunt her with the starlight echo of the Muse she so loves and cannot find.
‘Deep within the Hauntling wood, your golden light begins to fade, scarcely worrying the shadows that slowly become your own. Absorbed, you let yourself fade into the growing darkness.’ It’s said that the queen’s battles are best fought quickly lest she overwhelm and lose her head which prompts a death screen. When this happens, and as long as you aren’t in battle, you can activate 'forme savauge' to recover your life. In this form, you're more wild and true to yourself, thus allowing your mind to slip away into healing.
Did You Ever Stop to Think About the Consequences of Creating a God? What About Killing One? ‘ Remember the days when you’d wait for me at my mountain Before you forgot my teachings beneath your own ego Before the shadows grew beyond her light Before the darkness hid my heart and made you forget me And now, the weight of a memory returns to you, and you’ll bear it indeed.’ Environmental concept for Donne Toi la Lune, featuring the mountain of the black sun fox, Muse of Tenacity, and first love of the Huntsmink among the three Muses.