In Progress - Indie Game: DisplaceMen
你我金钱置换
Concept Design, Scene Art, Script
Collaborative Project with Xiner Lan (Director+Script+Engineer), Meichen Liu (Character Design+Engineer), Yuxin Chen (Music), Sherry Zheng (Concept Design+Engineer)
DisplaceMen is an indie game that will launch its demo in Spring this year.
In a world governed by the laws of "displacement"(置换), everything cherished, from pets to lovers, mothers, and even the self can be traded for money or random items like fried chicken, jewelry, or toys. The only requirement is to attain the “ownership” of whatever you want to “displace”. And as things are exchanged and bartered, they gradually slip into oblivion, their existence erased and their memories forgotten. No one will recall the presence of the displaced, and all that remains is a void.
You are a struggling artist, who has fallen under the spell of the stunning and enigmatic model, Chai Chai. Her captivating beauty has inspired your art, and you have become obsessed with uncovering the mystery that surrounds her.
To gain ownership over Chai Chai, to keep her for yourself and to unravel the enigma that surrounds her, you start to displace things for many reasons. However, as you navigate this seemingly never-ending path of exchanging, you begin to question the true nature of existence, the meaning of ownership and what it truly means to be remembered.
While everything is disposable and unaccountable, the only thing that remains constant is the fleeting and ephemeral nature of life. And as you continue on this quest, you are haunted by the knowledge that, in the end, even you too, will be forgotten and disappear without a trace.
The Visual Research Journal
(01)
Nadav Kander - Chongqing IV Sunday Picnic, 2006
(02) Zhang Kechun - Workers Taking Midday Rest beside a Bridge, Gansu, 2010
(03) Angels Wear White (2017). Two schoolgirls are assaulted by a middle-aged man in a motel. Mia, a teenager who was working on reception that night, is the only witness. For fear of losing her job, she chooses to keep silence.
(04) The Bad Kids (2020). A story that follows three children who unintentionally film a murder scene in a small seaside city.
(02) Zhang Kechun - Workers Taking Midday Rest beside a Bridge, Gansu, 2010
(03) Angels Wear White (2017). Two schoolgirls are assaulted by a middle-aged man in a motel. Mia, a teenager who was working on reception that night, is the only witness. For fear of losing her job, she chooses to keep silence.
(04) The Bad Kids (2020). A story that follows three children who unintentionally film a murder scene in a small seaside city.
THE TOWN
The northern coastal town in China was shrouded in a veil of clouds, a constant reminder of its isolation. In days gone by, it was a quiet fishing village, where life flowed at a leisurely pace and the people were close-knit. But in recent times, the winds of “displacement had blown in, together with rapid economic development that had tran”sformed the town beyond recognition.
Despite its rapid growth, the town still hasn’t to form a coherent industrial chain, dominated instead by individualistic and unregulated practices of displacement. The once serene atmosphere had given way to a sense of restlessness, as displacement had upset the delicate balance of life in the town.
The northern coastal town in China was shrouded in a veil of clouds, a constant reminder of its isolation. In days gone by, it was a quiet fishing village, where life flowed at a leisurely pace and the people were close-knit. But in recent times, the winds of “displacement had blown in, together with rapid economic development that had tran”sformed the town beyond recognition.
Despite its rapid growth, the town still hasn’t to form a coherent industrial chain, dominated instead by individualistic and unregulated practices of displacement. The once serene atmosphere had given way to a sense of restlessness, as displacement had upset the delicate balance of life in the town.
(05) Birdcage Inn (1998). Jin-a arrives at a small seaside motel with a goldfish. It is run by a couple who have a daughter and a son. They provide Jin-a with room and board and make a living by renting out rooms and taking a cut of the money she earns. Jin-a works at night for men and spends her daytime painting and watching the sea. Their son thinks he is in love.
(06) Suzhou River (2000). After getting out of prison, Mardar stumbles upon a woman, Meimei, who looks exactly like his long-lost lover. She plays mermaid show at a local restaurant.
(06) Suzhou River (2000). After getting out of prison, Mardar stumbles upon a woman, Meimei, who looks exactly like his long-lost lover. She plays mermaid show at a local restaurant.
THE LOVE STORY
In this frickle world, you wonder if true love ever happened?Awakened from the disorientation of displacement, memories of Chai Chai slowly surface. She is the "mermaid" who relentlessly pursues money fades into the night, unencumbered by sentiment for people or things. Displacing all that crossed her path with a beguiling blend of naiveté and cruelty, she saw herself as nothing more than a mere object. Her seductive and teasing provocations stems from a fatal curiosity, but her actions are not driven by self-interest. Chai Chai’s elusive, fragile sense of self imbued her with an unpredictable nature.
Chai chai, who once considered herself a worthless object, discovered her worth through the eyes of the painter and ultimately displaced herself.
(07) Detention (2017) is an atmospheric horror game set in 1960s Taiwan under martial law.
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The player is transported to a world of vivid, absurd colors through the character Fang's emotional journey when it comes to tender depths of her love for Mr. Chang. This illuminates the powerful potential of subjective storytelling.
(08) 「東京两國通運會社川蒸滊往復盛栄真景之圖」(Meiji 10) The woodblock print presents information in a horizontally oriented and flat perspective.
(09) The Red Strings Club (2018) is a cyberpunk narrative experience about fate and happiness featuring the extensive use of pottery, bartending and impersonating people on the phone to take down a corporate conspiracy. Its art shows the capacity of pixel illustration.
(08) 「東京两國通運會社川蒸滊往復盛栄真景之圖」(Meiji 10) The woodblock print presents information in a horizontally oriented and flat perspective.
(09) The Red Strings Club (2018) is a cyberpunk narrative experience about fate and happiness featuring the extensive use of pottery, bartending and impersonating people on the phone to take down a corporate conspiracy. Its art shows the capacity of pixel illustration.
THE WORLDVIEW
The bustling world is a paradox, where things can be displaced, and people possess an array of items. In this realm, the new becomes adored, while the old is cast aside, as the tired is replaced with the fresh and intriguing.
Objects, as we once knew them, have lost their essence in this world of constant change. Trends are now whimsical and bizarre, as one can adorn themselves with the guise of a spinach or celebrate birthdays with a cake resembling a microwave oven.
This world is a paradox, both alluring and absurd. Its charm lies not in luxurious leisure, but in the irrationality of a daily life filled with desire. It is a hollow world, yet with depth beyond the surface, its capriciousness making it impossible to label as merely shallow.