Tali Munning Illustration Thesis Spring 2020
Mysterra: That Witch Will Be
This project takes form as a hybrid pitch packet/guidebook for a video game idea titled Mysterra: That Witch Will Be. The basic story of the game is about the playable character, Mushroom Witch, starting in a cheerful fantasy world, but slowly realizing it is actually a false reality they created in order to avoid accepting a terrible event that occurred in the real world they left behind. The pages include character designs and descriptions for the two forms of the Mushroom Witch, as well as the Bubble Witch and the Lantern Witch, two non-playable characters who help the player on their journey. Other work-in-progress pages show the “minimonsters” that the player fights, locations such as the Bubble Witch’s house and Lantern Witch’s cart, and the game’s armor system. The final pages show environments containing and have descriptions of the boss monsters, large and powerful creatures that represent Mushroom Witch’s journey and that they must defeat to progress past. The game concept serves as a broader allegory around the hypothetical player’s choice to either stay in the fantasy, or go to the real world; choosing the latter allows them to continue the game, thus allowing them to “grow up”, face the boss monsters, and accept change within themself.