MEMENTOS

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***Charlie's Addition***
Going based on the idea I added to the universe notes. A Momento is linked with a specific individual, and can even be
linked with several individuals (maybe have a cool brother/sister pair), and no one outside of these individuals can interact
with the momento, as it appears to be an ordinary object. To better explain this, I need to explain how a momento is formed.
In extremely rare instances, a very small region of spacetime will compress more than the area around it, and in order to
return to equilibrium, it will uncompress to match the rest of the area again. If an individual happens to be in this area,
they experience all of the stuff that they would have experienced had the compression of time progressed that far normally.
However, their mind can't really handle it, because it is basically shoving many different lifetimes into their head all
at once. A momento is an object which was also present when this unusual compression occurred, it appears within all
the lifetimes that they experienced. When the individual interacts with it, it brings back memories of what is going 
to happen at any point of the compression. ie. The glasses don't really change how someone sees something, but they provoke
intense memories in that character, essentially of how the future looks.

Updated based on my convo with HoG:
Momentos won't allow you to just see the future whenever you want. You are seeing memories, which you've basically forgotten
and they have to be triggered by something else. The Momento is your mental link to the memories, and the trigger is what
actually causes you to remember it (maybe a familiar face or item). In addition, I imagine each Momento resulting in different
types of memories: like the glasses would give visual memories, probably more skewed by the persons mind.

Now, in terms of having some type of limit to using these objects, we came up with the idea, that every time you
relive one of these memories, it takes that time away from the time you have to stop the end of the universe. You go
through maybe some small memory cutscene, and we subtract a noticeable amount of time from the countdown clock. Important
memories will be obvious, so you don't miss them, but we can have a decent number of small but cool memories, more than
the player can actually view in one run through of the game. It adds replay value, give us more character building moments,
and introduces choice for the player.

@Clay
These are my ideas, going based on the stuff I've come up with, since it will fundamentally affect how a lot of this
will work. I'm aiming for each type of momento to express memories in a different way, each one having its own
advantages and quirks.

-Glasses: Visual memories with some slight dialogue, skewed based on this characters perception of the situation.
-Camera: Visual memories, more accurate of reality than the glasses, but very broken up. Basically like a slideshow of
things related to the situation, still shots of people and objects relating to it. No dialogue component.
-Earrings: Audio equivalent of Glasses. Lots of dialogue with slight visuals, perception influenced.
-Tape Recorder: Audio equivalent of Camera.
-Paintbrush: Visual memories, but very overexaggerated and highly stylized. No audio components.
-Microphone: Audio memories, done in the form of songs. Dialogue will basically play along with the background music
as if it were a sing-along.
-Key: I kind of want this to be the final Momento, the 7th, and the character who holds this one, is that mysterious 
person who helps to bring the others together behind the scenes. I'm not sure what this momento should do, or if we
should ever even explain it, since a bit of mystery is good.

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***clay***
that's a cool idea, charlie, and it's how each character sort of "copes" with all of that information that differentiates how their memento works. i added some more ideas and possible uses down at the bottom, but it would be great to get more.

9pm CST 23.6.12:
@Charlie 
It's all open to change, as far as I'm aware--it is a group project--, but I think Jake originally wanted the glasses character to be the one who brought the characters together, at least in this game. The idea was that the glasses let him see who people were, and the gameplay was centered on using what you learned from them to prove to each character that their memento belonged to them, etc. But both ideas are cool, and I'm not certain how to put the key to use right now, aside from your idea. 
@Jake, what do you think?

but yeah, here's another possibility:
rather than have a timer to the End of the World, have it where as you learn more, the world crumbles more. That way it isn't a hard timer, but one based on your own progress. You'd never have to stop playing before you're ready--key events would be driven by the player. As for the functionality of the glasses, how about this: the character does not immediately realize anything out of the ordinary about his glasses, just an odd quirk here or there, things others don't notice, things at the edges of his vision. as he picks up clues to the real nature of himself and his glasses, he sees more and more with them (and therefore, the world gets more and more fantastical--or more and more corrupt, since it also means the world is falling apart) until eventually you can only (bear to?) use them in bursts, short contexts where it doesn't drive you mad, to pick up very specific clues by the time of the endgame.
Another possibility with that idea is that, unbeknownst to the characters for a couple of games, THEY are the ones speeding up the destruction of the universe; it's a popular game mechanic to have player-driven storyline even though there's supposed to be a timer, but this lampshades the concept with the fact that it's actually the player's efforts to save the universe that make it collapse. They wouldn't find this out until that third game jake was talking about, when miss Ayn Rand over there decides that it's pointless to save the universe, and does whatever she wants--only to find that the universe isn't collapsing, and she has to deal with the consequences of her actions.

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camera
-allows its keeper to record events between cycles

glasses
-allow their keeper to see people as they really are (identify the Seven?)

paintbrush
-

key
-

?
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?
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?
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further ideas:

clock
-reset to move back and forth within a cycle?
fountain pen
-
thread
-can connect things in different timelines/cycles?
bottle/jar
-alters things placed in it somehow?
teapot
-"Yixing teapots absorb a tiny amount of tea into the pot during brewing. After prolonged use, the pot will develop a coating that retains the flavor and color of the tea. ... A studious tea connoisseur will only steep one type of tea in a particular pot, so as not to corrupt the flavor that has been absorbed." Have you ever had tea in a quiet place and been reminded of something special, but weren't able to quite place what it was? the idea is that if tea is made in the pot, drinking it will give that sense to the person it's associated with. maybe give them a sense of purpose or an idea of what to do next. Also fits with the chinese influences we're wanting.
seashell
-hear echoes of other times
paper crane
-not sure about the purpose, but might be an interesting thematic source if we're willing to pan-asian-ify the influences.



HORN
CANE
LAMP/LANTERN/CANDLE
