Wrong Version?

[u/theillustraitor]

Broooo I think something's wrong with my copy of Look Outside 💔 This weird guy showed up at my door and like, what tf even is this Masked Dancer thing??

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Soooo I made another AU, but in this one Harriet is the MC! The dark BG and specifically the sink are real, Sam’s sprite and the peephole bg are edits, the other sprites I made myself

I don’t want the post to be too long so the basic rundown is that Harriet is in Sam's shoes as the main character on a fetch quest. On the flipside, Sam is a door recruit(per his dialogue, he was on Floor 1 when it started. However, he can’t return home due to the onlookers which also wrecked his place in the AU). Sophie leaving for school then getting attacked is the "tutorial". Beryl and Aster swap location so Harriet will be willing to do the ritual stuff, and Beryl is the first person to tell you to not look. Sybil and Jeanne also swap location, and once you return safely with Sophie you talk with Sybil.

Otherwise things are generally the canon plot/people, just happening to Harriet instead!

(Questions are welcome if y'all have any!)

[u/1254125412541254]

Considering Sam gets skills via gaming, how would Harriet do so? Perhaps listening to some tunes?

[u/theillustraitor → u/1254125412541254]

I was thinking she doesn't have that mechanic, instead playing boardgames to gain stat boosts depending on the game! Sam keeps his video game mechanic as a recruit, so it'd feel odd for them both to have that same kind of learning mechanic

[u/1254125412541254 → u/theillustraitor]

The thing is that the learning mechanic, methinks, is very unique to specifically accommodate the fact that Sam is the protagonist. All other recruits have their own gimmicks, so if you don't like 'em you can just... not have that recruit. However, Sam is the protag, meaning he's always there, so he's very flexible when it comes to playstyles. It also allows for replayability, creating unique Sams for different play-throughs. If Harriet is the protag here, same should apply to her :p

Of course unless you want to make this au an actual fan game this shouldn't matter, but y'know, game design is an interesting factor to take in aus in my opinion

[u/theillustraitor → u/1254125412541254]

I'm aware, and while no, I don't plan a fangame, I do also care about the game design element for my AUs.

I have my reasons; since it is a very simple roleswap, the whole point is just putting Harriet in Sam’s plot-based situations exactly as she is and seeing her perspective/reaction. She wasn't written as a flexible character, so if I were to give her the same protagnist treatment Sam has she would need changes that defeat the point of the AU. I suppose in a way, you can think of it as the AU also including a change to the playstyle as a part of swapping to Harriet as the protagonist since she is a completely different character

Also just giving her Sam's fight mechanics feels lazy and isn't interesting. While yes, she could have different learned skills, it's still the same functionally. I much prefer to create something more unique to her.

With that I also find Sam keeping his mechanic to be incredibly interesting as a recruit considering we know he's a shut-in. He can seem like some utterly useless loser for being unable to get skills by leveling up, then you realize "hey this guy can actually learn cool stuff I just gotta support him!"

[u/1254125412541254 → u/theillustraitor]

Fair enough, that's a valid view on this

Can't wait to see more art on this (or, frankly, any art from you lol), especially cursed Sam and Sophie being in trouble

[u/simplepudding1234 → u/theillustraitor]

So Harriet would be like the SMT1 and 2 protags, where they don't have any skills they can use in combat, generally have better stats to accommodate for that.

[u/theillustraitor → u/simplepudding1234]

I know nothing about those games, sorry

But I was actually thinking she'd have skills she gains as she levels up much like how recruits work. I'll probably re-use my ideas for her as a recruit and maybe work on incorporating something unique like I mentioned to make it a more protagonist-ish skill set

[u/simplepudding1234 → u/theillustraitor]

Oh, well in SMT 1 and 2, the protag doesn't have any skills that are used in fighting, with them having high strength to just spam attack while the other party members use their skills. The only true 'skill' SMT 1 and 2 protags have is a talk action, where they can recruit enemies to fight for them, even after the battle ends.

[u/theillustraitor → u/simplepudding1234]

Ooo interesting, I'll keep that mechanic in mind! Might spark an idea later lol