#studio lerche

Now, before the scenarios take place, let’s start with Makoto Naegi’s trial, which would take place about six months right after the events of SDR2 in Future Island, the abandoned overseas branch of Hope’s Peak. Naegi is once again accompanied by Kyoko Kirigiri and Aoi Asahina, as well as Byakuya Togami this time. The trial isn’t like a trial, per se, more like an interrogation or questioning from the other directors. During the trial, Naegi addressed his reasons for harboring the Remnants, mainly with what Izuru Kamukura stated about them being the former students of class 77B, and that they were individually conditioned by Junko Enoshima. However, Kyosuke Munakata stated that their actions were inexcusable nonetheless, and even if they were conditioned, they still did so on their own volition. Seemingly, the only ones that were in support of Naegi’s decision to rehabilitate the remnants were Chisa Yukizome (the 77B kids’ former teacher), Ryota Mitarai (a former student of 77B who was absent in class all the time, and felt guilty for not being there), Gozu Yamashita (who knows about the Remnants’ crimes, yet understands Naegi’s reason to help them), Miaya Gekkogahara (who’s far interested in reforming a former remnant), and Kazuo Tengan (who understands what Naegi wishes to do, and would rather deal with the Remnants in a non-authoritative manner).

The first scenario I was working on is basically two game concepts, titled Danganronpa Future: End of Hope’s Peak and Danganronpa Survival: Unknown Future. The first story is in the format of a third-person adventure game, with some similarities with the franchise’s visual novel format, and is set three years after SDR2. It is mainly set in the main building of Future Island and focuses on Kirigiri and 15 other directors of Future Foundation as they are suddenly trapped in the building by Monokuma, this time accompanied by his annoying older brother, Mesakami, a small stuffed gray wolf toy with a creepy smile who represents hope. Once again, Monokuma places all 16 of them in a killing game that would determine the fate of Future Foundation, and that later on, they must hunt down a traitor within them, referred to as the Final Despair. But if the victim doesn’t turn out to be the traitor, then they must continue the game and find the culprit in order to survive. As Kirigiri tries to hold the group together from killing each other, she must figure out a new mystery within the killing game, particularly the main building they’re trapped in and how different it looked from how they remembered it. And later on, the group then discovers something shocking about the Future Foundation itself, mainly with secret experiments, forced propaganda, and someone else within their ranks that had spread their influence across the Future Foundation.

The second story, which is part of a fan series concept I’m working on, titled Danganronpa Survival, is in the format of an open-world action-adventure  game. It takes place in Kumachi, a rebuilding city based on the centermost wards of Tokyo, and where I assume Hope’s Peak Academy is located. It focuses on Makoto Naegi, Hajime Hinata, Komaru Naegi, the survivors of the first killing game, and the survivors and victims of the second killing game as they try to survive in a new, twisted survival game headed by Monaca Towa and her new Despair Sisters, while also trying to evade Future Foundation’s capture, as it’s now under the command of the Future Foundation Emergency Council. As time went by, the group soon gets caught in a new civil war between the Future Foundation and the newly established Eternal Despair, which consists of defected Future Foundation agents who were converted into despair. Later on, they discover something off with their current predicament, and determine that this is all an elaborate ruse to destroy both Ultimate Despair and Future Foundation. They also come to realize about the truth behind the Tragedy, and question if Junko Enoshima really was the cause of all this madness. Originally, the game was supposed to be split into two parts (Academia Side and Despair Side) like in the anime, but I want to explore relationships between the Hope’s Peak survivors and Jabberwock survivors, like how the remnants would understand what Naegi is going through, his overwhelming despair of being pressured to be everyone’s hope or carrying the burdens of his lost friends.

The second scenario, which I assume is the most feasible option to work on, is a story in the format of an open-world action-adventure game also titled Danganronpa Future: End of Hope’s Peak, and follows the same format with the first version of Unknown Future. As before, it takes place three years after SDR2, this time in various locations like Future Island, Jabberwock Island, Kumachi City, and Towa City, as well as a few other locations I might add later. The story features an ensemble cast of characters from DR1, SDR2, UDG, and DR3, as each chapter would focus on a certain group of characters at a time. And speaking of the chapters, I believe that this story will be almost twice as long than any of the Danganronpa titles, probably about nine to twelve chapters long, and would also be divided into two or three acts, almost as if it’s two games in one. The story was also supposed to be split into three parts: Academia Side, Towa Side, and Future Side, similar to Unknown Future, with each side focusing on each group of characters. But once again, I want to explore relationships between many of the characters, particularly Naegi and Munakata and their conflicts with which of their hope works best: cooperation and compassion, or authority and necessary cruelty?

The story first concerns with Future Foundation being compromised with Ultimate Despair agents, meaning that either the Remnants are once again responsible for this or a high-ranking member of Ultimate Despair is within their ranks and has spread their influence all across the agency. Later on, the Board of Directors, including Kirigiri, found out that first division director Kazuo Tengan has suddenly died, hinting that he was murdered. They then tried to get to the bottom of this and investigate his death, only to be interrupted by alarms from every Future Foundation base, as they’re now under attack by rogue Ultimate Despair agents, which then escalated into a full-scale civil war within the agency. Just like in Hope vs. Despair, they wound up captured and sent to the Future Foundation Maximum Security Correctional Facility, along with the former remnants, Towa City guardians, and survivors of the Hope’s Peak killing game. They are soon greeted by Monaca Towa and her new Despair Sisters, as they are now in the middle of a civil war, and Monaca stated that if they want the war to end once and for all, the Board of Directors need to weed out the traitor amongst them, the Final Despair. And as for the survivors and victims of each killing game, they are to assist the directors in finding the Final Despair. As the game progresses, the main characters soon discover some dark secrets about Future Foundation, and soon enough, the Board of Directors and Hope’s Peak survivors wind up getting in a heated conflict against each other. Each group soon grow conflicted over the status of Future Foundation, the secrets they discovered, the longing battle between hope and despair, and the true cause of the Tragedy.

So, that’s all I have for Danganronpa Future, and hopefully, I could figure out the plot and story structure soon. I already got the beginning and the ending for each story, but I need to figure out the middle parts. Right now, I’m unsure which direction to choose. On one hand, I love the franchise’s visual novel format, and I wanted to take DR3 into that game format like the other titles, and also give Kirigiri a chance in the spotlight. But on the other hand, I ought to respect that DRV3 was to be the final traditional Danganronpa game, and if the story needs to continue, it must change its format. So, I ought to choose the action-adventure game format. Also, I kind of picture Danganronpa Future to use cel-shaded graphics, almost as if it was an interactive anime, but it could still use traditional sprites in certain cutscenes, and also include game modes similar to the ones in the class trials in the franchise.

I also ought to finish the Danganronpa Survival post soon, which I’ll link later, that would also detail the gameplay of Danganronpa Future. Until then, see you later!