The Interstice

Whew, been awhile since I've done any updates. Been kinda busy. But anyway, today I threw together the Fourth Space "Interstice", which is basically a kind of space between spaces that acts as a conduit between the Fourth Space dimensions. When you start off, only two spacial dimensions are open for travel, the one to earth and another to one of the four Forth Space dimensions, like nyah:
Starting Interstice

The Fourth Space can be described as a kind of hypercube, it contains four separate outer face dimensions and then a top and bottom dimension, our home dimension being on the bottom. Like so:



How you're able to transport between dimension is visualized here, which shows the workings of a hypercube:



The inner box represents the current dimension you're in, in relation to yourself, so to travel to another dimension you're basically being spatially folded into the destination dimension. Said dimension then becomes the center cube. Everyone, no matter what dimension they're in, has their current dimension as the center cube, in relation to themselves, with the other dimensions existing in folded space, which is why you can't see them even though they're all basically in the exact same place and time.

One of the story arcs will revolve around the destabilization of the dimensional hypercube, which means the various realities will start to overlap and merge with one another and extreme chaos will then ensue. ^__^

Here's what the Interstice looks like when you have all the key crystals:

Complete Interstice

The key crystals are found in the various dimensions, so when you find one it'll open up the way to another dimension and then in that dimension you'll find the next key crystal, and so on.

There is one master dimension to the other five, and represents the original dimension. Due to some yet to be explained circumstances that original dimension was basically spatially cubed forming the other dimensions. As it is a hypercube, there is the possibility that the separate dimensions could lose cohesion which would cause each of them to be cubed, and then those cubes each being cubed themselves, exponentially creating an infinite number of folded universes all existing on the same relative plane. So needless to say, preventing the dimensions from losing cohesion will be an important factor in the story line.

In addition to the key crystals opening up the various dimensions, within each dimension there are transportation crystals and blocks, which can be used to warp from one location to another location within the same dimension. Here's what they look like:



These crystals can be used any number of times and you can put them in and take them out of the transport blocks as you like. You will have a limited number of them, with dozens of transport blocks within each dimension, which will be used to create various puzzles throughout the game. Some of the transport crystals will already be in place, some with only one end in place, and others that you'll simply find by themselves or obtain through some means.

The transport blocks are bidirectional, so one block will always lead to another block and that block will in turn lead back to the previous. In the cases where you have a transport block set that's missing both transport crystals and you only have one left on you, you can put that crystal into one of the transport blocks, but if you try transporting you'll basically wind up trapped on the destination end with no way back unless you can find another transport crystal to complete the connection.

In addition to the generic transport crystals there will be specially colored, unique transport crystals, which can be used to alter the regular pathways of the transport blocks. So if you put a red transport crystal in one block and then put another red transport crystal into another, not normally linked block, those two blocks will then form a temporary connection to each other so long as the colored transport crystals remain in place. This will of course add to the puzzle factor and there will be various circumstances where you'll really need to "think outside of the box" (pun intended) in order to progress through the game.

There will be a number of side quests that won't be directly relevant to the main story arc, these side quests will be *MUCH* harder than the regular game progression, but they could pay off in being able to obtain various rare items which can help you move through the main story arc more quickly, others will simply add more story and interest in the characters, with no super rare items obtained.

Unlike most all RPGs, this one will be very unique in that the bosses and mini-bosses will act differently and use different strategies depending on the items and weapons you're carrying as well as your character stats. So if you level up to a massive degree and are basically God like in strength, the bosses are going to be able to tell how strong you are and they'll alter their tactics accordingly. So sheer strength and level building won't really help you much in most situations, instead you'll have to actually think, find information about the bosses, their techniques and such, and then you'll need to come up with counter tactics in order to defeat them.

It'll be sort of like in the Mega Man series, where each boss is particularly weak against another obtained weapon, although this will take it to a more in depth level, although not so completely complicated and confusing that it's just frustrating and annoying (Kingdom Hearts - Chain of Memories comes directly to mind in that particular fault). You'll also gain techniques, weapons, and various items when you defeat bosses and mini-bosses, so the game won't be completely linear, you'll be able to choose how you want to progress through the game, being able to choose between various quests at various stages in the game.

You have to complete all the primary quests, but you can pick and choose which ones you want to go through first and you'll even be able to back track, such as going halfway through one quest, picking up some items/weapons/techniques/etc and then being able to go back and start through a different quest within that particular story arc. Again, this will add more strategy and puzzle scenarios, in that you'll find certain things in one quest which will aid you in another, so you'll have to do some back tracking, look for clues, figure out puzzles, etc, kind of making the game sort of like a Sherlock Holmes mystery of sorts at various stages. Like puzzles within larger puzzles, basically. But again, it won't be so completely impossible and confusing that you'll just get frustrated and want to quit out of boredom and annoyance.