Shock – Burnt House

Concept

When we first enter the story we'll be in a stage called "Shock" which is just like a horrible nightmare of Alice's family dying in the fire. It's a part of Wonderland - since everything in her mind is a part of Wonderland - but after the first part of the story we'll never be able to go back there. It will be like a bomb and a fire at the start - and it will break Wonderland into many pieces. This area will be placed in the center of the Wonderland map - like a volcano or a floating island with a massive crater in the middle - or a sort of inside-out black hole which is releasing fire and smoke and chaos into the world.

Shock is the initial encounter with Chaos. The bomb which destroys our perceived reality and our ability to understand the who, what, where, why of everything around us. The stage prior to this is Slumber - the state innocent and naive being where Chaos is a distant unknown. Alice is in Slumber (literally and metaphorically) the night of the fire. Before going to bed she had a family, a home, and was ensconced in a beautiful illusion. She wakes to Shock - the sound of her family screaming - the old reality shattered by Chaos and cracked open into a new and terrifying place where monsters rule. This is Bumby’s reality though Alice won’t understand that for many years to come.To communicate Shock effectively we must strongly establish the tranquility of Slumber. The first section of the game probably takes place in and around Alice’s home prior to the fire. Alice and Lizzie outside, building a snowman, establishing place and mood via chat and play. Hints of something lurking in the shadow, of the presence of Dr. Bumby in their lives, etc.

What remains of Wonderland needs to be floating around this central core. Each of the areas of Wonderland will be a floating island - broken pieces of the world as it was before.

Slumber -> Shock -> Asylum -> (remaining stages of trauma)