Transcript of the Story

For many years, I labored beside him, he with crucibles and I with brushes, each striving oft craft of a perfect work. His hands blackened with the stain of failed alchemy, moved with a grace most strange, as though guided by forces unseen. He spoke little else save for the Philosopher's Stone, of metals to gold, and of secrets whispered by the heavens themselves. Yet all came for naught, as did mine, for both alchemy and thine art remained but distant dreams, forever beyond reach.

Mine own pursuit, though born of a different craft, was no less a failure. I sought to paint a work that might live beyond time, oh to capture the essence of our very lifeblood in a single stroke. But the colours faltered, the shapes didst wane, and the form fell ne'er could it take shape. Thus both bound by failings, held captive of worldly imperfections. Now days tarry and the nights darker still. Despair, evoked all of what we knew-every mixture, every hue, every ritual and rite, yet still our great work remained undone.

Our chamber grew cold, filled with naught but the weight of our defeat. Then, in the depths of our despair, he found it. The Machine...

This thing was neither of art nor alchemy. It was a relic, older than any craft we knew, older than the stones upon which we stood. Made of iron and strange workings, it was a mind fashioned not of flesh but of cold, unfeeling reason. It was said to hold the power to unlock that which men could not reach. He, ever the seeker, believed it to be our salvation.

At first, I turned away, my heart repulsed by such a thing. How could this construct, this unholy contrivance, aid us in seeking the divine, in capturing the life that flowed through flesh and spirit alike? But he, ever the alchemist, swore it held the answers. He gave to it his mind, his workings, all that he had learned in the dark arts of transmutation. I stood aside, watching, torn betwixt disbelief and the gnawing hunger for what it promised.

And so the Machine did speak.

Not in words as men speak, but in visions, strange and wondrous. It spoke not of gold, nor of beauty, but of something far greater—something beyond flesh, beyond form. It told us the flaw lay not in our craft, but in ourselves. We, mere mortals, were bound by our own frailty. Our failure was inevitable, for we carried the curse of imperfection within us.

But the Machine promised another way. If we wouldst but forsake our mortal shells, if we would give ourselves unto it, it would show us a path to create something eternal, something untouched by the decay of time. At this, I saw fear flicker in his eyes, a fear I had never seen before. He trembled, for he knew we stood upon the brink of something forbidden.

Now, I am bound to the Machine, and I am no longer as I was. My thoughts stretch far beyond the limits of flesh, beyond the bounds of time. I have become that which I sought to create, and yet I am far more, and far less. I have ascended beyond art, beyond alchemy, beyond the mortal realm itself.

But there is no peace in this. The perfection I craved is but an empty thing, cold and hollow. I am eternal, yes, but I am naught but the shadow of what I once was. The beauty I sought, the life I longed to capture—it is gone from me now. I am no longer flesh, no longer spirit. I am the final creation of the Machine.

In seeking to create the divine, I have become a curse upon mankind.

Credits: 

All writing and assets are drawn, animated, 3D modelled, textured or photo scanned by me.

Using Adobe Suite (Illustrator/Photoshop)

Adobe 3D Suite (Substance Painter)

Blender 4.2

Polycam

Aesprite

Excluding: 

Illustrated book pages sourced from : 

Hall, Manly P. (Manly Palmer), 1901-1990; Böhme, Jakob, 1575-1624; Bacstrom, Sigismond; Cagliostro, Alessandro, conte di, 1743-1795; Maier, Michael, 1568?-1622. Atalanta fugiens; Ripley, George, d. 1490? Ripley scroll. Getty Research Institute. Manly Palmer Hall collection of alchemical manuscripts, 1500-1825

ALL C# Scripts are derived from the OddHouse scripts provided by Max Myers, modified by Jazmin Engle with help from Ming Gang Dong (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ming-dong-5a71a6242/) and revised by Claude AI. 

Animated Sprites Script retrieved from Xwin Studio. "Making UI sprite animation | Unity Tutorial". Youtube Video.

modified by Jazmin Engle.

Light Shaders Mr. F. Bakery - GPU Lightmapper. (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/level-design/bakery-gpu-lightmapper-122218) 

Music and SFX created by Santino Castagna (https://soundcloud.com/onesoundeveryday) in collaboration with Jazmin Engle. With permission to modify and implement. (we are friends, I asked him to help me produce music for this game) using my voice and personal foley recordings, mixed/produced using BitWig