LSD Area FAQ 2009 Lucas Hehir lucas.hehir@gmail.com ___________________________ 1. What 2. Why? 2.5 Who? 3. Basics 3.5 The Grid 4. Areas 5. Linking 6. Documented Days 7. Misc 8. Cred ___________________________ ________________ 1 _____________________ What? LSD is an enthralling 'game' where your only goal is to explore a hyper-unreal everchanging wasteland while dreaming (see: tripping balls) days away as the nameless protaganist. It truly is an excellent game, I've only been playing it for about an hour but I'm completely blown away. And judging from the lack of data so far assembled on this game, I've taken the guts to put together what I can see from a fresh unbiased look on the game and its areas. Here goes the cold water. _________________ 2 _____________________ Why? A few reasons. In one of the only reviews for it that I read, someone mentioned that they'd been playing for weeks and were only -just- starting to see signs of repetition in what is ultimately a project in spontanuity. Well, interesting as that is, I've been playing for about an hour and I've encountered the same 7 or so 'general' layouts of reoccuring areas so far with quite a bit of noticable patterns. If however anyone out there who has been playing longer has anything they want to add, feel free to email me anytime. All information on this brilliant software is welcome. Because of this games nature, it would take obscene amounts of time to document and record everything that happens. The point of this FAQ is more just to highlight some of the peak events and encounters that really define the game and its aim. Eitherway, feel free to mail me about any encounters you have that aren't listed yet or have been particularly curious. And happy hunting =) _________ 2.5 ___________ Who? I'm an avid apprentice game designer from Melbourne, Australia. I'm currently 21 and studying Game Design at Victoria University. I know a bit of japanese, not heaps, but I'll put it to good use wherever I can =p _________________ 3 _____________________ Basics This game is, essentially, art. Its not a game. You don't really win anything, and if needing to be assigned goals to enjoy yourself is your bag, I can't imagine why you're reading this FAQ. Thus, the kind of people who would be reading and are interested in this game are likely to be the people who like a little spice in their game development. WWII came and went, can we move on? This means that you, yes, interesting you, will probably want to maximize your enjoyment from such a rare digital concoction. If this is the case, don't read on. The fun of this game comes from the lack of patterns, signs of design or continuity, which is all I'm pointing out in this FAQ. So if you're new to it and want to get the most out of it, go and play for a while first, only come reading after you're actually satisfied with your exploration. That said, here are the controls. D-pad to move. X to run. Triangle to look up. Square to look down. R1 to glance over your right shoulder. L1 to glance over your left shoulder. Don't fall off cliffs, thats pretty much the only way to 'lose' at this game as it will end your *cough* 'dream' early. At any time, but most commonly when coming in contact with pretty much any object, you can be teleported to a new/different area. This is called Linking. Not much in the game is explicitly interactive, it all just links you to other areas. This was the one thing that made me frown when first playing :( all there really is to the exploration is teleporting, looking, and more teleporting. It'd be interesting if you could interact with some things, though to be fair some of the things do interact with you... _________ 3.5 ___________ The Grid The Grid is a grid that I suppose is meant to track your progress. On the top, its marked 'Upper', on the right its marked 'Dynamic', on the bottom its marked 'Downer' and on the left its marked 'Static'. Apparently, depending on the actions performed in your dreams, you'll get a rating telling you where your dream fits in on the grid. So I suppose if you have a very light-hearted dream that featured some cool exploring and interesting links without anything distinctly bad, it would be closer to 'Upper' and 'Dynamic'. Whereas a crap dream where you're being chased by your own foot and fall off a cliff might be closer to a 'Downer' or 'Static'. To be perfectly honest, I don't think this really should concern most players, I can imagine its just there to give you a feeling of progression or achievement in what is otherwise a motionless game. Some people say it helps you reach the end but, well, is there one, and does anyone care? There isn't much story to be wrapping up. Never the less, its interesting to try and influence your dreams so you can fill up the grid. ______________ 4 _________________ Every area has its regular version and then multiple 'neon' versions. The neon versions, and the oddities in them, become more frequent the longer the amount of in-game days you play for. So consider that each area has neon counterparts where different things can happen. Area 1 ================== -Japanese House- This is where the game started for me, but I've heard otherwise. Its a classic japanese paperwall house that will have at least one window, one fireplace, one 'WC' (toilet), one bookshelf and one rooftop, usually in the same place. Some of them change position. Upstairs there is typically a corridor with many sectioned off 3-wall rooms that contain windows, and from my encounter with a rampaging teddy bear, I'm sure a lot of other fun stuff. Stuff I've noticed: - A small sculpture of a dragon sitting on the mantle of the fireplace. - The aforementioned Teddy bear that bounced towards me upstairs. - Well, I just shat myself. Remember the hallway filled with small rooms on one side? Yeah, well it just had a large ugly head with two arms coming out of its ears staring right at me, and then it flew at my face. I didn't want to get to sleep tonight anyway. - Shat number two. The sculpture of the dragon just flew off the mantle into my face. Why is that everythings goal here!? Am I smothered in peanut butter or something? - A person in a bed was in one of the hallway rooms. They looked sick :( - Area 2 ================== -Monument Park- This is a common area, its a classic green park with miniaturized versions of famous landmarks from around the world here. Theres Big Ben, the Sphinx, London Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids of Giza, the Head Statues of Easter Island, the Empire state building, a windmill and plenty of park benches. Stuff I've noticed: - Nothing so far =( Area 3 ================== -Edo Japan- This area is based on oldschool japan, with classic housing and sights to see. Theres a giant japanese festival drum playing itself (woooo spooky!) and a giant sculpture of a hand. I don't know what the fascination with sculptures is. Theres also a little zen sand garden to one side of town. Stuff I've noticed: - I've started a dream off once in a spiral stair- case, which upon closer inspection, seemed to be part of the Edo Japan area. It goes up several flights before you reach the top that simply has a good view of the area and the moon is incredibly large for some reason. A neon variant of the area has also been discovered which has, alongside a new neon colour scheme, the japanese word for "Moon" printed on the moon. - The same head from the Japanese House that scared the wee-wee out of me was attached to one of the walls. It looked at me, shot a japanese letter out of its mouth, and then floated up and away. - Two large... things that look like rats crossed with centaurs were just running slowly down the street. They didn't chase me or anything. - Giant bull man attacking the town. - Bull carrying one of those tuk-tuk taxis. - A wolf/rabbit/thing running through town. - A flying person holding a maple leaf..? Area 4 ================== -Dark City- Um, how high can I put the brightness? This place is -dark-. And I mean damn dark. You can barely make your way around the place its so dark, and the streetlights don't do much to help. Stuff I've noticed: - Theres a lady (?) whos head is quite prone to falling off near one of the outer walls. She just links you to somewhere. - A car accident that you can walk through. Um. - Area 5 ================== -Thai Gardens- This is a very common and bland area. Its small and there isn't much to look at besides a bunch of religious Thai-looking statues. Theres a big hole in the middle Stuff I've noticed: - This is where I've encountered pink elephants the most, three in a row or hovering above the hole flying into the sky. - It's also home to a dragon, the same one that sometimes sits on the fireplace mantle. I didn't know it was coming the first time I explored there and poo'd a little bit when a big ****-off gargoyle fly into my screen. Regardless, it just screams and flies around in circles, I wish it'd chase you :( Area 6 ================== -I-shouldn't-have-had-that-expired-Eggnog-Area- I dont know what to call this. Its super colourful and I'm pretty sure its programmed to have some of the trippier music frequently played in this area. The floor is paved with faces that look like the one from KidPix on old Macintoshes in the 90s. This place is hard to distinguish whether its a neon version or not, cause, well, it always looks like neon. Theres plenty of bizarro statues and things to admire here. One side of the area has LOVE written in big badly modelled 3D letters. Interesting. Also quite interesting if you can find it is a throne room somewhere in the middle of the area. Its secluded and walled off, so you'll have to find a way in, but it has two linking chairs, one with a star and one with a moon. Stuff I've noticed: - A line of 4 dancing green men. They just link you. - Some random in a trenchcoat slowly walks towards you and makes you black out for a second. When you wake up, he's gone. - A train runs along the railway sometimes. - Area 7 ================== -Asian Temple- When I first found this area, all it had was a throne in the middle of a very bland room with a hall to another empty room, which had a hall to another empty room... I gave up and linked through a wall to a new area, but I'm sure it has interesting stuff. Stuff I've noticed: - A tower of chairs leaning on top of one another. They just creak and it looks like theres something different on top of it but obviously I can't reach it. - Area 8 ================== -Desert and Plains- This is probably the largest area in space, from what I've seen. Its a very expansive land of simply grass and sometimes deserty sand. Stuff I've noticed: - This was the first area of the game I linked to, ever. As soon as I was there, three horses ran by and galloped away. - I also encountered a large tortoise plodding along, but it shrunk when I walked up to it. - Alien spaceships flying around in the sky! Area 9 ================== -Corridors- This isn't much of an area. Its just a long hallway that stretchs on for ages. I've been there twice and its a distinctly seperate area, so I have to list it. Stuff I've noticed: - As soon as I linked there once, I turned around and the door and walls flew away to reveal blue sky. The 'dream' ended before I could walk into it though D= Area 10 ================== -Someones Insides- Um, shotgun not staying here long. This looks like somewhere inside a persons body. Its the most maze- like of all the areas and I can't even begin to imagine mapping it out without accidentally linking. One area of it contains a sumo arena. Oh Japan! Stuff I've noticed: - Wandering devil-eyed babies in the labyrinth of skin and blood. Yummy. Area 11 ================== -The Front of the House- This can technically be its own area, since I've been linked here independantly of the normal house area plenty. Not only that, but I've seen a couple of random things happen here, so its worth noting Stuff I've noticed: - Another head-with-arms thing, this one has a face on either side of its head, yet somehow manages to be less scary than that other one I hate. ________________ 5 ____________________ Linking Everything links. The walls, encounters, objects, elephants, everything. And although I haven't played enough to notice yet, there might be a likelyhood of certain things linking you to certain places. I know for sure that I was just playing for about half an hour doing the same things and only reaching about 6 areas, and then suddenly being thrown somewhere I've never seen before. In other words, if you feel like you're in a loop, don't give up. The game will throw you a curveball eventually. ________________ 6 ____________________ Coming soon! ________________ 7 ____________________ Misc/Secrets This game is pretty much one huge bloody secret, but here is a list of all the FMV movies I've seen. - A negative-contrast view from what seems to be someones handbag as they walk through some busy japanese shops. Then a bulb is help up in front of the camera and zaps with special effects from 1998. - A random shot of pidgeons sitting by a window and under a clock, fluttering about. - Um, I'm fairly sure a picture of a sheep just bounced across my screen. There was a timer down the bottom too. Sheep bounced and it counted to 28 seconds before returning me to the menu. Is that even a cutscene? * Also, the word on the street is that LSD contains over 500 music loops which it mish/mashs together to create its bizarre atmosphere. I've certainly heard a few of the sounds before, but it does the job very well. You can count on never encountering the exact same song twice. * Want to explore, but the game is starting to scare you? Its pretty understandable, its tailored to make people feel off edge. I think its kind of ironic that this game scares people moreso than any of the latest greatest horror games out there. Res Evil looks like PlaySchool compared to this twisted japanese monstrosity. Regardless, my old music teacher taught me an interesting technique to overcome a media thats scaring you that you're still interested in. Turn the sound off. And ideally, put your own music on, even stylized to suit the game. You'd be surprised just how many audio cues are used alongside the 'scare' parts just to make you wee. Without its sound, its only half as real, and you get to explore freely. It does make you a big nancy, though. I'm playing in the dark, alone, at 2am with headphones up loud. ________________ 8 ____________________ Cred Goes to me, I did everything.