A prisoner and their bunny dog

Small Ilex and Solanum doodle. I wonder if they've kept in touch since their childhood years and stayed friends.

"Possibility Particles"

Finally got my art book!

Having read through this book thoroughly, it makes me yearn to see some of the scrapped ideas they had come to fruition, but of course I completely understand why they were scrapped in the first place. Outer Wilds is a game that succeeded as greatly as it did because the team set out to make a game centered around one idea in particular: camping in space. They stuck by it so hard, making sure not to deviate from it, even by the slightest margin, and it makes the game far more cohesive and consistent for it. They made sure to not fall into the trap of just putting in pure sci-fi stuff just for the sake of it looking cool and space-y. Even though some of the ideas in there were absolutely enchanting and magical from the looks of it, they could not sacrifice their vision, and that's admirable. They balanced spectacle with substance, questions with answers, aesthetic with logic, and mystery with payoff.

Yet, I still mourn the more fantastical ideas and concepts they tried to work with, cause I'm a whimsical little bastard and a fiend. 😂

Finally got my art book!

Having read through this book thoroughly, it makes me yearn to see some of the scrapped ideas they had come to fruition, but of course I completely understand why they were scrapped in the first place. Outer Wilds is a game that succeeded as greatly as it did because the team set out to make a game centered around one idea in particular: camping in space. They stuck by it so hard, making sure not to deviate from it, even by the slightest margin, and it makes the game far more cohesive and consistent for it. They made sure to not fall into the trap of just putting in pure sci-fi stuff just for the sake of it looking cool and space-y. Even though some of the ideas in there were absolutely enchanting and magical from the looks of it, they could not sacrifice their vision, and that's admirable. They balanced spectacle with substance, questions with answers, aesthetic with logic, and mystery with payoff.

Yet, I still mourn the more fantastical ideas and concepts they tried to work with, cause I'm a whimsical little bastard and a fiend. 😂

The Larynk

(An old concept redesigned and given new life)

The Larynk explores the concept of a species that predates the Hearthian/Nomai/Inhabitant universe, ie. beings from the previous universe. The whole idea centers around the concept of the Eye being malleable in all aspects, including how it appears to observers when it comes time to collapse the possibilities. Therefore therein remains the possibility that the Eye was not always the Eye of the universe, but its form was influenced by those who observed it, as well as the signal it emits.

The Larynk was designed based off the appearance of whales, and the common loon, to a much lesser extent. The goal was to encompass the creatures absolutely known for their eerie and melancholic songs to be a sample for the next quantum signal. Their name was chosen as such because the rule for naming Outer Wilds species appears to be based on their most characteristic attribute, and the Larynk tend to sing a lot as a social custom, with the word being derived from "larynx". (Nomai are nomads, Hearthians are from Timber Hearth and proud of it, and the Inhabitants are simply just that: inhabitants of the Stranger, for their home is no more at this rate.) The color palette and singular large eye would become the basis for the next form for the anomaly that transcends space and time to preserve the cycle of the universe.

As for their story, I could figure that they are a more primitive species, much like the Hearthians are in terms of space travel, who grapple with the fear that they are truly alone in this vast, old universe. They search and scan the stars, but to no avail. Perhaps their tech is too basic to pick up signals of intelligent origins from so far away, perhaps there really is no one out there. Maybe it is a universe where they are the only living things in all of this universe's existence, which would make the stakes of continuing the cycle even higher than before. There is the possibility that the anomaly senses this, and so before the spark of curiosity is extinguished within the Larynks' souls, it sends out a signal. It sounds so… organic, but it's strong enough to be picked up by the Larynk. After all this time of the Larynk calling out to the stars and getting nothing in return, they finally get a response. They dub this signal the "Friend of the universe" and put all their time and resources into locating its precise location. They find it out in the middle of space, much like a rogue planet, just half a light year away from their home system, and devise a plan to reach it with haste, knowing now it's lonely, too. When they reach it, they all enter inside together, for no one should ever have to be alone in this cold and oftentimes cruel world, and they bring forth the new universe with the knowledge that theirs was truly empty and devoid of life, but at least they had each other, and they sang one last time in sorrow and union.

The Larynk

(An old concept redesigned and given new life)

The Larynk explores the concept of a species that predates the Hearthian/Nomai/Inhabitant universe, ie. beings from the previous universe. The whole idea centers around the concept of the Eye being malleable in all aspects, including how it appears to observers when it comes time to collapse the possibilities. Therefore therein remains the possibility that the Eye was not always the Eye of the universe, but its form was influenced by those who observed it, as well as the signal it emits.

The Larynk was designed based off the appearance of whales, and the common loon, to a much lesser extent. The goal was to encompass the creatures absolutely known for their eerie and melancholic songs to be a sample for the next quantum signal. Their name was chosen as such because the rule for naming Outer Wilds species appears to be based on their most characteristic attribute, and the Larynk tend to sing a lot as a social custom, with the word being derived from "larynx". (Nomai are nomads, Hearthians are from Timber Hearth and proud of it, and the Inhabitants are simply just that: inhabitants of the Stranger, for their home is no more at this rate.) The color palette and singular large eye would become the basis for the next form for the anomaly that transcends space and time to preserve the cycle of the universe.

As for their story, I could figure that they are a more primitive species, much like the Hearthians are in terms of space travel, who grapple with the fear that they are truly alone in this vast, old universe. They search and scan the stars, but to no avail. Perhaps their tech is too basic to pick up signals of intelligent origins from so far away, perhaps there really is no one out there. Maybe it is a universe where they are the only living things in all of this universe's existence, which would make the stakes of continuing the cycle even higher than before. There is the possibility that the anomaly senses this, and so before the spark of curiosity is extinguished within the Larynks' souls, it sends out a signal. It sounds so… organic, but it's strong enough to be picked up by the Larynk. After all this time of the Larynk calling out to the stars and getting nothing in return, they finally get a response. They dub this signal the "Friend of the universe" and put all their time and resources into locating its precise location. They find it out in the middle of space, much like a rogue planet, just half a light year away from their home system, and devise a plan to reach it with haste, knowing now it's lonely, too. When they reach it, they all enter inside together, for no one should ever have to be alone in this cold and oftentimes cruel world, and they bring forth the new universe with the knowledge that theirs was truly empty and devoid of life, but at least they had each other, and they sang one last time in sorrow and union.

A line-up of my own interpretations of the Hearthian travelers outside their suits. From left to right: Riebeck, Gabbro, Hatchling (or as I call them, Onyx), Feldspar, and Chert.

Oh my god, I just realized that Ember Twin doesn't have a projection stone wall when I was doing some writing. They have a projection pool, the one right next to the High Energy Lab, but no wall. So then, tell me, if you will, how in the world was that exchange between Pye and Ramie with Poke even made possible? This is the pivotal message that kickstarts the main mechanic of the game, the error report that changed everything.

Let's go over the details here before anything else.

I checked all over Ember Twin for a projection wall, none were found.

This is an Ember Twin stone specifically, which means this was an exchange between Brittle Hollow and Ember Twin exclusively.

They couldn't have made the message with the projection pool because if that were the case, then projection walls would be unnecessary altogether.

They couldn't have made the message on Ash Twin because there was no developed Ash Twin at the time.

Translating the whole conversation on Brittle Hollow reveals that all the spirals are blue, which doesn't make sense for a projection wall log because it's a long distance conversation and any incoming messages would be orange, not blue. There ain't no way they would have all been at Brittle Hollow because that defeats the point of a projection stone.

There's no possibility that they would have deconstructed whatever projection wall they had on Ember Twin because why would you get rid of your only form of textual communication for off world conversations??

At the end of the day, I recognize that this is just a mere oversight by Mobius in an otherwise logically sound narrative, because good lord this game has a lot to juggle and you're bound to forget to account for a few things here and there. They have done that before, and they fixed them with updates, so maybe if this becomes evident to them, it might get patched like the others.

We're all human at the end of the day, even professionals of their craft, we've all overlooked multiple errors and fallacies and typos in our stories because we were tired and weary and just wanted to get it done and published.

I just think that it's amusing because any possible explanation to this just ends up sounding ridiculous and convoluted, and sometimes Nomai do bend over backwards to justify the means to an end.