#the guertena art gallery

[choose-wiselyyy]

just a thing i made for class :p ignore how much the quality and colours fluctuate <3

and solo frames below the cut cause i liked these

[mikatsuki-exe]

Goodbye, Ib 🖼️

[be-ly]

Ok so I have a theory about Ib that i briefly talked about in my twitter last year but I want to post it here with more information.

The theory is about the creation of the Fabricated World.

There's a bunch of random texts and books around the game that explains more about this place, but one book in the original game, (that for some reason didn't make to the Remake) called my attention.

There's a diary in a bookshelf in a trap with three mannequins, it says:

Based on the fact that this entry was written about an artist reflecting about his artworks and people's belief in the paranormal, I believe that this diary belongs to Guertena right before his death.

Guertena was in some kind of terminal state, and for a way to become "immortal", he decided to put his spirit in his creations.

And for that, he made the Fabricated World.

An enormous painting containing the majority of his paintings and sculptures. And, after he died, the Fabricated World became alive.

It was said ingame that Mary was Guertena final work, but I believe that Mary was his last published work. Because everyone that got in contact with the painting got sucked into the Fabricated World.

There are reports of other people that got into the Fabricated World and were trying to survive it.

Also, it's not the only evidence, even Mary implied that other people got into the Fabricated World, and most importantly, they never got out.

Which brings me to another theory of mine: The people who get stuck in the Fabricated World and die there, becomes one of Guertena's Work.

One spirit isn't enough to maintain the place living, so the Fabricated World kidnaps and takes the soul from the people from the outside.

They get there, their flowers (which represents the soul) gets torn off, and they lose their individuality for the gallery.

And this is why the works are so obssessed in taking the flower from the protagonist. It could be that, but also because they're in some kind of "zombie state" and desperately tries to claim the other soul/flower as their own.

The statues "Death of the Individual" could be a foreshadowing of this phenomenon, the loss of one's identity to become a piece of art.

It also happens with Garry in the ending "Forgotten Painting", where he dies in the Fabricated World and became part of the works of Guertena.

And that's it! It's probably obvious but I never see people really explicitly talk about it so yeah!! thanks for reading!!

[supaki4]

The Game Ib and Mary-ism, a Materialist Analysis.

AT first glance, the game Ib's 3 central characters seem to have nothing to do with a materialist understanding of the world. They seem more like Platonic idealized forms, character archetypes more than real people. However, as with analysis of any creative work, the material relevance of such a work is always found in the correspondence of such archetypes to the world we live.

Ib, the nine year old girl representing the player, is the human embodiment of the player's choices. As is typical for the RPG horror genre, she doesn't talk except to advance the plot. Ib enters the abyssal gallery voluntarily, gets stuck, and although silent, is clearly entranced by the gallery's otherworldly sights and clearly afraid of the gallery's horrors and wants to go home. Thus, Ib is the audience of the game at large, us who are expected to experience the drama between these two people and undergo a potential change in opinion.

Garry, the male character that Ib meets first, is initially presented as someone just like Ib: an outsider to Guertena's gallery of horrors who stumbled into the art gallery by another entrance. Immediately, however, Ib sees that Garry is not like her. He is an adult, he is visibly shaken by the gallery, and he thinks nothing of the rules of the gallery. Despite needing to be rescued by Ib, he is paternalistic towards her and refuses to see her as an equal (despite both being held prisoner in an abyssal nightmare world). When he does help Ib, he never asks for her feelings and retains his aloof, cold personality, always attempting to maintain the illusion of dominance and control over the unpredictable situation. When the gallery tries to stop their attempt at escape, Garry violently destroys the obstacles in his way, paying no heed to the fact that the entire gallery, all of the paintings and sculptures, and all of the dolls are sentient. In Garry, we see man as socialized under capitalism: selfish, incapable of true compassion, and a sense of manhood based on control over the environment, women, and children.

Mary, the female character that Ib meets next, is a vivacious girl. She is carefree, scatterbrained, and friendly. In short, the perfect picture of youthful innocence, the girl who just wants a friend. However, despite her cheerful appearance, we soon learn of an unsettling secret. The sentient gallery, in trying to split up the trio, informs Garry (and the player, but not Ib in-game) that Mary is not human, but merely a painting. Up until now, Guertena's paintings have only been threats to the safety of Garry and Ib, Garry instantly dehumanizes Mary and treats her as an enemy. When the gallery then informs Mary of this, she has a mental breakdown, repeatedly stabbing the head of a statue. We learn very quickly that Mary is crazy and is not above murdering Garry to escape the gallery and finally live a life of dignity, of friends, of sunshine, and not of the endless depression and monotony of the gallery. In some endings, she even murders Ib (despite being friends) simply to protect her secret because after Garry's betrayal she no longer trusts anyone else to understand and accept her. In Mary, we see humanity's atomized state under capitalism: completely isolated, lonely, friendless, a product of a depressing and hostile environment. Any "help" from society comes only from patronizing Garries who do not respect their human dignity but help others only to help themselves. Thus, self-identified Marries are simply tools to Garries, to be outcast when they violate the bourgeois sensibilities of "normality". Each call of friendship (as represented by Ib) is potentially a beckon to freedom, but also potentially a stab in the back. Such people both long for a true friend, but also fear the worst. This causes insanity, as manifest in Mary's uncontrolled violence, or a surrender to darkness, as manifest in Mary's worst ending (where the darkness engulfs her and destroys what is left of her pure soul).

And yet, it is impossible to blame Mary for her actions. After all, her murder of Garry (or Ib) was manipulated by the gallery itself, and her insanity is simply a product of her lengthy solitary confinement in the abyssal gallery of Guertena. Her happy personality can only be sustained by the creation of her own coping space, a bright, colorful, hand-drawn world created by a child where everything is at peace and there is no violence. As a result of her active resistance to the dehumanizing environment around her, Mary is in fact more human than Garry. It is Mary who protects her own rose (compared to Garry or Ib), despite the fact her life force is not bound in her rose like that of the two humans from the outside. It is Mary, not Garry, who accepts those different than herself and tries to make friends (despite the fact such people could kill her). It is Mary who believes the gallery can be escaped, despite growing up there and having never seen the outside world, and Garry who before meeting Ib, lost hope, despite having come not long ago from the outside world.

However, no amount of time in this personal space can deny her reality: she is still a painting and is bound by the dehumanizing rules of a sentient, unified, and malicious gallery. As Ib and Garry find, it actively blocks their escape routes, manipulates pictures motivated by greed to kill them, and when it seems like Garry, Ib, and Mary might all make it out alive united as friends, the gallery actively conspires against them, first splitting them up by force and then manipulating Garry's arrogance and Mary's fear to force Ib to choose (the murder of) one of her friends. In short, the gallery is a metaphor for modern capitalism: an all-encompassing system of inhumanity that defends itself by actively blocking (often with lethal force) those who stand up to it, and will get you to treat potential friends as enemies. If not opposed, capitalism creates a personal hell for each person where insanity or murder (or suicide) become preferable to the depressing alternative, and worst of all, it will turn your coping mechanism into a crutch and its preservation into the motive for attacking others. However, such a crutch at least shows the inkling of mental resistance, and thus, allows a modicum of humanity (even in the insane) not present in those who have already surrendered to capitalism.

Of course, as materialists, we must recognize the failing of any RPG. By focusing on the exploits of a main character in making key plot choices, RPGs necessarily advance an idealist, great-man theory view of events. The escape from the real world abyssal gallery of capitalism is not decided by real world Ibs, who are somehow born fearless and mentally whole, but by the collective action of the proletariat, led by the vanguard party. However, Ib teaches us that personal class affiliation is not enough, we must always strive to unify as great a section of the revolutionary classes as possible (trying to be friends with both Garry and Mary) but if the capitalist system impels us (as the gallery did between Garry and Mary), we are to preferentially uplift the most exploited (the working class, in all of our hues, genders, and cognitive abilities). We, the exploited masses, are all Marries before the capitalist class. In our self-liberation, we must become fearless and constantly alert like Ib. In real life, we are not rescued by Ib, we rescue ourselves by becoming Ib. -- me (mary4) and metalpegasus

Symbols:

Yellow roses are a new revolutionary symbol. It represents the mentally ill who had their minds shattered by capitalism and it's dehumanizing conditioning. It represents the Marries. me and you

Blue roses represent the Garries. Whose who conform to capitalism's dehumanizing conditioning.

Red roses Represent the Ibs. The liberators. Who we should strive to be. References:

[satoshi-mochida]

Ib coming to PS5, PS4 on March 14, 2024

Gematsu Source

Publisher PLAYISM and developer kouri will release PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 versions of 2D exploration adventure horror game remake Ib on March 14, 2024 for $14.99, the companies announced. It will be available both physically and digitally in Japan.

In Japan, the physical edition will be available in 4,400 yen standard and 5,500 yen limited editions. The standard edition includes an art book, while the limited edition includes both an art book and milk puzzle (all-white puzzle).

The Ib remake first launched for PC via Steam on April 11, 2022 in Japanese, and added English language support on May 17, 2022. A Switch version followed on March 9, 2023.

Here is an overview of the game, via PLAYISM:

About

Ib is a 2D exploration adventure game set in a creepy, mysterious art gallery. Inspect the area around you, discovering items and disarming traps to find your way out of the strange gallery.

Story

A young girl named Ib visits an art gallery with her parents. While perusing the various works of art, Ib suddenly realizes that she is alone. As she searches for someone—anyone—else, the museum begins to change…

Key Features

A mysterious adventure set it an art gallery full of puzzles to solve.

Pieces of artwork beautifully crafted in pixel art.

Basic controls consist of movement and an interact (speak) button, enjoyable by players of all levels.

Seven different endings to unlock based on player actions and choices.

Upon completion you will be rewarded with the True Guertena exhibit where you can collect the artwork found throughout the game and be able to visit an extra dungeon that you couldn’t access in your first playthrough.

New Features

This game is a remake of the 2D exploration-adventure title Ib, set in a creepy, mysterious art gallery and originally released in February 2012.

Virtually all of the graphics have been updated, with many upgraded and additional effects as well.

Significantly improved screen resolution and graphics allow players to experience a classic in a whole new light.

Brand new graphics for maps, characters, and stills.

Addition of all-new and redesigned pieces of artwork.

Further improvements upon the original concept of making the game enjoyable for players of all level through optimizations to the many puzzles in-game.

Brand new puzzles, effects, and tricks that were not present in the original.

Addition of “Smooth Mode” for improved visibility, allowing players to spot small items more easily and view the many pieces of artwork in greater detail.

New “conversation system” allows companions to offer hints and engage in conversation.

Brand new background music composed specifically for the remake.

Watch a new trailer below.

PlayStation 5 And PlayStation 4 Announce Trailer

English

Japanese

[dxntloseurhead]

why mary deserves to win her rounds of the @problemgirlbracket : an explanation from a longtime ib fan

who is mary?

character from the rpg horror game ‘ib’

introduced as the tritagonist of the game

just like ib, she’s a young girl trapped in the cursed gallery

or is she?

jk lol, she’s actually one of the paintings

and also technically the main antagonist

pictures below

(art by kouri)

okay, but why is mary a problem girl?

straight up lies to your face the first time she meets you

pretends she’s a human girl trapped in the gallery to gain the trust of ib and garry, but the rose representing her life is as fake as she is

actually wants to escape to the real world; knows she’ll have to take the place of either ib or garry to do so, willingly leaving one of them behind in the gallery (following screenshot is a hint towards this fact)

has a close bond with the other living artworks, almost all of which have attempted to kill the other characters at some point; specifically regards the lady in red as her “big sis” in ‘a painting’s demise’

when things become dire for her and garry discovers her secret, she’s willing to kill the others to be able to escape into the real world

wields a palette knife as a weapon and tries to use it to hurt/kill ib and garry

DOES straight up kill garry in at least four endings by plucking all the petals off of his rose; is implied to have killed both ib and garry in ‘welcome to the world of guertena’ given their slumped over positions in the ending

the only endings where she survives (her painting isn’t burnt to a crisp) are considered bad endings: these are ‘together, forever’ (where she escapes into the real world with ib), two variations of ‘ib all alone’, and ‘welcome to the world of guertena’

while she is a painting, she is still depicted as a little girl doing all of these things. her exact age isn’t known, but she’s thought to be around the same age as ib, who is 9

is somewhat of a little sister character; younger siblings commonly cause so many problems (source: i am one)

causes problems on purpose, but also she just wants a friend, but she goes about it in a not so typical way

was vehemently hated in the early days of the fandom due to her actions, sometimes to the point where people would be happy that they get to kill her (examples below)

VOTE FOR MARY !!!! 💛 she’s my fave silly little problem girl who deserves to win

[ballcrusher74]

fun abstrakt fact : idk when i'll get around to redesigning it's whole museum home dimension thing, but the biggest inspiration for it all ( and abstrakt himself ) is the guertena art gallery / fabricated world from ib ( cus i fucking love the game a lot )

[dark-elf-writes]

Guertena is a squib. One who moved away from the wizards and witches because they act like only magic can imbue art with life.

Guertena poured his heart and soul into every piece. This... turns out to be true in a way that no one expected, not even Guertena.

Because the gallery is alive. But it's... strange. It doesn't act like a wizard's would with known limitations and expectations. Everyone has a touch of magic but not everyone can use it. Guertena cannot yet somehow through pure passion... what he made breathes.

The hilarious/terrifying part is that it's implied that he died of natural causes. Avada looks like someone just inexplicably died. Nothing is more natural than your heart stopping, yeah? Someone cut him off and his ghost, fragmented as it is, lingers in his work and FURIOUS.

Magic is a lot more complicated than the way Wix like to think about it. Even between among bloodlines there are talents that cannot be explained. Things that others cannot do. Not to mention what other magical beings can do. What squibs who cannot fully access their magic but can imbue it into things can do.

Guertena did not have enough active magic for a Lumos. But passive magic? He had enough passive magic to do what no one else could.

He could create life.

And certain factions who were trying to stay in power didn’t like that a squib had that much power and took matters into their own hands.

But Guertena had poured his soul into his pieces. Not enough for them to be considered a horcrux but enough to tether him there. To spread him thin enough that he forgot what it was to be a man and only held on to the last thing he ever felt.

Hate. Rage.

So when a group of magic users: one an innocent, one drenched in the magic that had killed him, and one a squib like him with enough passive magic that he could create worlds of his own one day if he payed close enough attention to Guertena’s works, come in one day to see his exhibit? That rage pulls them into his world where his pieces reign supreme still choking on his rage and loneliness after his whole world turned from him and they have to find a way out.

[galgenwerk]

𝙜𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙮'𝙨 (𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙛) 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮

just because i don't think i've ever elaborated on this in an actual hc post rather than just my application + mentions in threads: garry's (lack) of humanity, now that she's in spirale!

garry is taken from a point in her canon after she's died in the gallery. this is essentially the pinnacle of a mountain of threads that connect her to the gallery. garry is often put in direct contrast to the painting of the hanged man, the painting she stands in front of at the very beginning of the game, before everything goes bad.

when starting the game and starting to travel through the haunted gallery, it's assumed that all of the awakened paintings and exhibits are creations of guertena. art of his that has awakened and is looking to pull other people into the gallery alongside it— none of it originally human, is the point i'm trying to make.

but what happens if all of the petals on garry's rose are plucked? if she dies in the gallery?

she turns into the forgotten portrait.

forgotten, because ib, the main character, has forgotten about garry entirely after escaping the gallery by herself. when ib looks at the painting, she thinks that it depicts a sleeping person, the same thought she had when finding garry's corpse: garry is sleeping.

what this means for my garry in particular is that she's not really human anymore. you can't quite tell, not upon any first glance. she looks human, and she definitely thinks she's human. but sometimes there's paint stuck to her clothes and shoes without her ever using any, and sometimes there's a red line around her neck despite no jewelry or fabric ever touching it. if she bleeds, it's oddly thick. when you see her out of the corner of your eye, she looks kind of wishy-washy, like a bunch of paint strokes taken from an impressionistic painting.

she's not really human anymore. she died in the gallery. she's essentially a painting. it barely changes anything about her day to day life, and she doesn't want to think about it anyways, so she doesn't. but if you pay really close attention, you can definitely notice the small signs.

[lilbit-o-sunshine]

Ok Ib theory time because the game is something I still think about a lot.

What if Mary was painted so that Guertena could have a second chance at life?

Sounds weird, but hear me out. Mary was the last work of Guertena's life, right? Throughout the gallery, Ib finds interesting books like "the trading of existences" and stuff. Guertena also painted a tarot card, "the Hanged Man." So we see an interest in some occult (this might be the wrong word to use here, sorry) things. I also believe that it was hinted that Guertena put a part of himself or his spirit in each of his pieces (but I don't remember where I saw that tbh, it also could have just been a metaphor or smth but what if it wasn't :] ). Perhaps he had found a specific ritual to do exactly that.

So, with this in mind, let's say he was putting a piece of his spirit in each of his art pieces to give them "life" so to say (a sort of trading of existences going on there too perhaps?).

- Receive the fame he never got for his art in life?

And from how disturbing the gallery was, we could also assume his mind started to decline with age, and near the end, he had some regrets:

- Maybe he wanted to make more art?

- Maybe he simply wanted to experience life again from a different angle?

So, in his last days he painted "Mary", a girl with a spark for life, curious, creative, and adventurous, a girl who still had the youth he'd lost to time, and he decided to put the rest of his spirit in her.

Guertena may have imagined her having her exact curiosity and spark for life so that she'd get tired of the gallery, and want to do anything she could to trigger the switching of existences, even if she probably didn't fully understand the weight of her actions (more like definitely didn't understand, she's probably only 9 like Ib). He may have also missed that sort of childish curiosity in his old age, and he thought he'd have more inspiration for art if he had it again.

And so in the "Together Forever" ending, Guertena gets exactly what he wants when he switches existences with Garry through Mary. And now he can create more art through her as well, since she seemed interested in art by what we could see in her room :)

(It's a stretch and a half, and I really could be overthinking all of this, but it's still fun to think about. I just got that sort of "Coraline ancient monster corridor" vibe from the entire Guertena gallery and thought it'd be interesting if the gallery turned out to be a sort of pocket dimension created by some senile artist's hopes, dreams, and possible occultish rituals???? ^-^;)

[mishima-in-places-he-shouldnt-be]

mishima shouldn't be in the art gallery from ib

Kazumi Mishima shouldn't be in the Guertena Art Gallery from Ib.

He also shouldn't have jumped into that weird painting back there and gone this far..... Oh god.

[coccineouswriting]

Have you heard the rumors?

This art gallery, now under new ownership and rebranded, was a hot tourist spot back in the day. Guertena’s works once covered every inch of the building. All came to fawn and ponder over his intentions and thoughts behind the pieces, letting themselves be drawn into the mystery of its beauty.

Well, that was until two people went missing. 

A young girl and man disappeared in a gallery with no back doors. Staff diligently received and escorted out guests, having members at the ready to take the next group. All claimed to have seen the girl come in with her mother and father, the man alone. None had seen them leave the “Fabricated World” exhibit. 

Oh? The “Fabricated World” is the other side of this gallery. It is a place of nightmares, art in motion attempting to steal from you which they do not have. A life. 

The man in charge promises all of Guertena’s works are all stored at another gallery, somewhere far away, yet… they have seen them. 

A beautiful painting of a girl caught the eyes of a group of rowdy teens that had separated from the rest of their class. It depicted her curled up, eyes gently gazing at the red rose blossoming in her hand, fingertips bent to caress the petals with care. Stems grew from her heart, wrapping around her body like an intricate tattoo. Various roses could be found growing among their garden.

They claimed to have seen her come alive. 

If you ever come across her painting, left all alone in a deserted corner of the gallery, know this. You are already halfway into their world. 

If you stay she will take your life just as hers was and turn you into one of her beautiful roses, just as she did to one of those silly boys. He has been declared missing, but that is not true, we know where he is. 

Is that all? Oh no, there is one more! Remember that man? Two went missing, how sad is it that he is always the forgotten of the duo. 

A horrid fate awaits at his hands. While beauty and innocence lure those to the girl, only fear and disgust seep into those that lay eyes on him.

Thorns protrude from his skin, tangled in his tattered coat and tight around his neck like a noose. His skin is charred and thorns blackened, body supporting clusters of wilted petals pressed into to skin of his face and hands, burnt traces suggest they were once on his neck as well. He holds his fist in front of him, attempting to crush the rose that lay in his palm. 

He has no sympathy for the living anymore. Once he has you in his grasp, there will be no escape. Whispers say that it is a painful ending, slow for his satisfaction. 

Now you know of the origins of our resident creatures, so I believe it is time for you to go home! You feel for them!? That won’t do! They have long since left behind their humanity, only monsters are left. 

Shoo now, it is almost closing time and I have a job to do. Stay safe? Why, how kind of them to say….

It is fine. I have long since learned how to avoid Ib and Gary. 

----

I didn't do much revising and editing on this since it was a vague idea that is more of a drabble of what could be a much longer AU type writing.

The idea of Ib and Garry being supernaturals, bound by the horrible rumors that float around in that TBHK style is fun to think about.

Ib would never want to hurt anyone, so I imagined she would take them and turn them into roses(however that works), never angry enough to kill, finding a loophole through how they perceive her as someone too pure to kill another.

For Garry, with the patches of burnt skin and black thorns, I wanted it to seem like a punishment for when he went around burning things and using his lighter. Or I was leaning into another idea that, because he would obviously never hurt Ib, he attempted to burn all the growth off himself but all it would do was appear burnt, unable to be destroyed. The petals being pressed in areas, almost like scales here and there but rose petals, was me thinking back on how Mary and The Lady in his first room took to tearing apart the petals on his rose.

Gary would not kill either, but there is more of a loose canon type vibe with him because of his anger issues. Like Ib, it's the rumors but since his appearance is more frightening, horrible scenarios would come to mind and then birth into those said rumors.

Well sorry for the rambling! This is my first post and I am excited to be able to share some writing pieces and ideas. I hope I did tagging correctly. I sincerely hope you also enjoy this little bit of mine.

I really do recommend playing/or watching someone play Ib, the Remake came out last year and added in so much more dialogue! Toilet-bound Hanako-kun is the anime/manga where the rumor prompt came from, also a recommend.

[valeffelees]

All your ask game files look super interesting, but what can you tell us about #6?

i am doing fucking backflips rn, i am so excited someone asked about this one. stay with me for a sec, ok? because i can tell you LOTS about #6, long post below the cut.

#6, titled The Cadwallader Collection, takes place August 12th, 2018, and is told from the third person perspective of a human Baz in a non-magical world, wherein there is no Watford.

Baz is home with his family in Hampshire for the summer, and normally he spends this day alone, sleeping most of it away before going to her grave in the evening to leave her flowers. this 12th, however, there is a tentative knock at his door before breakfast. Daphne tells him a new art exhibition has opened in London and invites him to go see it with her, just the two of them. The Cadwallader Collection, she calls it. Baz knows she knows what day it is... but instead of being put off, he appreciates her effort.

and so they go to the exhibition together. the interior of the gallery is bland and white and full of large, strange paintings with thick golden frames that even he finds gaudy. Daphne has stopped to talk to the woman behind the desk for a moment, but she urges Baz to go and start looking around at the exhibits, she'll catch up with him in a moment, and they're... all right? kind of odd and creepy, he thinks. Baz wanders deeper and deeper into the strange, maze-like gallery and comes across a painting of a large, empty room. stone walls and stone floors and a high ceiling, a wide double window. a silhouette is standing against it. he reads the name of the painting: "Mummers House," outloud, because nobody else is around. then, the lights go out.

Baz tries to find Daphne but... the whole gallery is empty, everyone is gone. he makes it back to the reception area, but when he tries the main doors, they're locked, so he turns back to see if he can find an emergency exit instead, and as he does, he steps into a puddle of blue paint. there is a trail of it on the floor, like someone was dripping paint from their hands as they walked by. it splatters down the carpet, leading all the way to one of Cadwallader's oldest displays, a painting so massive it is stretched out across the floor instead of on the wall. the velvet rope that usually hangs around it to keep people a safe distance away has been unhooked on one side, and the paint leads right to it... Baz steps closer to try and read the name of the painting in the dark. "The World of Mages."

something strikes his back, then everything goes dark.

when he wakes up, he is in a hallway made of stone and dust and dirt and bone. with no other choice, he starts walking, and soon comes to a small room, the placard beside the door calls it "Le Tombeau des Enfants". inside, the walls are nothing but rows of skulls, and there is a single child-sized coffin in the centre with a small, glass vase on top of it, holding a single red rose with ten petals...

... LOL, SO—IF YOU'RE STILL WITH ME, this is actually the beginning of one of my all time favourite games, a free RPG Maker horror/puzzle adventure game called Ib (イヴ), released back in 2012!!!

that's why i don't feel shy sharing all this, because the fanfic actually follows the first few minutes of the game beat for beat until the moment Baz picks up the rose, at which point the stories diverge from each other. fun fact: including this fic, i have written three Ib crossover AUs.

here are some images i nabbed off the fandom wiki of the Guertena art gallery! 🌹

[96percentdone]

Top 5 characters who haunt the narrative?

Yeah okay okay okay good question good question.

Guertena, Ib. You will never meet this man. You will NEVER know this man. The only words we know to be his own are that short journal entry, but the gallery of his works has taken a life of its own. It holds his spirit, or at least how his spirit has been perceived and interpreted by an audience. The world of his creation is brimming with life and feelings and intent, all born from his simple wish to be remembered, but he himself is absent. Unknowable. Mary wishes to meet her father, the gallery itself yearns for him, but all he will ever be, to them and to us, is a portrait hanging on the wall of his arm holding a paintbrush, born from the hazy memories of art and audience desperate to understand that which makes and moves them.

Lacie, Pandora Hearts. You see her in the past, but you can't change her fate. Hell the narrative concludes by not only changing nothing but by reaffirming that we should accept everything that had happened, good and bad, and even implies her support because its her song, the one she used to sing, the one that carries her name, that leads them to where it begins and ends. Pandora Hearts begins with that melody, and it ends at her grave. Her existence motivates and fuels everyone, whether they love her, hate her, never knew her, or have yet to remember her--she is the root of the tragedy, and she the one singing from the heavens that the world is still beautiful and worth living in no matter how cruel and senseless it gets.

Houjou Satoshi, Higurashi. Like with Lacie, although you can see him, meet him, in Meakashi, or in tips...you can do nothing for him. His fate is predetermined, and yet everything about what happened to him, his tragedy just plagues Hinamizawa. Mion, Shion, Satoko, Rena and Rika have all internalized his fate as their own failings, and it shapes the ways they interact with each other, and with Keiichi. And it affects Keiichi too! Keiichi who never knew Satoshi, who could never have known him or his fate is still affected by his absence. He is constantly responding to a void he looks like he's supposed to fill, down to using his locker and sitting in his seat, with the way his friends project Satoshi on him. Everyone is haunted by what happened to Satoshi. The adults of hinamizawa too, the conflict over the Houjou family, the internal bullshit with sonozakis--everything.

Gregory Edgeworth, Ace Attorney. The whole of Ace Attorney begins because on December 28th, 2001, a man was shot in an elevator. This one act of violence completely changed the course of every single character in the original trilogy's lives. Like not just Miles, and Yanni Yogi, and MvK, and the Feys, but it's Nick whose inspiration to be a lawyer stemmed from Miles imitating his father in the class trial, and Franziska whose life and ambitions were forever altered once MvK brought them together. His death causes an endless chain reaction. It all goes back to him. This is why No-DL-6 aus have the fandom in a chokehold. AND THIS ISNT EVEN GETTING TO THE HAUNTING OF I2, FEATURING GREGORY EDGEWORTH.

Okiura Renju, AITSF. As soon as the game begins, although you don't know it just yet, he's dead. But so much of the game is about him anyway! His failures as a father, his getting caught up in the yakuza as a kid, his inability to save one of his closest friends, the grief he can never come to terms with that dictates his every move, the fact that he's still so loved by the people who knew him despite his many failings (Date, Pewter, Hitomi, Iris, even Mizuki still loves her father), and they still want justice for him. Pewter even betrays everyone because he thinks he's doing it for Renju even though Renju has been gone from the moment this began. You could put Iwai Manaka here, because she like haunts Sejima and Hitomi and also Renju, and the stuff that happened there kickstarted the plot, but the thing is. I like Renju more and he has a lot more going on than just "innocent young woman whose life was tragically cut too short), so she doesn't make the cut!

[justastrugglinghotchocolate]

Hi hello, I was listening to Ib music and now i need to tell you about a dumb little Ib (the rpg horror game) au, that I won’t do much with but that I want to exist in the world outside of my brain. If things are incoherent, it’s cause I am caffeinated.

Spoilers for Ib (It’s 2022, if you haven’t heard of this game, do yourself a favor and watch a playthrough or read the wiki. This game was my childhood.)

Right off the bat, Dorian is Mary, so he doesn’t exist in the same world as Basil and Henry. Also this is for the Henry/Basil fandom. If you want Dasil, check any of my other works. Also everyone is an adult, ranging from their 20s.

Oke, it takes place in the Modern day and has the same premise as the original: Basil and Henry, who have known each other for years at this point, go to an art gallery, though in this case it’s to celebrate “something.” (Henry refuses to say what it is [he’s expecting Basil to confess, he’s right.]) Anyways, then Basil finds the Fabricated World painting and gets transported there.

The person he finds and partners with is not Henry, but, surprise!—it’s Sybil! (Because I think she’s a way cooler option, and they’re gonna be friends). So the AU would follow the same plot as the original game with some changes made to adhere to the new characters. Eventually they meet Dorian, believe he’s also trapped there and all three team up, until it becomes very clear that he is a painting, and yes, he has been trying to get Sybil killed so that he can escape with Basil.

Oke now I’m gonna talk about some endings:

Welcome to the World of Guertena: Sybil gets attacked by weird ass gallery dolls and has a mental break. Basil refuses to leave her behind, infuriating Dorian. Basil tells him off and, in retaliation, Dorian starts tearing off the petals on Basil’s rose. (If you don’t know, in the game, the characters’ lives are connected to the roses, any damage done to the flower hurts them.) Dorian injures Basil enough, that he can’t leave and decides that they’ll all stay in this world, together. Great for him, bad for the other two.

Forgotten Portrait: Sybil dies because of Dorian destroying her rose, Basil has to leave her behind and find Dorian’s painting. He sets the portrait alight, which kills Dorian. He manages to leave this world, returning to the gallery with no memory of what happened. He starts making his way back to Henry when he sees a portrait of Sybil ‘sleeping’. He starts crying, not knowing why, and Henry finds him, an inconsolable mess. He decides the confession can wait and guides Basil out of the gallery.

Together, Forever: Sybil dies, but Basil doesn’t have the lighter, so never burns the portrait. He returns to his world, doesn’t remember anything, and looks for Henry. He finds him with Dorian. As in the game, the world changes so that Dorian existence makes sense—he’s Basil’s roommate, has been for a while now. Basil’s memory in foggy and he finds a piece of candy in his pocket (Sybil had given it to him earlier), but then Dorian takes it from him and eats it, forever destroying any chance of his crime being discovered. He then insists on Basil returning home, cockblocking Henry, and drags Basil outside the gallery. It’s implied that Dorian has no inclination to share his new best friend.

Ib (Basil) All Alone: Having lost Sybil and burned Dorian, Basil wanders the now empty gallery and finds a bed. Realizing that he’s exhausted, he lays in it and reminisces of his last birthday. Henry had given him a stuffed toy as a joke, before revealing that he actually got him a finely made silk handkerchief. (Basil always carries it with him now) Throughout the memory, Basil feels himself slowly fall further and further asleep. Eventually in the memory (dream?), he slumps onto Henry, who tells him he can sleep if he’d like, though Basil feebly tells him that he needs to tell him something. He slips away and the exhibit now has a sleeping beauty.

Promise of Reunion: Sybil and Basil burn down the portrait, but the fire causes the glass of the portrait to shatter, cutting Sybil’s hand. Using the handkerchief Henry gave him, Basil helps bandage the world. They leave together, don’t remember where they were, yadda yadda. Basil eventually bumps into her and they talks about stuff, before he notices his handkerchief and then they remember. They promises to meet again, Sybil inviting him to a show and taking the handkerchief to wash it. Basil returns to Henry, who has no idea of the strange adventure his friend just experienced. Basil, now confident and knowing how easily everything could be lost, kisses him instead of verbally confessing. Henry is absolutely stunned (though very, very pleased) and then gets dragged by Basil to dinner, barely able to comprehend what’s happened. Basil and Sybil do meet again, the adventure in the fabricated world nothing but a secret between them.

Thank you so much for reading. I know that neither of these fandoms are particularly active and I’m currently shadowbanned, so if even one person took the time out of their day to read this, that means a lot to me :). I may do sone doodles of this, perhaps even a few ficlets, but nothing too substantial.

[prickly-problematic-programmer]

one day late but i’m back again with B week for the alphabet superset!

once again if you want more alphabet superset goodies please check out @gothmothart @mrdoctorb @wanna-alphabet-on-it @clockquark (not all are posting but they’re all still cool people to follow!)

this week’s oc: bacia

more info on the oc (and the painting references) under the cut!

year created: 2015

what they were used for: she was originally used for an Ib/Undertale/Death Note (though that last part never ended up being relevant) crossover fic. a few years ago i revamped her to be a general Deltarune oc.

description: Bacia was a painting done by the son of Guertena and acted as the gallery’s judge and protector. She had a rose that could kill people and a lighter that could burn paintings. (I was 13 when I made her… she was a lot.) In the plotline of the crossover fic, Flowey and Frisk are sent to the gallery due to a reset gone wrong and through some shenanigans and major character death for all the important Ib characters, Bacia makes her way over to the Undertale world during a genocide run.

present day notes: Despite the cringe and mary sue-ness of Bacia, I love her very dearly! Writing her story got me through a lot at a time when I really needed a story to throw myself into. Back when Deltarune chapter 2 came out I ended up revamping her to look like how she does in the actual drawing and not just in the paintings. I also took away all of her overpowered-ness and made her just a normal monster. I wanted this piece to show the current day Bacia looking back at the original Bacia in the gallery and had so much fun drawing that Sans.

art references: i won’t normally be doing this, but since all the paintings had real life painting references, i thought it’d be neat to share.