Tropes

**Tropes** is commonly recurring or overused literary devices, motifs and cliches, without which it is impossible to do when creating any comics, games, etcetera. Their enumeration simplifies the task of creators to create one or another component of the content, since "Everything That Can Be Invented Has Been Invented", and therefore it is enough to look at the stereotypes and cliches of the game- and comic industry used in order to form an idea of what needs to be done in advance.

For compiling the list, we bring our thanks to "tv|tropes" website.

**Warning:** *detailed listing and analysis of tropes may partially or completely reveal the plot or other nuances. In addition, their number may be supplemented from time to time. Also, keep in mind that a little less than all of the following are not specific facts, but theories about what will happen in the future.*

**Denial of responsibility:** *possible strange language constructs are caused by translation from the author's native language into English.*

## General tropes

* **Anachronism Stew** - Jameson Saunders, the protagonist of Jameson's Door, is 40 years old at the time of game events. He was born sometime in the 1920s. Based on simple logic and arithmetic, time of action are in the range from 1960 to 1965. However, that it doesn't interfere the game design from being a grotesque omnium gatherum of the 2000s and 1990s (mostly because most of the references titles were around that time frame).
* **Bowdlerise** - this goes for A LOT of stuff in the Sightless Highland franchise. Starting with the rewriting of backstory of Phill Childs and the complete removal of Virdie Erdoytes-Grassfield from SH-Demo (it remained in the main game, Jameson's Door, but also not without cuts). Mainly because ideas that look normal in genres of eastern animation look too blasphemous in a western video game, and without adaptation to the main audience, the project will simply never see the light of day.
* **No Name Given** - a lot of characters don't have names in Sightless Highland franchise products. From the parents of Jameson Saunders to the really grotesque Older Brother, Younger Sister and Stupidad (sic erat scriptum) from a strange short story tangentially related to the main project.
* **The Place** - this refers to the franchise itself, whose games and comics are set in the fictional region in Europe.
* **Premiseville** - entire franchise is named after the mountain ranges that surround the fictional region.
* **Unholy Ground** - according to lore, this fully applies to Sightless Highland region, which was founded by robbers from the big roads.
* **Where the Hell Is Springfield?** - all that is known about Sightless Highland is that it is a region in Europe. East, West, North or South region - this is never specified. Although the scenery suggests that this is some kind of wild mixture of post-Soviet countries with Great Britain.
* **Shout-Out** - to be honest, this is almost the basis of Sightless Highland franchise itself - to present images familiar to the player/viewer in slightly different shells. The reference base is **Silent Hill**, of course, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. The area of borrowing can also be safely indicated as a British musical band **Depeche Mode**, works of a Polish writer **Stanislaw Lem** and so on and so forth.
* **Take That!** - in some ways echoes Shout Out. The basis is a commercial game franchise from a Japanese corporation, as well as independent horror-themed games that flooded **digital distribution service and storefront** by **famous American video game publisher**.

## Games tropes

* **Artifact Title** - the name of main game project - Jameson's Door - was given by a random person on the first forum the project was mentioned. That guy built his conclusions like "in your story description the character walks through the door, that makes a lot of sense!". Since then, there has been no trace of the "Door" in the plot of the project, but SEO technologies have already identified the project under this name, so changing it to something new is an extra cost (although the jesting variant "How I Meet My Daughter" was considered, but was discarded for the above reasons).
* **Ambiguous Ending** - on the one hand, Jameson Saunders happily adopts Virdie Erdoytes-Grassfield and finds a job again, but on the other hand, the scene after that implies that this is all a drunken dream of Edwin Deforest...
* **Bag of Spilling** - Edwin Deforest offers the player to get rid of his pistol - this deed is necessary for walkthrough.
* **Bland-Name Product** - an example of this would be an unnamed washing powder similar to animesque variant of Tide.
* **Catchphrase** - not that it was a full-fledged phrase, but the fact that W. S. Hargroove refers to the protagonist as "Son mine" (in the manner of religious figures), due to frequent iterance, can become just that.
* **Crazy-Prepared** - second location in the game (after the apartment building where the protagonist lived) is the travel agency. The first floor of this building is a real police station, with firearms everywhere. Then, when the plot reveals the cards with Edwin Deforest, it makes sense, but even so, it is still unclear why the travel agency needs such protection (at the gameplay level - to give the player the opportunity to participate in the shooting of monsters).
* **Composite Character** - Jameson Saunders, the game's protagonist, is a mix of two characters from Silent Hill franchise - Harry Mason (writer who has adopted a child and is looking for him in the game) and James Sunderland (an office clerk who has killed his wife and is trying to meet her). Motifs aside, his appearance is clearly heavily based on the latter. He even originally had the same jacket color until the artist was hinted that it wasn't a good idea, and in the earliest draft of the plot (more precisely, the layout of the game on GZDoom engine), he also had a wife who died before the start of the game. In a way, so is Virdie Erdoytes-Grassfield, which combines traits like Cheryl Mason (a girl related to the protagonist by family ties but not related) and Laura (a girl whom the protagonist accidentally finds and leave town with her in the best ending). There was even a transparent hint that this character was created because the author "didn't like how the developers ignored Cheryl in the game".
* **Dark World** - there is an exception that confirms this rule - in the middle of the game the protagonist finds himself in a world where there are no monsters and clouds, but only people (among which there is not womans or girls).
* **Drone of Dread** - before it was decided to make the game more than Silent Hill-oriented, Raimund Clement - composer and sound designer - created many sound and music files, the vast majority of which fit this description. Then he left the project (according to him, due to the death of the hard drive), but his achievements were useful.
* **Do Not Run with a Gun** - there are moments during the game when the player is completely unarmed and only has to run away. With a firearms, the behavior of the protagonist is approximately the same as in classic Silent Hill games.
* **Game Mod** - initially it was planned to implement the project as a Total Conversion for **Doom (1993)** on the GZDoom engine. Vestiges of this still remain today, ranging from a huge number of pre-recorded sound files (most of which were intended for bestiaries and weapons), to monsters that were somehow inspired by **this franchise**. In perspective, this actually makes some sense at least in order to simulate the levels in advance, so that on a more advanced engine there is something to build on, but for a serious project of videogame this is not an option.
* **Fantastic Drug** - a strange version of this - the very substance that Edwin Deforest uses to drunkenness is not unusual, but it is - just think - ordinary orange juice! The effect of self-hypnosis?
* **Book Ends** - Jameson's Door begins with Jameson Saunders telling his adopted daughter about how he actually adopted her (мore specifically, what led to this).
* **Father's Quest** - before Jameson Saunders meets Virdie Erdoytes-Grassfield, the game progresses like the usual "finding exit of this situation", but after the plot abruptly changes to "find this girl and save her".
* **Eldritch Location** - a strange theater, where the theater itself is combined with circus and prison, as well as a twisted labyrinth that leads to the attic of a multi-story building (both locations are boss battle arenas).
* **Token Romance** - combined with love at first sight - only after seeing Virdie Erdoytes-Grassfield, the protagonist lights up with the idea of ​​adopting her. Considering that most of the events of the game take place without the participation of that girl, this story looks quite transparent (this was actually added to pay homage to the original Silent Hill where the player had a similar goal).
* **Elite Mooks** - demonized gendarmes (who killed the father of the protagonist) will also pursue you in one location of the game. Their peculiarity is that they are armed with revolvers (the only shooting enemy in the game), the shots of which slow down the player for a while (they are largely based on Commando from Doom 3)
* **Friendless Background** - Phill Childs, who since kindergarten has not been able to establish relationships with anyone (females included), has grown into a gloomy person who treats people like poisonous insects.
* **Fan Remake** - project does not position itself in this way, but but from a bird's eye view, we can say that Jameson's Door is a remake of the old "Silent Hill" from the first PlayStation (adjusted for copyright issues).
* **Establishing Series Moment** - the beginning of Jameson's Door game is supposed to be made in contrast - imagine that at first the action takes place in a pink nursery, where the father plays with his little daughter and tells her a story, and then the player sees the same room, but with peeling walls and a frightened man who does not understand what is happening around in an atmosphere of desolation (the so-called arcade version of game due to the removal of female characters, alas, will no longer have such an effect at the beginning)?
* **Good Powers, Bad People** - this applies to W. S. Hargroove, which heals Jameson Saunders with a strange energy. It's kind of twisted when it turns out he had to kill an innocent cyclist to do it (i.e. this power is not good).
* **Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!** - quotes by Edwin Deforest almost verbatim in the middle of the game towards the protagonist.
* **Multiple Endings** - subverted, unlike inspirational franchise, neither game in Sightless Highland franchise is planned to have any plot branches that could lead to different endings.
* **Meaningful Name** - This can be said with certainty about Virdie Erdoytes-Grassfield, whose name consists of three words - Virdie (derived from "vert Guignet", a *green* pigment), Erdoytes (anagram for "self-destroyer") and Grassfield (lawn in the valley... So idyllic) This is justified by the plot, but at first glance it looks as if the author simply took completely different words at random, without understanding their meaning.
* **Missing Child** - in a strange way, the protagonist, who before the events of the game did not have children in principle, while wandering around the deserted city, accidentally finds a little girl and from that moment is obsessed with the idea of adopting her (he succeeds).
* **Jerk with a Heart of Jerk** - when you first find Edwin Deforest, which is holding back the door from the monster, you think that he is just lost in the city. Then you meet him at a bar where he tries to have an amiable chat with you while trying to get drunk. Then he calls you at the moment when you are talking with your old friend and then the latter's house burns to the ground. Further, when the protagonist enters a dimension without monsters, Edwin rubs himself into your confidence and, leading you along, makes you throw away your gun. And that's not counting the fact that at the end of this, he simply disappears in an unknown direction. Not a clear villain, but you can't call him a good one either.
* **Joke Ending** - not the ending itself (it's essentially "book ends"), but a short scene after it, where Edwin Deforest wakes up on the street after drinking. This was not the original idea - but was added to appease those people who found the protagonist's actions too disgusting, reducing the entire story of the game to a joke.
* **No Sidepaths, No Exploration, No Freedom** - linearity of plot and the authors' focus on small and compact game design solutions (due to lack of funding and other nuances) willy-nilly bring everything under this trope.
* **No Celebrities Were Harmed** - Until recently, face of Jameson Saunders was redrawn all the time and was not specific. More recently, the artist has settled on a design that is strikingly similar to young **Alan Charles Wilder**, a former member of **Depeche Mode** (adjusted for a different hair color).
* **Let's Split Up, Gang!** - under such a pretext, Edwin Deforest parted ways with the protagonist in the middle of the game (before that, he deprives him of his weapon by deceit).
* **Nice Job Breaking It, Hero** - main turmoil began with the fact that the protagonist was on fire with the idea of ​​adopting a girl whom he sees for the first time. This causes the anger of W. S. Hargroove, which actually begins to put Jameson spokes in the wheels, thanks to becomes it is not so easy for the latter to get out of the world of nightmares.
* **Notice This** - subverted, like **original game of 1999** (which is the main inspiration for the authors), Jameson's Door won't have such a feature - mainly because the author of these lines did not like the very idea that the subsequent games in that franchise supposedly "leads player by the arm".
* **Ominous Fog** - subverted, because, firstly, the computing capabilities of modern devices do not impose requirements on developers to optimize game graphics, and secondly, because the game will take place in the daytime.
* **Ominous Chanting** - among the sound demo files from former project's composer, various distorted voice clips were found, which are likely to be used to create sound landscapes in the game.
* **Undead Child** - this is never implied, but it can be assumed that Virdie Erdoytes-Grassfield is not entirely normal (especially considering her strange, lifeless reaction to the world around her).
* **Papa Wolf** - this is one hundred percent true for Jameson Saunders, protagonist of Jameson's Door, who, after finding Virdie Erdoytes-Grassfield, takes responsibility for her life (but not in SH-Demo, where the aforementioned character is deleted).
* **Police Are Useless** - the world of Jameson's Door game is total lawlessness, which can be briefly described as the fact that all power structures are subject to mafia groups (Edwin Deforest is one of its masters). Although in other cases the police are never mentioned at all.
* **Rape as Backstory** - Phill Childs initially had just such a plot background, but over time it was censored to a simple hatred of the human race (for "rape" is thin ice on which it is dangerous to move).
* **Recurring Riff** - Raimund Clement, the former composer, left behind a lot of demo music files, among which there are enough repetitive melodies that will later be used to create a memorable soundtrack.
* **Ridiculous Future Sequelisation** - there's a poster in town that reads "INVISIBLE KILLER with napalmcannon!!! From creators of INVISIBLE KILLER with shotgun and INVISIBLE KILLER with hayfork" (which can be considered both a reference to the old Universal cinema franchise The Invisible Man and one old game from the creators of F.E.A.R.).
* **Road Runner PC** - in Jameson's Door plans moments when the player will need to run away from a crowd of angry peoples. Since the goal is simply to run to a certain point, and no other opponents are expected at this stage, this fits this trope.
* **Rule of Symbolism** - it is a typical and indispensable detail of everything that is inspired by famous **Konami Group Corporation's** video game franchise.
* **Running Gag** - in the middle of Jameson's Door protagonist encounters Edwin Deforest, who says that through self-hypnosis he can "have one over the eight" on orange juice. After the very end of game, Edwin wakes up on the street with a bottle of this juice (can be assumed that everything that happened was a drunken dream of Edwin).
* **Say My Name** - in some way is subverted, because according to the plot, Jameson Saunders does not know the name of Virdie Erdoytes-Grassfield until the very end. In the case of protagonist himself, this is true in the sense that demonized gendarmes (monsters in game) shout his name as a scary factor (a kind of reference to commando from **Doom 3 Alpha 0.02**).
* **The Smurfette Principle**  - the only female character in Jameson's Door is Virdie Erdoytes-Grassfield - because even when the protagonist enters the real world, all the people there are men albeit with a range of ages from 5 to 70 (funny thing is that the special arcade version doesn't even have her). In a way, this is done in a counterweight to Silent Hill, where, as a rule, the number of female characters domination over male ones.
* **Scare Chord** - Raimund Clement (former composer) has made many sound- an musical stings that are planned to be used in game to create unexpected jumpscares. Also intersects with **Sensory Overload**.
* **Limited Wardrobe** - Jameson Saunders, protagonist of Jameson's Door, always wears a blue jacket with brown trousers, and to a joke of one character, he replies that he would be happy to wear jeans and change outerwear, but is afraid of being laughed at (this is a reaction to the fact that initially character was essentially James Sunderland from Silent Hill 2 with recolored pants, therefore attempt to "change outerwear" would cause problems with the legal department of Konami, the copyright holder of Silent Hill).
* **Solve the Soup Cans** - although not meant to be an absolute, one such puzzle is supposed to be that you need to knock over a glass of orange juice in order to get a metal ring out of it, which you need to apply to a vending machine. Not knowing what to do, this can result in running around the location in search of an exit (because the desired key will not be available).
* **Soundtrack Dissonance** - music demos from the former composer of the project cover quite a lot of genres, so there shouldn't be any problems with this kind of soundtrack construction.
* **Stock Sound Effects** - subverted, Jameson's Door game will use only those sound samples that were created specifically for him (because the main criterion of project is free and open content).
* **Survival Horror** - a strange symbiosis between classic Silent Hill games and **Silent Hill: Shattered Memories** is expected - traditional killing of monsters will be combined with locations completely devoid of supplies, where the only way will be to escape from opponents, and the amount of "horror" part, shall we say, is extremely low (because looking at the now massive indie horror games in Steam makes us move away from intimidating the player in favor of a more in-depth approach to gameplay).
* **Suspicious Video-Game Generosity**  - subverted, in Jameson's Door, in principle, there are no medicines - protagonist can throw off an illness only once in the whole game (but this is somewhat compensated by the fact that the attacks of the monsters, in fact, do not make much sense, which can also be a hint at the general unreality of what is happening).
* **Tank Controls** - it is planned to do so as a tribute to the original Silent Hill (and also because the author of this line was not satisfied with the management in the subsequent parts of that game franchise).
* **Teleportation** - in a way, this is exactly what happens in the middle of the game, when the protagonist, seeing how his friend's house burns down, falls to the ground in despair and suddenly finds himself in a world where there is not a single monster.
* **Through the Eyes of Madness** - this does not pretend to be the main idea, but what if, in fact, a simple school teacher Jameson Saunders once went crazy and committed genocide in the city where he arrived, having fled from his homeland (absolutely NO)?
* **Tomato in the Mirror** - this can apply to absolutely any character. Specifically, about the main character (Jameson Saunders), we can say that he illegally fled from his homeland when he was forced to read strange appeals from the podium, and his father was generally involved in the overthrow of governance.
* **Unreliable Narrator** - this applies to Edwin Deforest, who at first helped the protagonist and said that he was a simple guy who did not know what and how in this city, but then it turns out that he not only lived here for a long time, but also entered power and set up a "mafia kingdom".
* **Vague Hit Points** - given the previously indicated system of injuries and treatment, it makes no sense to make the protagonist's health indicator in the game, because it would almost always indicate exactly one hundred percent.
* **Violation of Common Sense** - put your pistol in a laundry detergent box and throw it under a bridge? Why not, it was suggested to you by a suspicious young guy in sunglasses!
* **Villain with Good Publicity** - Edwin Deforest begins his career in this city by organizing the tropical fruit trade between it and Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Very soon he gets support from the terrorists and soon corrupts the government of the city, turning it into a "mafia kingdom". And, of course, no one even said a word to him.
* **Walls Of Text** - this is supposed to be avoided in favor of the player getting information not through reading notes, but through dialogues with Non-Player Characters.
* **Wrong Genre Savvy** - Mark "Iron" Randolph, a government agent, is tasked with finding and interrogating Virdie Erdoytes-Grassfield as the niece of a man suspected of blowing up a bridge at a Spanish airport many years ago. Unfortunately, no one told the brave agent that the girl would be involved in phantasmagoria...
* **Womb Level** - when the game was conceived on **(G)ZDoom engine**, it assumed a similar level (as a reference to **one old game** from **the creators** of **F.E.A.R.**), but then, when the gameplay design was shifted from a shooter to something Silent Hill-like, plans for such a level were canceled and the focus was shifted to somewhat abstract urban landscapes.
* **You Wake Up in a Room** - this is how, and nothing else, Jameson's Door begins. The main character, Jameson Saunders, who works as a school teacher, one day wakes up in his apartment and sees that the world around him seems to have died out... Such a primitive beginning is compensated by the fact that before this it is shown that this is the beginning of the protagonist's story for his adopted daughter (i.e. this is not the factual game beginning).
* **Zombie Puke Attack** - if possible, this will be avoided when creating a bestiary for Jameson's Door. Game is definitely planning a zombie with a long-range attack - that's not vomiting, but a hitscan.