Videogame Art: Hollow Knight Maskdream

A prequel story about Quirrel's time away from Hallownest. He lands in the Kingdom of Widemask, a kingdom specialized on making masks and using their focus to shift into the Dream World. During the game you encounter several Maskmakers and Nailmasters. You hear that many people living in the kingdom have been enslaved by the Lord of Widemask. They all wear the same masks, whose focus stole their minds and transformed them into empty vessels. But there are still some towns that could protect themselves by having a great Maskmaker ruling them and creating masks that protect them. Quirrel, who is protected by Monomon's mask, explores the world learning new nailarts and getting new masks with new abilities.

Widemask was once a highly socialized kingdom known for their creativity and perfected execution in mask smithery. The citizens of Widemask were living in wealth, and most of them were able to switch over to Dreammask, the dream part of Widemask, which was also the crossroad between Widemask and other kingdoms. Widemask lies in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by high mountains, which makes it almost impossible for larger groups to reach it by foot.

One day, Widemask got important guests from an oriental kingdom named Korhana. For this event the emperor of Widemask called in the best smiths of Widemask to created a mask with an endless focus. During this process, all except one smith gave their lives to create the mask with the purest focus. After handing the mask over, the last smith went into the emperor's service smithing more masks, all with the same shape.

At the day of the occurrence of the guests, the emperor put the mask on and became controlled by it, entirely losing control over his own mind. The Pure Mask made each soldier wear masks which the smith had made to enslave them. The Pure Mask interrupted the way towards Korhana to keep the guests in Widemask. After enslaving some parts of Widemask and throwing the king of Korhana into jail, the left-over citizens developed a plan to stop the Pure Mask from fully taking over the kingdom.

At first, most of the citizens started to gather in smaller groups with the same focus to strengthen their mind. The remaining smiths made two masks, which were together even purer than the Pure Mask: the Voidmask and the Dreammask. After smithing them, they broke each of these masks into three pieces and spread them across the kingdom so that they never become as evil as the Pure Mask. The parts still had a mighty aura, which was still sufficient to frighten the Pure Mask.

The Pure Mask did not want to go near the pieces, because it thought it would get damage by their power and lose control over the king. Because of this, the Pure Mask tried to manipulate the king of Korhana to make him a type of loyal slave. The Pure Mask wanted to turn him into an assassin in services, that collects the mask pieces of the Voidmask and the Dreammask and bring them to the Pure Mask, so that it can absorb their focus and get even more powerful. The Pure Mask turned the king into a monster out of paper and ink with a leathern focus. It sent the king into the dream library to kill the librarian and bring the Voidmask piece.

Yet, the king had a much stronger will than anyone else. He was able to manipulate his leathern focus and reboot his mind and will. After his will was free again, he descended into the deepest parts of the Memory Library, where the Pure Mask would never find him.

The Pure Mask realized that its plan had failed, so it separated the conquered parts of the kingdom from the remaining kingdom, only sending out small troops of soldiers to explore the state of the rest of the kingdom. It planned to create new weapons to defeat the rest of the kingdom and rule over all survivors.

The endings of my story can be found at the end of this presentation to avoid spoilers. If any game developer is interested to create a real game out of these ideas and even to integrate the endings I have created, please check out the end of the presentation.

Before we continue with the areas and the enemies in each area, I need to explain the length system in which the enemies are measured. The length system is based on Quirs and Quirrels. One Quir is a tenth of a Quirrel, and one Quirrel is as long as Quirrel is tall.

The first area Quirrel enters in Widemask. It is a dead cave system with connection to the surface and the only material path connecting Widemask with the rest of the world. The surface is covered with an ocean of sharp spires, leaving almost no space for any type of vehicles of larger insects. Almost all organic material is digested by Trasheaters or the Flee-hive. The surface is highly controlled by the artillery of the mad emperor, although almost nobody enters the Kingdom through this path.

A complex cave system, mostly composed of insect-created dirt tunnels. This area is separated into two parts. The upper village is inhabited by sentient insects with individual masks. Most of them are farmers or citizens of Widemask trying to flee from the mad emperor's influence. The rest of them are warriors and explorers who got stuck in Widemask after the emperor closed the material and dream borders. This village is partly corrupted by the void and turned into a ruin. The lower realm is controlled by the digger-mind, inhabited by insects with dirt-masks worshipping the diggers and their digger-queen.

An underground forest which is kept alive by the wooden mind and the ancient beasts. The trees are similar to redwoods and mostly reach from the lowest part to the highest part of the area. The trees are connected with wooden bridges and silk ropes by the wooden-mind to improve mobility and transportation of wood. The wooden-mind trades wood against energy sources with the nearby tribes.

A highly civilized city inhabited by the former citizens of Widemask. They are protected by the clan, which is in contact with the defending-mind. This clan was formed after the emperor went mad and tried to enslave the whole kingdom. Members of this clan wear a specially smithed steal-mask to connect and strengthen their mind. Mask Home was once trading with their sister city Mask Birth before the emperor conquered parts of channel crossroads and closed his borders.

A system of flooded caverns used as channels for transportation across the kingdom. It is still populated by the original flora and fauna and inhabited by an old tribe fishing in these caverns since the beginning of the kingdom. One single ferryman still uses these caverns for transportation of those who seek mysteries, called Ona.

A highly mysterious island from which nobody ever returned. It seems like a wonderful island and makes larger insects rest on its surface. After the victims have fallen asleep, the island swallows and digests them with the help of their inner mimics; the mimics are small creatures living symbiotic with the island. The undigestible parts of the victims are excreted into the Underwater Caverns. If the core of the island dies, all of its mimics die, and the plantlike appendages rot and harden.

A highly winding and complex cave system, which is partly flooded. It is strongly corrupted by a parasitic species, destroying boats and killing their passengers. Only the edges are civilized and house an onsen and a collection of inscriptions about all living beings in Widemask, organized by Gideon, an elder warrior worshipping the void. The inner parts of these caverns are home to the most dangerous predators in Widemask.

A mainly synthetic cave system made out of unfinished or damaged masks, which have lost the ability to focus their mind or have driven their wearers into madness. It is inhabited by thieves, who hide from the justice of Maskhome, and by wanderers, who search for rare or expensive masks or ornaments. There are some rumours that the broken masks have united and come to life to doom those who threw them away. It is also the last resident of the elder smith “Maskmaker Gon”.

Once a highly civilized, wealthy city, which was highly connected to the dreamworld. Its residents could switch between the material and the dreamworld whenever they wanted. All of them fled into the dreamworld after the mad emperor tried to enslave the whole kingdom. Although there was no living being who could care for the buildings, robots powered by dream essence cared for them and decimated all external forces trying to invade this area.

A highly civilized city inhabited by the former citizens of Widemask. They are protected by the clan, which is in contact with the defending mind. This clan was formed after the emperor went mad and tried to enslave the whole kingdom. Members of this clan wear a specially smithed steal-mask to connect and strengthen their mind. Mask Birth was once trading with their sister city Mask Home before the emperor conquered parts of channel crossroads and closed the borders. Mask Birth is extreme wealthy because it is specialized on forging masks, with the lava falls used as energy source. The smiths in this area are also connected with each other to optimize the smithing process. It is also the last residence of the elder smith “Old Rebel Haru”.

A highly labyrinthine cave system mad out of obsidian and lava. It is extremely confusing because of its unstable nature. The lava changes the position of different rooms, melts walls or closes them. Many travellers were already trapped in this labyrinth and burnt to crisp by the lava. It is inhabited by wild animals able to withstand the heat of the lava, which bore themselves through obsidian. The labyrinth is powered by the obsidian heart at the top of the area.

A cave system with high volcanic activity. It is filled with large lava falls and ponds filled with lava. It is inhabited by similar creatures as those in the Obsidian Labyrinth. The lava is partly used to fuel the ovens of the Maskmakers. Some outposts of rebels and some outposts of the emperor are placed here, tied into an endless rivalry. It is also the last residence of the enslaved elder smith “The King's Smith”.

A huge dungeon used to imprison those who betrayed the emperor and his kingdom. It is controlled by guards of the emperor, led by the jailor. It is partly corrupted by the void, which makes the control of the prisoners even more difficult. Some prisoners are strongly infected by the void, resembling a great threat for the guards.

A cave system fully consumed by void. It is inhabited by infected insects and beings of pure void. It contains two parts of the Voidmask, which power the ongoing consumption of the place. The area expands slowly, but unstoppably infects more and more innocent insects.

The headquarter of the rebel movement, strongly protected by the elite warriors of the rebels. The storm on the mad emperor's capital is started from here, if Quirrel initiates it. Strong independent warriors live their together with their families and plan to free the kingdom. They are similar to the defending clans of Mask Home and Mask Birth, but are not connected in one mind. It was once a wealthy city of the kingdom, but was taken over by the rebels after the emperor had turned mad.

The highly civilized capital of the empire. It is separated into two parts: the city and the graveyard. The city is inhabited by all enslaved insects of Widemask. These are all under the control of the Pure Mask. The city is guarded by highly efficient enslaved soldiers, who are similar to the defending clans of Mask Home and Mask Birth, but better equipped. The graveyard is haunted by the undead and strongly connected to the dreamworld. It was neglected by the kingdom after the emperor turned mad.

The personal palace of the emperor, who has been strongly enlarged after the emperor had gone mad. It is still under construction until this day. It is the main headquarter of all enslaved scientists, who work on new weapons, machines, and strategies to defeat the rising manpower of the rebels. It has the only gate to the sleeping palace.

A town made out of the memories and dreams of every important NPC of the game. Each NPC including Quirrel has an individual house, with all of its memories as pictures on the walls and their thoughts as entries in their diary. The furniture resembles their personality. If Quirrel enters the dreamworld from benches, he wakes up in his own house, which develops along with the story progress.

The leftovers of a once great empire and the last resort of the citizens of Dream Shifters. It is ruled by three sisters (Saftaly, the deadly lady; Papatya, the mechanic warrior; Bituina, the cosmic emperor) called the Dreamrulers. They protect their citizens by challenging every intruder of their town. It was once the main trading point with the kingdom of Korhana, which could only be reached through the dreamworld.

The memory library is a giant library containing all knowledge of Widemask and Dreammask combined. It is separated into three parts:

1. The main library, which is organized by the librarian. It contains the less mysterious stories, but also one fragment of the Voidmask. The bookshelves and tablets are transported on a roller-coaster like system created by small copper-coloured, gnome-like insects, who enjoy traveling at extremely high speeds, and created the library organization system just by accident.

2. The dark lower part of the library with more mysterious stories and prophecies. It is inhabited by living books and crying shadows. The ruler of this area is the King of Books who was once the ruler of Korhana, but got captured by the mad emperor, tortured, turned into a monster out of leather and paper, and thrown into the lowest parts of the Memory Library.

3. The darkest parts of the Memory Library, who were once inhabited by huge insects, who made experiments with all different beings of Dreammask. You can still find jars, each imprisoning one enemy of Dreammask.

The wastes of dead dreams and the origin of the dreamworld itself are located here. It is a clutch of floating islands, with fogs of essence floating through the atmosphere. It is separated into four parts:

1. The rice fields of Korhana. These are villages of the former residents of Korhana who were trapped in Dreammask after the mad emperor closed the gate to Korhana. They were transported to Dreammask from the Dreamsailor, who went mad after the gates were closed.

2. The Loom of Dreams is a loom weaving the dreamworld itself. It is used by the Weaver of the dreamworld, a giant silk moth.

3. The wastes of the dreamworld, which are polarized by the Dreameater and its descendents. It is a dead and empty place with no memories left.

4. The mad circus is a place dominated by the madness and its jesters who try to spread chaos all across the world.

A giant palace resembling the perfection and influence of the Pure Mask. It is the final area of the game and can not be left after being entered. It contains the thoughts of all enslaved insects and those of all the souls the Pure Mask consumed to enlarge its might.

Walking: 1.5 Quirrels per second

Running: 2.5 Quirrels per second

Sprinting (after receiving Windboots from Scub): 3.5 Quirrels per second and can run over water

B: jump 2 Quirrels high and 2.5 Quirrels far

B at a wall or ceiling (after receiving Thieve's Claw from Scorpion): wall-jump

B in the air: small front-flip in the air 0.5 Quirrels far and high

Holding B on the ground, a wall or a ceiling (after receiving Layered Wings): charging a strong jump for 1.2 seconds, which can reach a height of 10 Quirrels and has a speed of 7 Quirrels per second, until falling back down in a curve-like shape. The jump has an angle range of 20 degrees on both sides.

Y: nail-slash (2 nail-slashes per second)

Y upwards: nail-slash upwards

Y downwards: short dive downwards with nail facing down

Holding Y (after learning a nail-art): charging up nail-energy

Releasing Y on ground (after learning Lancewall from Lancemaster Ilan): nail-slash around Quirrel with high knock-back dealing 1.8x nail-damage

Releasing Y in the air (after learning the Humanoid Sawblade from Sawmaster Iroh): Sawblade slash around Quirrel while staying in the air dealing 1.8x nail-damage

A: putting on the mask, which heals automatically with a speed of one mask in 1.5 seconds, but if he is attacked while having the mask on, he loses 33 soul (Quirrel can still move, attack, jump and do anything, that does not require using soul, but his movement speed is reduced by 25%)

Holding A (after receiving the soul pond from the Lady of the Pond): focusing 33 soul in Quirrel's body for 1 second, until he lights up. Quirrel can move normally while focusing. In his enlightened state Quirrel is 1.2x as fast as normal, jumps 1.2x as far as normal, and deals 1.2x as much nail-damage, but if he gets hit in this state, he becomes normal again and loses the soul he used.

A with charged up Quirrel (1. after learning Souldash from Focuser Osmen; 2. after learning Bladedance from Shy Satra): 1. ability: dashes 2.5 Quirrels forward with front-facing nail dealing 15 damage; 2. ability: dashes 3 Quirrels forward with front-facing nail dealing 30 damage, followed by blades circulating around Quirrel for 0.6 seconds dealing 10 damage.

A with charged up Quirrel facing downwards (1. after learning Mental Projectile from dreamer Ratay; 2. after receiving the Dreamblades): 1. ability: energy slam downwards smashing on the ground (without Quirrel dashing downwards) in a radius of 2 Quirrels dealing 20 damage; 2. ability: energy slam downwards smashing on the ground (without Quirrel dashing downwards) in a radius of 2.5 Quirrels dealing 40 damage, followed by four blades slashing into the ground dealing 10 damage each.

A with charged up Quirrel facing upwards (1. after learning Deadly Teleportation from Sealer Mo; 2. after receiving the Mark of Death): 1. ability: teleportation in an up-facing direction 3.5 Quirrels away from Quirrel followed by a blade-strike on the trail behind Quirrel dealing 25 damage; 2. ability: teleportation in an up-facing direction 4 Quirrels away from Quirrel followed by a blade-strike on the trail behind Quirrel dealing 50 damage.

X: using ornament ability of an active ornament.

Holding X: reloading ornament ability using 33 soul.

Holding ZR (after receiving Hopperwings from Hopper Knight): diagonal upwards air jump, by using Hopper Wings. The height is 8 Quirrels high, for each second of charging up, with a maximum of 16 Quirrels in height.

ZL (after receiving Windboots from Scub): fast 2 Quirrel long sideward dash, followed by Quirrel sprinting. His following jumps are now 1 Quirrel higher and 2 Quirrels farther than normal ones.

Automatic ability (after receiving Obsidian heart): If Quirrel touches lava he turns it into obsidian.

When Quirrel dies, he loses all of his shards and re-spawns at the last save point (as normal). The death-animation shows Quirrel's arms turning white, becoming orbs of soul, followed by his mask showing a seal, which expands rapidly, protecting Quirrel while the screen turns white. He wakes up. At the place he died is now a white ghostlike being, sitting in the same position as Quirrel at the blue lake, with a nail in the ground right next to it. Until Quirrel returns to this place, his nail damage is reduced by 20%, and the screen shows an ornament of a broken nail at the side. When he comes 3 Quirrels near to the ghost, it vanishes into a cloud of soul, which Quirrel absorbs, refreshing his soul and regaining his shards. He still has to attack near his nail to regain his original nail damage.

The nail starts dealing 5 damage and gets 5 upgrades using mask smithery:
1 = 5 damage;

2 = 7 damage;

3 = 10 damage;

4 = 14 damage;

5 = 19 damage;

6 = 25 damage;
Quirrel's nail is 1 Quirrel long.

The currency in Widemask are Maskshards: there are small ones which are worth one shard, medium-sized ones which are worth 10 shards, and large ones which are worth 30 shards.

At the beginning, Quirrel has only Monomon's mask. During the game he gets three more masks. Depending on which mask he wears, he can be equipped with different ornaments and store a different amount of soul.

Ornaments give Quirrel special abilities. Ornaments are shattered in three shards. Collecting another shard increases the strength of the shard. The ornaments are separated in three categories: Active ornaments, passive defensive ornaments, and passive aggressive ornaments.

Active ornaments can be used by pressing X. After three uses, these ornaments have to be refilled with energy by focusing soul (holding X).

Examples:
- Exploding Eye is an orange-glowing eye-shaped ornament, which has the ability to shoot exploding sticky orange bombs, that can stick to walls and enemies.
- Instable Life is a bone-coloured skull-shaped ornament, which allows Quirrel to heal using less soul and even over his max life in shorter time, but only for a few seconds.
- Morphtwister is a violet flower-shaped ornament, which has the ability to switch the position of two bodies.

Passive defensive ornaments have a defensive effect on Quirrel. After been activated too often, some of the ornaments lose their ability until Quirrel sits on the next bench.

Examples:
- Force of Peace is a white flower-shaped ornament, which potentially prevents incoming damage on Quirrel in exchange for reducing his nail damage.
- Protective Life is s copper-coloured mask-shaped ornament that strengthens Quirrel's left masks.
- Steel Focus is a metal-coloured crystal that allows Quirrel to prevent damage while healing without interrupting the healing process.

Passive aggressive ornaments have an aggressive effect on Quirrel. After been activated too often some of the ornament lose their ability until Quirrel sits on the next bench.

Examples:
- Bestial Core is a green flesh-shaped ornament that spawns plants, who fight for Quirrel.
- Bloodnail is a blood-coloured nail-shaped ornament that strengthens Quirrel's nail for each mask he loses.
- Eye of the Librarian is a cyan-blue eye-shaped ornament that allows Quirrel to see his enemies' weak points and increases the chance that his nail deals double damage for each hit.

Monomon's Masks can equip one ornament of each type and can store 99 soul.

The Stealmask can equip one active charm and three passive defensive ones and can store 132 soul.

The Bloodmask can equip one active charm and three passive aggressive ones and can store 132 soul.

The Maskmaker's Mask can equip two passive defensive charms and two passive aggressive ones and can store 165 soul.

Two ornaments have a special importance, because they are needed to achieve different endings. These ornaments are the Dreammask and the Voidmask.
- Dreammask is an active golden mask-shaped ornament leaking essence. It has the ability to bring Quirrel to the dreamworld and back.
- Voidmask is a passive aggressive black orb-shaped ornament that creates shadows of Quirrel's past, and copies his movements and attacks.

Quirrel searches up the greatest smiths of the remaining kingdom and tells each one of them to smith a mask that is able to open the gate between the independent part of Widemask and the part which is under the control of the mad emperor. He does not combine his forces with the rebellions. He heads straight forward to the Endless Palace, kills the king and is not able to enter the dreamworld and destroy the pure focus. In this ending, Quirrel accidentally touches the Pure Mask after killing the emperor and gets immediately controlled by the pure focus, taking the place of the old emperor. Now that the Pure Mask has one Voidmask shard, it is strong enough to take over the kingdom. At the end, we see the emperor's servants taking over Mask Home. Two stronger servants are holding down Scorpion. The enslaved Quirrel takes his nail and strikes towards her and the screen turns black. This is the bad ending.

Quirrel searches up the greatest smiths of the remaining kingdom and tells each one of them to smith a mask that is able to open the gate between the independent part of Widemask and the part which is under the control of the mad emperor. He combines his forces with the rebellions. He takes over the Endless Palace with the rebels and heads towards the emperor. Quirrel kills him, but gets controlled by the Pure Mask. He kills one of the rebels, but also gets killed by a rebel general. At the end, we see the rebels honouring Quirrel at his funeral. This is the sad ending.

Quirrel searches up the greatest smiths of the remaining kingdom and tells each one of them to smith a mask that is able to open the gate between the independent part of Widemask and the part which is under the control of the mad emperor, gathers all shards of the Voidmask and Dreammask and teams up with the rebels. After taking over the Endless Palace and killing the emperor, Quirrel is able to enter the Sleeping Palace and destroy the Pure Mask. After returning from the dreamworld, Quirrel returns to Hallownest, because there is nothing left to do for him in Widemask. This is the good Hollow Knight ending.

Quirrel searches up the greatest smiths of the remaining kingdom and tells each one of them to smith a mask that is able to open the gate between the independent part of Widemask and the part which is under the control of the mad emperor, gathers all shards of the Voidmask and Dreammask and teams up with the rebels and Scorpion, receiving Scorpion's blessing. After taking over the Endless Palace and killing the emperor, Quirrel is able to enter the Sleeping Palace and destroy the Pure Mask. After return, the rebels have a party, and Quirrel and Scorpion start a relationship living together in Widemask, rebuilding the kingdom. This is the good ending.

Quirrel reaches the end of the Forgotten Plains, standing on a cliff, after receiving the shard of the Dreammask located in the Forgotten Plains. He hears Monomon's voice calling for help in Hallownest. You can choose if you want to follow her voice or not. If you do, Quirrel leaves Widemask, hoping it will stabilize by itself some day. He starts his long journey back to Hallownest without even fully trying to save Widemask. This is the bad Hollow Knight ending.

I have spent a lot of time and effort on this project, but I do not think that I am able to carry on this project alone. Anyone who wants to create a mod, game, texture pack, or some other kind of playable media can contact me, so I can provide the left-over stuff I have not posted here.

Thanks for joining me and Quirrel during this short adventure of Hollow Knight Maskdream!