Made this lil guy after suffering waves of barf on my own

Bio: His stomach must be iron steel.

Interactions: (quoted is Phil, unquoted is Varsin)

(While he's vomiting)

*vomiting*

"He looks pretty busy right now. I guess it's in his name."

(When asking him about the school)
Hey, bald guy!

Haven't really seen you around here.

"That's because you're new..."

(Asking him to help you escape)

Alright, but it'll cost a few cents.

"Money... The bane of my existence.

... At least it's cheap, though."

Noticed I did the wrong image on the post but didn't want to delete it ngl

Here's this I guess

Meet the cast!

...yeah, there's not much besides the main one.

Prologue: AGE OF RECREATION.

After multiple replays of the Riddle School series..

The players after seeing the ending seemed to want more than just the happy ending they were given.

They knew we could kill the children and it was all a dream but.. the will from this act didn't go unnoticed by a dev.

The project took years, months, and trying to override code that was already there was soul-breaking for him.

But then he found it. The way. That special monkey room could work. It had to.

Finally, after implementation, he tested it and as Phil went into the room, he was quickly taken over, slowly.. until rt2.

The game rebooted.

It felt more free now, as the dev could finally open doors he never could have and yet after all of this.. he never felt satisfaction.

With the gang finally at the end of RT2, he noticed his lack of power looking right in front of him, going back into the school to achieve his trusty ruler before coming back out to hug his friends.

...

The plan was set in action

Act 1: Trepidation.

After Smiley invited Phil over to play games, he quickly tagged along for the fun of it.

After playing a few games though, he quickly became quite inquisitive and nosier than normal Phil usually was. She took note of this with equal inquisition as well, and slight concern.

.."Is he.. really Phil?" she thought. Ah, no matter. Must have been searching for something else to play or do after so long.

Though, she found it odd how he became so much better at some games he usually was specifically bad at.

The sleepover continued as normal until they went to bed.

After hearing rustling from her bunk bed, she half asleep saw a sharp ruler hybrid inches away from her face.

Fully waking up, the thing she saw seemed to scurry away.

Oddly enough...

Phil didn't seem to be asleep either.

After getting up and seeing Phil, she questioned him on why he was up so late... only to be met with Phil simply saying he just wanted to play more games.

She noticed too that he was oddly hiding something behind his back, and was nervous.

Wanting to see it, she tried to get a better look.. only to be met with the opposition of Phil always turning around so it could be hidden.

Then she remembered the half asleep altercation.

Was it really Phil?

She inquivered about the matter, only to be met with the obvious. He was Phil.

When explaining, and throughout the whole sleepover, smiley missed every che she could have seen.

The blink and you miss it white eyes. The seemingly odd silence and experience.

It wasnt Phil.

And this Phil finally slipped up.

Her vision was clouded with gory visions of her friend being gone forever.

Yet he was right there in front of her. How could that be true?

While Phil explained himself, he showed the sharp ruler hybrid.

Smileys tired yet gleeful expression turned into a darkening realization of horror.

This isn't Phil.

She was quickly grabbed by the collar after her realization.

She retaliated by kicking him off, and getting a frying pan, quickly knocking him out.

She ran for her parents. They were -- seemingly not there.

Did she ever have any..?

She heard police sirens arriving. She just hoped that would hold him off till then.

That it would all blow over. She curled up in a ball and sobbed quietly.

Phil arrived in the room, in his usual quips and respect for smiley as always.

She thought as if it was just an illusion- As oddly.. she saw her "parents" again.

She shook it off. It was just a nightmare, something that happened but wasn't real.

Though weirdly, Phil apologized.

Again, then again, then again.

His eyes slowly dropped off his face, akin to water droplets on the floor.

Smiley screamed in terror, looking up to a now faceless Phil.

She tried to dash out the room..

But she couldn't reach.

Her leg had been torn completely off.

Please say this is all a prank.. she said.

Why are you doing this to me, Phil?

Her eyes turned a glossy grey.

It was all just a prank, he responded.

I really got you, didn't I?

I'm not usually one for pranks, though.

In a moment of compassion, glee, and trust, she hugged him.

The world turned a bright color of white.

*crack*

Her neck was snapped, laying dead among the hallway from her "parents".

She died smiling, and her death removed the joy from the world.

Phil, trapped inside of a prison school, finds Smiley.

He runs to her. Hugs her. But her smile.. It's mangled. Her body is covered in blood.

He sees the rotting corpse - at first taken aback by disgust, and horror.

He falls to the floor on his knees. His pupils shrink in horror. Tears of regret fill his huge eyes..

As he mourns. An actual, heartfelt loss..

And he doesn't know who caused it.

"... What a weakling..."

There are decreasing footsteps from the scene.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eNY_I77tqPosDpwPvS0JviysgSVZ-JQsCBiJEkTNzqc/edit?usp=sharing

Really cool thing I wanted to make a part series for so far, and I hope you guys like it!!

REPLY UR ANSWERS IN DA COMMENTZZZ (sorry for not clarifying) - (pick 1 for first, 2 for second, 3 if you dont know, or 4 if i should try to make a new design)

Reference: first image

First design: image one after reference

Second design: image two after first

Since there really isn't a poll thing/option I could do for my post,.(or I dont really know and I could've done somethin.

I kinda made it more of a discussion as it's not really a major question and I wanna separate it so people can actually get answers for more serious questions)

(minor context since I don't wanna spoil the whole project)

The story (summarized):

Icl it's basically trying to renenact or imagine a goofy narrative like dusttale inside riddle school

I do know dusttale does have major narrative flaws so I'm not surprised if this won't be treated well, but I'll try my best to fix these major dumb flaws in the storyline when I'm able to later.

For the most part, the project as of now I wanted to majorly put it more as a AU storyline before incorporating it into any games and stuff, and when I do finish the story, I'll post it here for the most part (tho mostly it'll be awhile before I actually finish it as of now)

As for the why..

Honestly thought it would be a good idea as a creative project and I love trying to put the cast in a situation that would push them the most out of just simple characterization.

And yeah, that's really it, thanks for reading!!

Overall, this project was very fun to think about and make considering how far I had to stretch to get ideas for the characters, while linking it back to their canon counterparts.

In the meantime, I did think I probably could in the future have used less baggier clothes (I felt like redesigns to canon parts would work, and feel way more closer to the og)

Other than that, enjoy the artwork, and thanks for everything, Riddle School.

Sorry if they're a bit blurry from bad lighting, that's my fault because I mainly did all of this on paper.

Transcript for Phil is on his respective page, other main cast don't have any text besides their names on top left or right.

Honestly, never expected to finish the WHOLE concept art project in one day.

Anyways, Developer commentary!! - Bf and GF: I mainly wanted bf and GF to be in sync with the particular art style for the mod, and I liked adding their poses as minor references to some of the main casts poses as well! At first for GF, I thought adding her little headband at the top was a minor mistake, but it was also pretty cute, so I kept it as well. Also, though minor, I wanted to keep stylistic things from the series consistent by having bf to not have a mouth, but GF to have one, considering the boys lack one while smiley ,the girl of the group doesn't

Smiley:

I had a LOT of fun thinking up the poses for her in the concept sketches, and it's really reflected considering she has the most exaggerated poses out of the rest. I also tried to make her clothing way less baggier than I did the others in the main cast as a way of differentiation as well. Instead of a normal losing icon, I wanted her to be happy you were winning, as the song is really all for fun.

Phred: For him, I took major inspiration from Whson itty: Definitive Edition, especwhy he has two separate idlesially Julian. It's also the reason he has two separate idles, as I planned for him to have a wireframe esque style in his respective song!

(If only I remembered to draw his whistle sprite..)

I also made him left handed to differentiate him from Phil!

Zack:

Majorly had a idea similar to Ourple Guys Terminated song for him, and I was majorly inspired by some of greys sprites from Imposter v4 Legacy.

He was pretty fun to do as well, especially the losing icon!

Honestly, never expected to finish the WHOLE concept art project in two days.

Anyways, Developer commentary!! - Bf and GF: I mainly wanted bf and GF to be in sync with the particular art style for the mod, and I liked adding their poses as minor references to some of the main casts poses as well! At first for GF, I thought adding her little headband at the top was a minor mistake, but it was also pretty cute, so I kept it as well. Also, though minor, I wanted to keep stylistic things from the series consistent by having bf to not have a mouth, but GF to have one, considering the boys lack one while smiley ,the girl of the group doesn't

Smiley:

I had a LOT of fun thinking up the poses for her in the concept sketches, and it's really reflected considering she has the most exaggerated poses out of the rest. I also tried to make her clothing way less baggier than I did the others in the main cast as a way of differentiation as well. Instead of a normal losing icon, I wanted her to be happy you were winning, as the song is really all for fun.

Phred: For him, I took major inspiration from Whson itty: Definitive Edition, especwhy he has two separate idlesially Julian. It's also the reason he has two separate idles, as I planned for him to have a wireframe esque style in his respective song!

(If only I remembered to draw his whistle sprite..)

I also made him left handed to differentiate him from Phil!

Zack:

Majorly had a idea similar to Ourple Guys Terminated song for him, and I was majorly inspired by some of greys sprites from Imposter v4 Legacy.

He was pretty fun to do as well, especially the losing icon!

Transcript because of this dumb camera

Top right: Phil

Desc next to trombone sprite: Tops of said sprites after the idle on top left will be replaced with the top of this sprite, keeping the leg poses.

Developer commentary (extra stuff):

Major clothing and overall improvement was from a cool FNF mod celebrating Pico day and Riddle school with Phil! (Link to vid - https://youtu.be/rPhFBgh2zPA?si=7G5l0PsaFz_fSANR )

Phils losing icon references his death in Riddle School 4, though slightly cartoonized to look similar to Papyrus because it looked off on my first recreation.

I also had an idea of making a looping the rooms esque animation as a minor tribute to the legacy of the series in the song as well, but I forgot about it once I made the doodles.

Take care and have fun! I'll be making more in the future on this idea.

DISCLAIMER!!: I DO NOT DEFEND NOR HAVE ANY PARTICULAR STANCE ON JONOCHROME'S ACTIONS OR INFORMATION REGARDING THE DRAMA THIS IS SEPERATING ART FROM ARTIST AT THE TIME, AND I DO NOT TAKE HIS ACTIONS FOR GRANTED, EITHER.

(Heck, at the time, I was shocked to see he was the one who made the series, considering I only knew him for One Night at Flumpties.)

With that settled.. Enjoy the art, and the text wall with it (Limitations - scribbles similar to childrens pictures, using only colors from the respective games, and mainly adding as much blue as I could to the background. I also added a minor afro for Phred, because why keep him bald? Phil already is, so I wanted to make him look somewhat unique, as Zack has stubs of hair. )

This game was a cool little gem I found, and it resonates with me to the point where i created this image.

Anyways, My experience:

While going through online games at school one day, I stumbled upon a collection of flash games aptly named "Riddle School". After stumbling onto the series, I ignored it for Sonic CD for awhile until coming back to it.

I cant lie, this game was so hard to the point where I couldnt really figure out the game without walkthroughs.

The original game was pretty amazing as a first to the series, and the puzzles so far for this one werent that hard to say the least. This was also the most obvious it was a old game.
Overally, neat first impression, if i had to say the least.

Second and third all the way up mainly really just made it harder by making it so you have to collect more money to move Chubb, but its nice to see the different rooms and to see characters overall grow older and see new character interactions.

Four's cutscene was AWESOME, despite it being a "press anything to die" game. It felt super awesome.

5 was truthfully pretty amazing to sum up the reason of 4 being a death game, while adding new characters to the lore, which was one of my favorite parts of the series so far. Viz was also a really cool boss to fight at the end instead of the usual cutscene where you just watch the end happen for the games from 1-3, which also added on stress due to the tile problems and more complicated riddles (i can say jesus christ, the tile riddles were AGGRAVATING to do, though).

Riddle Transfer (both parts) is PEAK story-wise. I love seeing the foreshadowing and distrust Diz creates by abandoning the group, the second part taking us back to the first game, and it makes everything feel full circle.

However, one my favorite parts of Riddle Transfer 2 was the ending plot twist. Seeing the disdain in Phil's eyes as Diz because of his previous actions ends up betraying the group and Phil acting in bravery over his own logic. Seeing Quiz through transfer change from become a cliche villain to a misunderstood anti-hero was amazing to go through in game for me... but...

...It was sad to see Phil fail to save Quiz from his demise against Diz, especially after Quiz's redemption arc.

But my first favorite thing throughout the ending part to this 7-part adventure game series was seeing the final cutscene and the credits. Seeing Phil's newfound heart in his education and his relationship score him a relationship of one of his longtime friends was amazing to see at the end of this series, and it to say the least... melted my heart with its tenderness, suprise, and meaning. Smiley and Phil being in a relationship never felt so realistic and fulfilling for the narrative, despite most of the impactful moments being in a short amount of time, and the stress the creator went through.

It felt like a brother and sister relationship beautifully happening, and my eyes got watery as Phil smiled back after Smiley hugged him.

And other than that, the credits.

I cried.
After going through every game, completing every hard puzzle, and seeing almost every secret, I felt so sad to see this series go...

And just like the creator...

I felt like I was the father over them. These characters felt like family to me, especially Phil.

Phil I related to so much because of the struggle I am suffering through currently myself, school.

It feels hard to move through a unknown place to you when you have problems such as both forms of ADHD inside of schools, especially public ones.

Due to my stress, I turned brash, hateful, and broke boundaries to insult people just as Phil insulted Smiley.

I never got to apologize, however, and that said person and me parted ways after that school year in a better place than I could ever be - a upcoming artist finally being able to go to a highschool that specializes in such.

Every part of school felt the same.

People calling me about my haircut, to the point where I wore a beanie almost every day
Missing work because I cant stay organized when I'm overworked
My logical and past boundaries of using AI for my grades getting lower and lower as I have to do more and more work just for more suffering.
But unlike Phil, I have no one. No real friends except people that simply want to say a few good words about me, but thats it.

... It's lonely to be at the top of the mountain with no support.
I've been going through multiple suicidal thoughts, and overall turning sour towards the thing I used to yearn for.

But this game reminded me of something..

My childhood. A lost peak covered in snow.
I used to write stories ecstatically. Make comics.

I felt free for the first time again in years.

...I'd forgotten about those ideas, and those feelings for the longest, and it was my goal to create something that would leave a legacy.

Ironic how a series that did found me, and I will forever keep this series in my heart for it changing MY perspective on the world myself.

And I'll never forget these lines from Phil:

>"Smiley?

>I used to tease you alot, because I didn't understand you.

>But now, I realize you're a true role model for me.

>And... you have a beautiful smile."

With truth, heart, and love for this series...

Thanks for reading,

Fighter (C.C.)