Project Silenced genesis

Some time ago, as everybody, I was riled up by the “payment processors censorship” kerfuffle, and being young at heart, I wanted to poke the bear (as if I could).

I wanted to make a game that could be political, but still be fun to play: Harder said than done.

At the same time, I was considering either the pimoroni PicoSystem or the Playdate for my next target platform. Long story short, the PlayDate won as I found a way to use the crank for the core gameplay, and I found out it has great audio capabilities. My take was that if I couldn’t have a great screen either in size or resolution, I should at least compensate with the sound part: good audio for effects, atmospheric music, and great soundtrack.

Then the curse kicked in. Why make an arcade game with procedurally generated level and the same repeating gameplay when I could deep dive on the political part? The game could be bigger, because the rational is that it always should (not a good take on game dev).

The political part? Some aspect of the current world, obviously. Something not really visible, and definitely not audible. Yet, I still had to take into account my own limitations: I’m not good at writing, and directly addressing any political subject is not only hard, but also hazardous. At best, I could land on naïveté territory and open myself to various comment related on how dumb I can be (jokes on you, I already know that).

At worst, I could be both viewed as pretentiously preaching and missing the point.

So, I decided to think about it from a gameplay angle: How can the player interact with the game in regard to the game universe and how does it relate to the story?

I thought of various type of sequences, with distinct gameplay and small variations: Driving, stealth, reflex based mini game, etc

And each time, I found a good reason for it to be in the universe the game is set in. From an arcade game with heavy emphasis on the crank usage, I now found myself with marginal uses. I did reassure myself that the crank could now be used sparingly, and each usage will be appreciated (copium?).

The more I added to the dystopia I was imagining, the more I wanted to offer various way to finish the game. Up until now, I still want to offer a spectrum of approaches to “solve” the problem the dystopia has.

The core of the story is about rebellion, and thus, violence will always be available, as for more peaceful ways to win. I want to get the player to chose, with the prices clearly visible, what action/decision should be taken.

The question of the “game over” was hard for a time. I didn’t wanted a real “game over” screen, as it could pull the player out of the story. So I went with a diegetic angle to it, allowing me to smoothly close any open loop, up until the end of the game (and after?).

The other way to think about the “game over” state, is to make it not a point from which to restart, but rather, a point from where the player shift to another timeline. An unpleasant one at that. I also did found a way to connect it to the story.

So, it was a post about a game I want to make for the PlayDate. It should be narrative heavy, with a great degree of liberty on how you can act and maybe a greater on the consequence of your actions.

I’d rather post this rambling here, than on Bluesky, as I feel it fit better. More about it later :)