Game Design: Explaining the Sanity System

Human sanity has always been a relevant theme in the cosmic horror genre. Heist against Heretics will integrate this theme through a resource called sanity. Sanity represents the protagonist’s psychological stability. Certain actions drain this resource and players will face negative consequences as their sanity meter depletes. The following are some actions that can drain the player’s sanity:

• Encountering an inhuman enemy for the first time
• Using artifacts to cast spells
• Killing other humans As the player’s sanity meter decreases, the player can various negative effects. These might include:
• Visual hallucinations
• Audible hallucinations
• Combat debuffs
• Temporarily losing control of the protagonist

The player can recover their sanity through activities like:

• Taking down monsters
• Securing artifacts
• Using special consumables
• Interacting with friendly NPCs

The sanity system will aim to achieve three things in Heist against Heretics.

1. Address how one might react when they experience supernatural events in real life.
2. Make the traditional mana system more interesting by adding a negative effect as the resource drains
3. Prevent players from killing human NPCs without any consequences I also want to acknowledge that the system might introduce some flaws to the game. It might prevent players from using spells entirely or make the game less appealing to players who prefer lethal playstyles. The group will carefully explore this system further as the game progresses to ensure that it makes the game more engaging and interesting.

Written by Junsu Jang