Words...don't come easy

My class teammates and I went with a completely new idea since I last posted, and good progress has been made. It looks like we've designed out a pretty deep narrative game, and it won't take sophisticated AI either. We started out by saying that it would be a cartoon adventure, and then started subtracting elements we didn't want - no platformer, no "boss fight," no explosions(this is a stipulation imposed only because we get extra points for it...it's hard to make absolutely nothing explode in a game), and once we had enough things subtracted, only then did we start adding in things like branching plot, puzzles, character abilities, etc. This evening while finishing up the concept document to turn in tomorrow, we started adding some literary elements. It'll take a good deal of work to really flesh things out on that front, but I think already we've done about as much as any commercial game has done, and we're keeping the gameplay simple, but not dumb or unrelated.

One of the issues I see us running into in adding literary elements is that while those elements are meant to describe something about humankind, the player is imposing their own subtext through their actions. So when we draw parallels through e.g. naming and characterization, they can only be brought so far and they won't feel consistent if the player deliberately makes a character do goofy things. If you do very much branching, it quickly becomes a higher order of complexity from linear writing, so it doesn't let you spray ideas all over and expect to easily tie them up later.

Common examples: The PC can't be a hero if the player is allowed to slaughter innocents. Neither can the PC be particularly tragic if the player is defeating everything in sight instantly. What really has to be done is to get away from those kinds of archetypes, I think, and invent new ones that can directly describe the player. Specific traits that are presented as options work well: Greed. Lust. Jealousy. Arrogance. Shyness. (although no video game player is shy if the game can be reset) And the outcomes of these decisions are what can bring meaning into the story. All too often games are overly realistic and logical, for example: help out person, you get stuff. Sure, it makes sense to do that, and the player gets some reward so that it's satisfying. But it's about as meaningful as being told to take out the trash or do the dishes and it doesn't do anything for plot advancement. Why not have an errand as a reason to...

...put the PC in a position to see/hear some event?
...develop some of the PC's traits as percieved by the world/characters? "nobody will notice if I..."
...introduce some theme or plot device that can later be followed up on? "we need to raise money to help ...."

This has been done before to some extent, but I think this is the kind of stuff I think this game is really aiming to break ground on, to have a non-dull world experience and to make everything tie in with everything in a way that can say something reasonably profound. We've deliberately made it a short game and easy to do assets for. Three weeks...but it looks like all of us are ready to put in the effort :)