Cult of the Mind
An interactive fiction game with a narrative that focuses the power over people someone can have by maintaining influence
Cult of the Mind is a dystopian science fiction interactive narrative, which was created for my Game Design program by Patryk Tokarz (Me).
Cult of the Mind was created in Unity, using the Fungus visual novel plugin. Visual scripting tools were used to both document and design before implementing into engine.
My roles in this project included: Writer, Game Designer, Programmer and Artist.
Synopsis
In a neuroscience laboratory, scientists are researching electromagnetic radiation to simulate telepathic communication between two people. One dial is turned too high and causes a chain of explosion that kills everyone. A test subject however has their consciousness transferred into a nearby brain sitting in a jar. The brain is soon discovered, and a religious cult is formed around the brain believing that the brain is God. Unable to move, the brain commands their loyal followers to do their bidding.
Sci-Fi Experience
The Sci-Fi experience uses tropes from multiple subgenres of science fiction in order to create familiarity to the player while introducing my own interesting concepts. The main subgenre uses tropes from dystopias, where the community around the player are trying to find a savior that will fix their lives. The game also mixes ideas from hard sciences while introducing a crazy fictitious religious cult, the mix of these two balances out some of the scientific concepts and terms that are hard to understand with more traditional crazy characters.
Interactive Experience
The main point of interaction is part of the day system, at the end of each day the player must make choices that will affect future events. The main character's inability to move or take actions directly (because they are a brain, stuck in a jar) makes the players words much more meaningful. When the player makes a choice to do something they must put a lot of trust into the side characters who inevitably take actions under the command of the player.
Influenced actions
During the day system, small dialogue options are presented to the player before the player makes a big choice. Dialogue and small choices are used in the game in order to understand the goals and desires of the side cast. The side cast follow tropes that are used to influence the player's action. The character Indicus is an irrational person who takes illogical actions that puts others in danger, he is a blind follower and the voice of ignorance. Meanwhile, Raphe is the pessimistic voice of reason who often hastily accepts that the worst will happen. These two characters are used to influence major choices the player makes by illustrating two different points of view while investigating one topic.
