Game structure example
Kratos Therapy
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Game genre: action game/visual novel
Team Members: 4
Time Development: 2 weeks
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Pitch: In Kratos Therapy, you play as a familiar protagonist. As a returning soldier from war, you suffer from PTSD syndrome. You struggle with a recurrent nightmare, a circle of violence in which you seem to be forever trapped. Hopefully your therapy sessions may help you find a way to a more peaceful life.
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Design Focus -> How to make a meaningful game structure that reinforces the stakes of the game ?
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God of War's reinterpretation, inspired by Mary Flanagan's Critical Play and Ian Boghost's rhethorical mechanics -> we took a AAA game to make a thought-provoking game, that inspires questions to the players
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2 phases gameplay with a mirror structure -> each phase pushes the idea further of the other one, the two phases dialoguing with each other
The "Catch" phase
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Objective: get out of the circle of violence
ref: Mythologies, Roland Barthes
The "Therapy" phase
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Objective: get out of the circle of violence
ref: The Body keeps the score, Bessel van der Kolk
What: Kratos is facing his worst ennemies in a never-ending nightmare.
Why: His violence and his trauma are expressed as an outlet through the representation of a catch fight
How: Stop playing, by refusing to fight, the nightmare come to an end and the next therapy session can start -> we experimented with the expressiveness of the rhethoric of failure to create a strinking revelation to the player
What: Kratos is asked to go to a therapy session by his son. Once facing his therapist, Kratos remains silent and the dialog is going around in circle.
Why: A therapist's work is to help their patients to get out of their spiral of thoughts, as a player, you will participate in this exercise
How: By getting a new point of view, you can unlock repressed memories and express silenced words -> watch your surroundings and click on the iteractive item in the library
To get out of the structure of the game is to help Kratos leaves his own circle of violence ! We use this "leitmotiv" in different layers of the game : in the mecanics and in the structure to create a cohesive experience to the players