None of This is Real

[SA]

[ooc]Yoinked from the tavern to avoid clutter. Might as well get this started already.[/ooc]

Game mechanics for an entirely psychological setting (thought is reality). The protagonists are quarantined to prevent them infecting the world with their own universe-warping "liberated intellect". It is superficially set in a hyperadvanced Asylum, but the plot mostly unfolds in parallel worlds of indeterminate actuality.

The major task is conceiving gameplay for psychological growth, anxieties, social conflicts, catharsis, community, sexuality, self-defeat. Making a game out of the things we normally leave unattended in the interest of player agency.

http://www.raikoth.net/Stuff/ddisplayer.pdf Dungeons and Discourse.

I had a loosely similar idea for a game once that I never followed through with: it was based around lucid dreaming in an attempt to imagine a game with non-linear levels and turning real world feelings, anxieties, and other emotions into conjure-able constructs for the player to manipulate and use to solve puzzles, combat, or whatever.

I would probably identify what sort of psychology of the mind you'd be using, like the antiquated and hypersexualized Freudian theories, the bizarre and surreal Jungian mindset of archetypes and personal shadows, perhaps a more Rogerian understanding of personal growth and empathy, or maybe even something more current (it does take place in the future, this could be an opportunity to develop your own crazy theory!). There's really no "wrong" choice there; they are all practices that work  to some degree or another depending on the person... if, you know, that's something you're interested in answering.

Thanks for mentioning Carl Rogers, Weave. I just had a gander at his Nineteen Propositions and they're helping crystallise some of the concepts I'd like to explore. I'm not inherested so much in adopting a psychology of the mind as I am in identifying concepts that are so foundational that they really must be covered. The game is about psychedelic High Fantasy on one side, and on the flipside it's intimate psychological horror straight out of Room 1408 and The Cell. I'm presently considering The Revised NEO Personality Inventory or HEXACO model of personlaity structure for core attributes. Jungian archetypes may also get some play - not as 'foundations' but as transcendental 'destinations'.

And thanks to Light Dragon for Dungeons and Discourse. Aaron Diaz is on another level.

I've got a lot of literature yet to read and welcome recommendations. College is finished for the year so I've got time on my hands.