Escape from Z12-A

(Made for the Fall semester 2019 CMI 3370.) 

Artist’s statement

I came up with Marius and his motivations as a very sympathetic, yet also extraordinary premise. I also was inspired by the anonymous, silent (or near-silent) protagonists of video games, such as the DOOM marine (DOOM), Gordon Freeman (Half Life), Master Chief (Halo), and Jacket (Hotline Miami). While the idea of an entire prison-sized planet is well beyond our lifetimes, being punished/framed for something we didn’t do is familiar to those of us who’ve ever had siblings or went to public school, and it’s a primal sting engrained in all our psyches. The difference between the want to escape and the need to clear one’s name is easy to understand, and easily pick the right choice, but some may stop and think about it. “If I escape, that’s it.” “If I stay behind, I might be caught again, or die.” Nothing too grandiose or philosophical, but it is an immediate gratification that seems good, versus a genuine and thorough goal that is realistically necessary. To this end, I added choices that allowed one to feel like and action movie hero in the moment, while other, more cautious options allow for a more level-headed and realistic approach. The trouble with this was to balance both options, so that players can have moments of both during their playthrough.

Instead of opting for moral dilemmas, I decided that more simple choices, such as what weapon you pick or what direction you go would influence the story, like the old-school dungeon crawlers and text adventure games of the past. I drew much of my inspiration from these genres, as I felt that they’re methods of gameplay and interaction with their “worlds” are genres and elements of storytelling unique to that genre and time-period. The most difficult part of this was more than likely choosing what choices what got the player killed and what got them sent back to their cell. Moreover, it was deciding if those endings were well-telegraphed and made logical sense. Many times, in older games, the challenge came from obscurity and intentional obfuscation of certain “keys,” such as bizarre locations and combinations for items, weirdly specific sequences of actions, not-so-obvious ways of defeating monsters, etc.

 

In the case of player interest compared against character motivation, I really just tried to give the player as many scenarios to logically apply “what would I do” instead of giving Marius any sort of special knowledge/training that we as humans in the 21^st century wouldn’t have. He’s a pilot, sure, but that doesn’t come up until the ending of the game. Does Marius have combat training, or is he just winging it? He’s very similar to us, the players, in this way, and so I think that was the best way to keep players engaged.