Poll: Idea for Progressive Insanity in a Text Based Adventure, or something

[conflictofinterests]

So, I was playing Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, recently as Malkavian and found that there was a really great mind-fuck moment, when my expectations of the game masked the preposterousness of a situation which I later on learned was brought on by my character's crippling insanity (a trademark of Malkavians).

This got me to thinking, I really would like to make an adventure or game or something that handled insanity in a new and interesting way. Instead of having a one-dimensional insanity meter, I was thinking I could have a number of them, one for each flavor of insanity I would like to implement. Actions could influence a single meter, or multiple ones, and differing degrees of insanity in each meter would color the descriptive text for each successive page.

I have to admit, this seems like it would be EXTREMELY labor intensive, and while I would get a kick out of it, I'm not sure if anyone else would, or, really, how to implement it WELL. So, I'd like to hear any ideas or suggestions, and learn how much the community would support such a game, and any critiques one would have for my idea or any form of implementation of my idea.

 

[Emurlahn]

I would love that.

And if you want to make it, I would love helping you. I might not have any skills at coding or graphics, but I have been told I'm a okay writer, and I know basic game designing (more than just having watched Extra Credits), so I think I could be of some use.
Also, I'm a hobby-psychiatrist (don't make me explain), and that might also be useful.

 

[conflictofinterests]

I would love that.

And if you want to make it, I would love helping you. I might not have any skills at coding or graphics, but I have been told I'm a okay writer, and I know basic game designing (more than just having watched Extra Credits), so I think I could be of some use.
Also, I'm a hobby-psychiatrist (don't make me explain), and that might also be useful.

Thanks! Psychiatry + Writing sounds like a super awesome partner to have in such a venture! what are your favorite ailments, pay tell? I was thinking about implementing paranoid schizophrenia and sociopathy for certain (even though I'm pretty sure sociopathy, by adulthood, isn't so much progressive anymore), and maybe kleptomania and obsessive compulsive disorder.

How I'm thinking of implementing it is this: A player chooses too many options that show paranoia, they might start having hallucinations, a player kills too much, they might start seeing killing as more and more necessary... Just playing off a player's expectations of it being a "videogame" until their character is afflicted with crippling insanity and all the NPC's pretty much know and are afraid of them, or sick of them.

 

[feather240]

I'm not a very good a programmer, but I know the syntax for a few languages. Working on C right now. If you need any help I'm here.

 

[Emurlahn]

I would love that.

And if you want to make it, I would love helping you. I might not have any skills at coding or graphics, but I have been told I'm a okay writer, and I know basic game designing (more than just having watched Extra Credits), so I think I could be of some use.
Also, I'm a hobby-psychiatrist (don't make me explain), and that might also be useful.

Thanks! Psychiatry + Writing sounds like a super awesome partner to have in such a venture! what are your favorite ailments, pay tell? I was thinking about implementing paranoid schizophrenia and sociopathy for certain (even though I'm pretty sure sociopathy, by adulthood, isn't so much progressive anymore), and maybe kleptomania and obsessive compulsive disorder.

How I'm thinking of implementing it is this: A player chooses too many options that show paranoia, they might start having hallucinations, a player kills too much, they might start seeing killing as more and more necessary... Just playing off a player's expectations of it being a "videogame" until their character is afflicted with crippling insanity and all the NPC's pretty much know and are afraid of them, or sick of them.

Socio/psychopathy is more of a snap-change, so I don't think that would work very well gameplay-wise, but the others would work well, I think.

We could try to implement multiple-personality-disorder and bipolarity, but bipolar would have the same problems as socio/psycho...
And you should not take my words as facts, on this, cause I'm not in any way an expert.

 

[Nocta-Aeterna]

Sounds interesting, but could you give an outline how that would work? Psychological disorders manifestate in all kinds of ways, with each one its own way to mindfuck a player.what kind of actions influence the different forms of insanity, and how will it manifest gameplay wise?

Example for paranoia I just thought up: you know how in most games, if an NPC is non-hostile/allied, he/she usually has her name tag in green, or the targeting reticule turns green when you point it at them and the same for hostiles, but red? How about for a paranoid person, everyone is marked as hostile, but noone exhibits any hostile behavior, how to figure out who is friend or foe? In direct combat combat games this doesnt work of course, 'cause you can quickly see who's attacking who.

In a text based game, you could perhaps use the colour of the text to indicate how the line is spoken. For example, an emotional stable person will be able to descern between neutral statements (white), direct threaths (red), interrogative (orange) and others; a paranoid person however will see threats behind every line, even if someone is, for example, sincerely offering help, and all text will be shown as red. Since there's no audio, or visual cues, we only have the text colour as any indication to the other person's intent, and since everything seems like a threat...
EDIT: Though, enough meta knowledge could ruin the effect.

 

[storms_end]

you need to read books like shutter island, these will give you good insight on how things affect different people

 

[Aphantas]

I think that this could make for a really interesting game. When you kill things too much, maybe the images of people should change subtly to make people seem less human because of the de-humanizing effect of killing. Maybe even the wording of conversations changes slightly to suggest contempt or knowledge of what you have done when you do too many immoral actions. Its just that making players play 'guess what I can do considering my past actions' would be really frustrating.

 

[Hiphophippo]

I'd dig it! In fact, it reminds me a little of an indie game project called the "commonplace book project". (I bet I'm the only one on here familiar with these games but I'd love to be wrong!)

They're a collection of games based on HP Lovecraft's idea book. One of them is a short but brilliant text adventure called...Euclydes? Ecyludes? Something like that. Let's see if Google can find it...

Here we go Enjoy OP

http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/?page_id=33

The others are worth playing as well but I think this is the real standout piece.

 

[conflictofinterests]

Sounds interesting, but could you give an outline how that would work? Psychological disorders manifestate in all kinds of ways, with each one its own way to mindfuck a player.what kind of actions influence the different forms of insanity, and how will it manifest gameplay wise?

Example for paranoia I just thought up: you know how in most games, if an NPC is non-hostile/allied, he/she usually has her name tag in green, or the targeting reticule turns green when you point it at them and the same for hostiles, but red? How about for a paranoid person, everyone is marked as hostile, but noone exhibits any hostile behavior, how to figure out who is friend or foe? In direct combat combat games this doesnt work of course, 'cause you can quickly see who's attacking who.

In a text based game, you could perhaps use the colour of the text to indicate how the line is spoken. For example, an emotional stable person will be able to descern between neutral statements (white), direct threaths (red), interrogative (orange) and others; a paranoid person however will see threats behind every line, even if someone is, for example, sincerely offering help, and all text will be shown as red. Since there's no audio, or visual cues, we only have the text colour as any indication to the other person's intent, and since everything seems like a threat...
EDIT: Though, enough meta knowledge could ruin the effect.

This is mostly what I was thinking of doing, but in addition to dialogue color, there would be flavor text describing the NPC's and the world and it would change depending on what flavor insane you are. Like, if you got a high Kleptomania score, there would be a lot more text highlighting the various items you could take in the room, and maybe text making the room seem more like a dungeon or something than a non-hostile NPC home

And yeah, metaknowledge would ruin most of the effect. Hopefully the first playthrough will catch them off guard enough. I think, maybe, the insanity meters should be hidden from the player, or presented as "skills" as opposed to "insanities." Still, meta knowledge would fuck that up too.

I think that this could make for a really interesting game. When you kill things too much, maybe the images of people should change subtly to make people seem less human because of the de-humanizing effect of killing. Maybe even the wording of conversations changes slightly to suggest contempt or knowledge of what you have done when you do too many immoral actions. Its just that making players play 'guess what I can do considering my past actions' would be really frustrating.

Definitely something I wanted to work in there! Hopefully by the end of the game the crippling insanity would, indeed, be crippling, and the player would be put in a mental institution, or jail, or group therapy or something.

 

[conflictofinterests]

I would love that.

And if you want to make it, I would love helping you. I might not have any skills at coding or graphics, but I have been told I'm a okay writer, and I know basic game designing (more than just having watched Extra Credits), so I think I could be of some use.
Also, I'm a hobby-psychiatrist (don't make me explain), and that might also be useful.

Thanks! Psychiatry + Writing sounds like a super awesome partner to have in such a venture! what are your favorite ailments, pay tell? I was thinking about implementing paranoid schizophrenia and sociopathy for certain (even though I'm pretty sure sociopathy, by adulthood, isn't so much progressive anymore), and maybe kleptomania and obsessive compulsive disorder.

How I'm thinking of implementing it is this: A player chooses too many options that show paranoia, they might start having hallucinations, a player kills too much, they might start seeing killing as more and more necessary... Just playing off a player's expectations of it being a "videogame" until their character is afflicted with crippling insanity and all the NPC's pretty much know and are afraid of them, or sick of them.

Socio/psychopathy is more of a snap-change, so I don't think that would work very well gameplay-wise, but the others would work well, I think.

We could try to implement multiple-personality-disorder and bipolarity, but bipolar would have the same problems as socio/psycho...
And you should not take my words as facts, on this, cause I'm not in any way an expert.

I wonder if the stark shift in the portrayal of the world would help the player to realize how far gone they've become. I'm almost certain a meter whose effects only kick in when it's maxed out is doable.

 

[Emurlahn]

I would love that.

And if you want to make it, I would love helping you. I might not have any skills at coding or graphics, but I have been told I'm a okay writer, and I know basic game designing (more than just having watched Extra Credits), so I think I could be of some use.
Also, I'm a hobby-psychiatrist (don't make me explain), and that might also be useful.

Thanks! Psychiatry + Writing sounds like a super awesome partner to have in such a venture! what are your favorite ailments, pay tell? I was thinking about implementing paranoid schizophrenia and sociopathy for certain (even though I'm pretty sure sociopathy, by adulthood, isn't so much progressive anymore), and maybe kleptomania and obsessive compulsive disorder.

How I'm thinking of implementing it is this: A player chooses too many options that show paranoia, they might start having hallucinations, a player kills too much, they might start seeing killing as more and more necessary... Just playing off a player's expectations of it being a "videogame" until their character is afflicted with crippling insanity and all the NPC's pretty much know and are afraid of them, or sick of them.

Socio/psychopathy is more of a snap-change, so I don't think that would work very well gameplay-wise, but the others would work well, I think.

We could try to implement multiple-personality-disorder and bipolarity, but bipolar would have the same problems as socio/psycho...
And you should not take my words as facts, on this, cause I'm not in any way an expert.

I wonder if the stark shift in the portrayal of the world would help the player to realize how far gone they've become. I'm almost certain a meter whose effects only kick in when it's maxed out is doable.

Yeah, how far down the paths you've gone definitely affects how observe the world around you. A schizophrenic might see a lot of different colours and shapes, while a paranoid or kleptomaniac might notice various things better than others.

Gameplaywise this would affect how the objects you observe are described to you, and which details stand out without further observation.

 

[Nocta-Aeterna]

I would love that.

And if you want to make it, I would love helping you. I might not have any skills at coding or graphics, but I have been told I'm a okay writer, and I know basic game designing (more than just having watched Extra Credits), so I think I could be of some use.
Also, I'm a hobby-psychiatrist (don't make me explain), and that might also be useful.

Thanks! Psychiatry + Writing sounds like a super awesome partner to have in such a venture! what are your favorite ailments, pay tell? I was thinking about implementing paranoid schizophrenia and sociopathy for certain (even though I'm pretty sure sociopathy, by adulthood, isn't so much progressive anymore), and maybe kleptomania and obsessive compulsive disorder.

How I'm thinking of implementing it is this: A player chooses too many options that show paranoia, they might start having hallucinations, a player kills too much, they might start seeing killing as more and more necessary... Just playing off a player's expectations of it being a "videogame" until their character is afflicted with crippling insanity and all the NPC's pretty much know and are afraid of them, or sick of them.

Socio/psychopathy is more of a snap-change, so I don't think that would work very well gameplay-wise, but the others would work well, I think.

We could try to implement multiple-personality-disorder and bipolarity, but bipolar would have the same problems as socio/psycho...
And you should not take my words as facts, on this, cause I'm not in any way an expert.

I wonder if the stark shift in the portrayal of the world would help the player to realize how far gone they've become. I'm almost certain a meter whose effects only kick in when it's maxed out is doable.

Yeah, how far down the paths you've gone definitely affects how observe the world around you. A schizophrenic might see a lot of different colours and shapes, while a paranoid or kleptomaniac might notice various things better than others.

Gameplaywise this would affect how the objects you observe are described to you, and which details stand out without further observation.

Speaking of kleptomania, how would you impliment the compulsive need to steal things?

 

[Emurlahn]

I would love that.

And if you want to make it, I would love helping you. I might not have any skills at coding or graphics, but I have been told I'm a okay writer, and I know basic game designing (more than just having watched Extra Credits), so I think I could be of some use.
Also, I'm a hobby-psychiatrist (don't make me explain), and that might also be useful.

Thanks! Psychiatry + Writing sounds like a super awesome partner to have in such a venture! what are your favorite ailments, pay tell? I was thinking about implementing paranoid schizophrenia and sociopathy for certain (even though I'm pretty sure sociopathy, by adulthood, isn't so much progressive anymore), and maybe kleptomania and obsessive compulsive disorder.

How I'm thinking of implementing it is this: A player chooses too many options that show paranoia, they might start having hallucinations, a player kills too much, they might start seeing killing as more and more necessary... Just playing off a player's expectations of it being a "videogame" until their character is afflicted with crippling insanity and all the NPC's pretty much know and are afraid of them, or sick of them.

Socio/psychopathy is more of a snap-change, so I don't think that would work very well gameplay-wise, but the others would work well, I think.

We could try to implement multiple-personality-disorder and bipolarity, but bipolar would have the same problems as socio/psycho...
And you should not take my words as facts, on this, cause I'm not in any way an expert.

I wonder if the stark shift in the portrayal of the world would help the player to realize how far gone they've become. I'm almost certain a meter whose effects only kick in when it's maxed out is doable.

Yeah, how far down the paths you've gone definitely affects how observe the world around you. A schizophrenic might see a lot of different colours and shapes, while a paranoid or kleptomaniac might notice various things better than others.

Gameplaywise this would affect how the objects you observe are described to you, and which details stand out without further observation.

Speaking of kleptomania, how would you impliment the compulsive need to steal things?

I think: Your meter fills up slowly whenever you take something that is not yours. Then after a certain point, whenever you try to put a object you've observed back at it's place there are a X% chance of you putting it into your inventory instead, X rises with the meter, when you reach the next point it stops telling you that you've put it in your inventory and instead says that you have "Put (object) away".

 

[conflictofinterests]

I would love that.

And if you want to make it, I would love helping you. I might not have any skills at coding or graphics, but I have been told I'm a okay writer, and I know basic game designing (more than just having watched Extra Credits), so I think I could be of some use.
Also, I'm a hobby-psychiatrist (don't make me explain), and that might also be useful.

Thanks! Psychiatry + Writing sounds like a super awesome partner to have in such a venture! what are your favorite ailments, pay tell? I was thinking about implementing paranoid schizophrenia and sociopathy for certain (even though I'm pretty sure sociopathy, by adulthood, isn't so much progressive anymore), and maybe kleptomania and obsessive compulsive disorder.

How I'm thinking of implementing it is this: A player chooses too many options that show paranoia, they might start having hallucinations, a player kills too much, they might start seeing killing as more and more necessary... Just playing off a player's expectations of it being a "videogame" until their character is afflicted with crippling insanity and all the NPC's pretty much know and are afraid of them, or sick of them.

Socio/psychopathy is more of a snap-change, so I don't think that would work very well gameplay-wise, but the others would work well, I think.

We could try to implement multiple-personality-disorder and bipolarity, but bipolar would have the same problems as socio/psycho...
And you should not take my words as facts, on this, cause I'm not in any way an expert.

I wonder if the stark shift in the portrayal of the world would help the player to realize how far gone they've become. I'm almost certain a meter whose effects only kick in when it's maxed out is doable.

Yeah, how far down the paths you've gone definitely affects how observe the world around you. A schizophrenic might see a lot of different colours and shapes, while a paranoid or kleptomaniac might notice various things better than others.

Gameplaywise this would affect how the objects you observe are described to you, and which details stand out without further observation.

Speaking of kleptomania, how would you impliment the compulsive need to steal things?

I think: Your meter fills up slowly whenever you take something that is not yours. Then after a certain point, whenever you try to put a object you've observed back at it's place there are a X% chance of you putting it into your inventory instead, X rises with the meter, when you reach the next point it stops telling you that you've put it in your inventory and instead says that you have "Put (object) away".

Nice. Maybe also the flavor text of non-necessary items makes it seem more like a necessary item. Old adventure games were riddled with items you couldn't think of any possible use for, but you still needed to advance the plot anyways. Game critics always joke about player characters being Kleptos and how shocking it is to get called out on it in game. It's one of those expectations that can really be exploited in a game like this.

 

[Nocta-Aeterna]

Nice. Maybe also the flavor text of non-necessary items makes it seem more like a necessary item. Old adventure games were riddled with items you couldn't think of any possible use for, but you still needed to advance the plot anyways. Game critics always joke about player characters being Kleptos and how shocking it is to get called out on it in game. It's one of those expectations that can really be exploited in a game like this.

Perhaps also describe the object more attractively/desirably? That could perhaps add something?

 

[Emurlahn]

I would love that.

And if you want to make it, I would love helping you. I might not have any skills at coding or graphics, but I have been told I'm a okay writer, and I know basic game designing (more than just having watched Extra Credits), so I think I could be of some use.
Also, I'm a hobby-psychiatrist (don't make me explain), and that might also be useful.

Thanks! Psychiatry + Writing sounds like a super awesome partner to have in such a venture! what are your favorite ailments, pay tell? I was thinking about implementing paranoid schizophrenia and sociopathy for certain (even though I'm pretty sure sociopathy, by adulthood, isn't so much progressive anymore), and maybe kleptomania and obsessive compulsive disorder.

How I'm thinking of implementing it is this: A player chooses too many options that show paranoia, they might start having hallucinations, a player kills too much, they might start seeing killing as more and more necessary... Just playing off a player's expectations of it being a "videogame" until their character is afflicted with crippling insanity and all the NPC's pretty much know and are afraid of them, or sick of them.

Socio/psychopathy is more of a snap-change, so I don't think that would work very well gameplay-wise, but the others would work well, I think.

We could try to implement multiple-personality-disorder and bipolarity, but bipolar would have the same problems as socio/psycho...
And you should not take my words as facts, on this, cause I'm not in any way an expert.

I wonder if the stark shift in the portrayal of the world would help the player to realize how far gone they've become. I'm almost certain a meter whose effects only kick in when it's maxed out is doable.

Yeah, how far down the paths you've gone definitely affects how observe the world around you. A schizophrenic might see a lot of different colours and shapes, while a paranoid or kleptomaniac might notice various things better than others.

Gameplaywise this would affect how the objects you observe are described to you, and which details stand out without further observation.

Speaking of kleptomania, how would you impliment the compulsive need to steal things?

I think: Your meter fills up slowly whenever you take something that is not yours. Then after a certain point, whenever you try to put a object you've observed back at it's place there are a X% chance of you putting it into your inventory instead, X rises with the meter, when you reach the next point it stops telling you that you've put it in your inventory and instead says that you have "Put (object) away".

Nice. Maybe also the flavor text of non-necessary items makes it seem more like a necessary item. Old adventure games were riddled with items you couldn't think of any possible use for, but you still needed to advance the plot anyways. Game critics always joke about player characters being Kleptos and how shocking it is to get called out on it in game. It's one of those expectations that can really be exploited in a game like this.

Yeah, I was thinking in that direction. The player knows that they wont need everything, but they don't know what they will need. Also, and owner will be assigned some items (more and more as the game progresses) so you will have to think about what you take.
And no item description should give away what the item is need for (if it is needed).

 

[MasterOfWorlds]

The paranoid that you're talking about would have things seem more than they are. An innocent package being delivered might very well be a bomb in their eyes, and an innocent conversation may seem like veiled threats to them. They'd always be on alert for things that would cause them harm because of something that they might know or who they are.

The klepto would just walk out of just about every room with a piece of silverware or a corner of the drapery or something along those lines.

Obsessive compulsive might be interesting in the sense that they may have weird compulsions, but overall probably not super game altering, but it would make for interesting character development.

Disassociative Identity Disorder, or more commonly known as multiple personality disorder, would be interesting. It's not something that generally happens based on the situation, and the person that has it typically has no recollection of the other personalities, although the other personalities do speak to each other. It would be interesting, because you might have several character sheets for the same character, but have different skills and such, but the same overall stats since the physical attributes of the character wouldn't change, but handedness, eyesight, and even sexual preference might change.

 

[conflictofinterests]

Obsessive compulsive might be interesting in the sense that they may have weird compulsions, but overall probably not super game altering, but it would make for interesting character development.

I think OCD might manifest best in combat situations, where a certain combination of actions seems more effective, so you might do that over and over again. Then again, it might be difficult to implement such a combination of actions in a text based rpg.

 

[conflictofinterests]

Nice. Maybe also the flavor text of non-necessary items makes it seem more like a necessary item. Old adventure games were riddled with items you couldn't think of any possible use for, but you still needed to advance the plot anyways. Game critics always joke about player characters being Kleptos and how shocking it is to get called out on it in game. It's one of those expectations that can really be exploited in a game like this.

Perhaps also describe the object more attractively/desirably? That could perhaps add something?

Definitely. Everything looks shinier and more well-kempt to an in-game klepto