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Game design question : how to make a "trapped" player character? (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 days ago by jannaultheal@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world
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I have an idea for a game: It's the usual "a princess is kidnapped by a dragon and a brave knight is on a quest to rescue her" story. But you (the player) plays as the princess, who is somehow helping the knight on his quest.

The issue is that since the player is playing as a trapped character, I want to make the player feel trapped, but I don't know how to do that.

My original idea is that the princess telepathically communicates with the knight and tells him what to do. But this doesn't work, the gameplay is identical to the player playing as the knight. How can I make the gameplay feel like the player is playing as the princess (and thus feel trapped) instead of the knight?

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[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

This sounds a little like the AC formula. In those games, I don't really feel like I'm in the animus, so I think direct control over the hero should be thrown out, otherwise the bits where you're not controlling the hero will feel out of place.

Inscryption is a very different game and I certainly felt more trapped, especially in the first third of the game. In that one, there's an ever present reminder that you're trapped, and there's interesting stuff to so outside the main gameplay loop.

So you need to play as the princess and make interaction with things other than the hero fun, but not so fun that you don't want to be rescued. I think you also need some kind of peril to give urgency as well. Some ideas:

  • elements from Prey - hide from your captor when helping your hero
  • puzzles and whatnot in your prison
  • periodic checkins - i.e. need to be in certain places at certain world times
  • limited control over your hero
this post was submitted on 02 May 2025
64 points (100.0% liked)

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