killin time with jack handey

[jackulator]

make a game that requires mega meta planning skills

you hear on the news that world war III is starting, and at that exact moment you hear a train horn off in the distance

do you:
1. commiserate with your friends about the scary world ending
2. realize that in the near future, it's all about survival, and you have a better chance of surviving if you control whatever's on that train

maybe write option#2 in such a way that it doesn't reveal what you're supposed to do

maybe make a game that isn't war or world takeover, but just a story

give people a bunch of options (more than four hopefully) that are tailored to their personality type (perhaps part-way into the game)

and have everyone's outcome be different. and a reflection of their personality

so let's say you have 20 personalities

and let's say there are 10 key decisions and 10 minor decisions per gameplay

that means about 10,000 different outcomes potentially

okay, I've derailed

the original game was meant to be something that would either teach or reward people for knowing what to do to survive the end of the world
if you were an ambassador or some kind of high-level government operative

and, I guess encourage people to think strategically on their own level

but at some point I got bogged down in exactly HOW to accomplish this, and all my brain could revert to was a choose-your-own-adventure ebook



I have to say though, the other idea about tailor-making the ending for people once they've been dialed in? that's great


people comparing movie experiences would realize they saw different things:

oh well, I'm a caring nurturer, so as my husband Yoda lived to be 1,248 and sired another 100 or so children...

oh well... I'm a douchebag, and Luke chopped Yoda's head off with his lightsaber after Yoda ganked his sausages

that's how that movie ended. well, the last 40 minutes was all tie fighters destroying rebel fighters. it was pretty cool.