Had some thoughts this morning about parts of the progression System in Virtue's Heaven and how I could use it to reinforce some of the things I would like this game to be about, but very quickly noticed two problems with those thoughts I just want to throw out here:
First of all the upgrade system: In Virtue's Heaven (which is the game I'm currently working on by the way, please wishlist it, or whatever), there are currently two systems that make the player stronger. One are sort of special abilities you get via freeing your friends from Prison and that reflect said friend's personality/outlook on the world.
The other one is similar in its idea, but is supposed to reflect the player character's perspective.
The upgrades also work slightly different, but the details aren't that important right now. Just keep in mind that one basically is meant to reflect the support you get from trusting in the ability of other people, and the other part reflects the trust you have in yourself.
One problem I keep thinking about with Virtue's Heaven, is how can I make a game, that is in its core still about one person, fighting world threatening things and becoming more and more powerful, while at the same time trying to tell a story that is essentially about how the idea, that everything in the world is defined by individual struggle, and that the existence of this struggle is a morally good thing, is bullshit.
Now, lets get to that idea I had:
What if the "internal" upgrade path isn't actually making the character stronger, but weaker? Part of what I want the game to revolve around is the idea that this isn't the first time, you and your friends have tried to kill that weird King who has put the Future into a Prison, and that your character blames themselves for this first attempt not succeeding. So, the closer they get to their goal on this second attempt, the more your character starts doubting their own abilities, because they failed the first time. This opens up some nice things, in terms of those other upgrades that are tied to liberating your friend from prison and that reflect your Friend's trust in you. There's also a nice space for a cool twist towards the end, where your character loses their doubts and gets stronger than before. You know, cool hero stuff.
However,
as cool as the idea of weakening the player sounds, it very often doesn't feel all that cool in action? Also there's the real problem of banking a ton of stuff on a singular moment very late in the game, alleviating all the frustrations folks might experience on their way there.
Then there's another problem:
As I said a bit further up there, 2D platformers are fundamentally about one character traversing a space. They're also (at least in my eyes) fundamentally about external things. Sure, you can represent internal aspects of characters through them (Celeste does that I think?), but you run the risk of turning everything into one giant metaphor and then it's only a tiny step further and you are right in the middle of being a Pretentious dork.
The powerup mechanics in Virtue's Heaven are already fairly heavy on metaphors. The upgrades you equip are called "Convictions" and you collect "Zeal" from enemies to power them up.
Leaving aside the concern about how disempowering the player over the course of a game often isn't just very interesting to play, would doing even more metaphorical stuff here do any good?
Part of me thinks that maybe, if I'm already halfway committed to this bit, I might as well go all the way, but at the same time, I'm perpetually afraid to turn into a weird communist version of Jonathan Blow and I don't want that either (the Jonathan Blow part, I do like being a Communist).
Anyway, I hope this makes sense. It's late and I haven't really structured any of this. Would be glad to hear what other people think about any of things I mentioned. Doesn't have to be specific about what I'm dealing with, but just in general, you know?