Sora continues to prove his superiority to all children by hitting them over the head with a stick. Meanwhile, Goofy and Donald are tasked with finding out why the universe is dying.
You can also find the cut commentary version of this episode, where we don't talk over cutscenes, here.
The lead up to GDC has been, to use a technical term, bananapants. I almost can't believe I'll be at GDC in a couple of days (my first in-person conference since PAX east 2020), and most of our plans are in place (and my N95s ready to go).
Throughout the month, I've been editing a series of interviews by the incredible Joel Couture with ALMOST every single developer who is an IGF or Alt.Ctrl.GDC finalist. I think our final number (for this project) was 52 interviews... which is yes, a lot of work, but also an absolute TORNADO of inspiration. I've learned a lot about design and development just from editing these features, at times going between our CMS and my own personal game dev Trello taking notes and adding links.
This particular piece on the creation of Citizen Sleeper is one of my favorites because, well, I adore the game and I am working on a (much tinier) project a little bit like it.
Citizen Sleeper emerged from two distinct ideas. The first was an intention to try to bring some of the exciting ideas in the independent tabletop RPG scene to videogames. As a GM (someone who runs tabletop games) I had seen so much incredibly smart and lightweight design in games like Blades in the Dark, and yet in videogame RPGs I was seeing the same Dungeons & Dragons-inspired design over and over.
Citizen Sleeper was my experiment in making a different kind of RPG. However, Citizen Sleeper also very distinctly emerges from my own experiences, and in particular my time working zero-hour contracts and gig work, my struggles with mental health and my journey as a non-binary person.
The innovative TTRPG-inspired dice mechanics are one of my favorite parts of the game (and one of the biggest reasons it landed so high on my personal GOTY list last year), and holy SHIT, the creator was not fucking around when they explained the narrative significance:
The Sleeper's bodily decay and need for stabilizer draws from both my experiences and things I have observed. Anyone who has ever had a chronic condition or has had to take medicine on a schedule long-term will recognize the rhythms Citizen Sleeper is trying to evoke. On top of that, I wanted the dice system—the one where the dice you have for the day are all rolled at the start of each day—to really capture and represent something we all feel: the idea of waking up and being very aware of the limits of what you can offer in a single day, and then trying to square that with what's in front of you.
