We have constructed an adventure RPG style game that incorporates various fantasy RPG trappings such as travelling across an overworld map, as well as menial tasks in the form of side quests.
It is intended to act as a parody of classic RPG tropes while also serving to draw some parallels to our real lives. By keeping a more traditional structure but with a subverted narrative we can create a parody of the classic fantasy adventure story. The usual structure of fantasy RPGs is a procedural approach with the protagonist having to complete many side-quests in order to be strong enough to face the major villains. By turning that on its head by having the side-quests being the actual journey we can present a familiar concept in a non-traditional light.
The player plays as the protagonist playing the hero, and in turn both the player and the protagonist are played, having been given a message or lesson throughout the course of the story which is only revealed upon completing it. Using Bogost’s idea of procedural rhetoric (125) we can deliver Sicart’s message on the importance of play (4-5) and the need to balance our seriousness with playfulness.
Christian Kakuru Nyataguza, Harith Chaudhary, Jian Tan, Isis Cada