Thought/Process: Runaway Hit
Can an explosive topic in the real world serve as a catalyst for a compelling game?
9/24/2008 6:36 PM | 6 Comments | Page 3 of 4
Side-missions:
- Examples: Our hero could join a slave rebellion, work as a blacksmith, relay messages between other slaves' family members on different plantations, or help other runaways reach their destinations (which may be off-route for him/her).
Multiplayer:
- Co-operative options: Control a pair of siblings as they try to accomplish the game's primary goal.
- Competitive options:
Play as the runaway in a variety of modes: as a Harriet Tubman-type and free as many slaves as you can before getting caught, or as a Nat Turner-type and destroy as many plantations as you can before getting caught. Or, in the tradition of games that let you control avatars on both sides of the conflict, play as the pursuing federal marshals or the slave-catcher.
This map showing Underground Railroad routes and
regional dispositions toward slavery could play a part in helping create the game world in
Runaway, with
the possibility of naval travel presenting different set of challenges.
Your play style determines your character's legacy. Do you become a famous freedman and abolitionist advocate, like Frederick Douglass? Do you become a fighter who incites slave rebellions, like Nat Turner? Do you disappear quietly into Canada, trying to leave the memories of forced labor and inhumane treatment behind?
These features may not exactly sound groundbreaking, but innovation in the feature set is not the point. The overarching idea of
Runaway is to map these mechanics to the way that day-to-day concerns of our lead character would unfold. And, in
Runaway, fighting and killing would truly be last-resort measures, since our lead character couldn't afford to have a trail of blood leading back to him.
