I’ve been kicking the idea for Powerless for quite some time now, at least as a vague design concept. In just about every game that applies, your character starts out weak and gains power over the course of the game in order to live longer. So, I though to myself, what if there was a game where you started out strong and immortal and got weaker as the game progressed until you got to the point where you could die?

At first I thought it would be an action title. In most action titles, the difficulty scales as you get stronger so as to provide a challenge. But with the formula in Powerless, the game would stay at at the same difficulty objectively, while subjectively it would get harder because you would lose power as you played. However, after much thought, I realized that the mechanic would be much more interesting if used for a story-oriented game as opposed to an action-oriented game.

Thus, I decided on the interactive narrative format. You play the role of an alchemist who stumbled upon the secret of creating items that give the bearer superhuman powers, including immortality. Now, 1,400 years later, it’s the late 1980s, and the alchemist is long weary of this world and yearns for death. However, since he is immortal, he can’t just die. Each of the items that give him power also support his immortality. In order to shed his immortality, he must give these items and their respective powers away to other people, one by one. When his last power is given away, he can finally die. However, he can only give a single item/power to each person, and only if they have a true desire for that power. The setting of the game takes place in the fictional island town of Neptune’s Shelf, and the gameplay consists of investigating the town and its inhabitants and deciding who to give each power to. With multiple options for each person and power and the fact that each gift given changes the way the story unfolds means that there are many, many branching story paths and that the many secrets Neptune’s Shelf holds can only be uncovered through multiple playthroughs.

I’m really excited to finally start work on this game. I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions. Also, while I can technically do everything myself, if anyone wants to help out with spriting(simple/retro) and music so I can focus on design/story/coding, I would be insanely gratefull Shoot me a message if interested.