Dear people,

Today’s post will be something else for a change, let’s talk about:

Choice

While working on making this game, I thought it’d be interesting to share and explore some of its underlying themes and ideas with you. The element of choice is fascinating to me and I’ve been collecting things like movies, articles and even games about it.

I’m going to highlight some of those sources in this post and it’d be really cool if you share your own thoughts with me in the comments. Let’s not waste any more time, life is short!

Choose your future, choose life

Let’s kick things off with the clip that inspired me to make a life sim for the GameJolt GDC jam in the first place. It’s the intro to the movie Trainspotting called ‘Choose life’ which beautifully sums up life and its many choices in about 60 seconds or so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCxgqHqakXc

Now unlike Renton I don’t think drugs are the answer here, but I do like how this intro makes an accurate sketch of what it feels like living in a world full of choices. I recommend watching it though, it’s a classic.

Choice, It’s the best part of being a real person

The Stanley Parable, if you haven’t had the chance to experience this game yet go do so right now without reading up on it. For those familiar with its magic it’s probably no surprise to find this in my list of references. It explores themes like choice, and especially the way the environment and certain influences from the outside affect the choices you make. Why do we make a choice? Where will I end up if I take the door to the left at this junction instead of the one to the right? Check out this informative in-game clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me-sx-QQXrs

To me this game raised questions about what path to take in life. Think about what you’re doing at the moment, you might be in school or have a job. What made you choose that particular study or career? Did I choose this solely because I wanted to or was my judgement clouded by external influences like parents, society, money or expectations? What path was I supposed to take, and did I actually want to take it?

You can be anything you want to be

This might be a tough one so I’m going to keep it short, I’d only recommend watching the TED talk by Barry Schwartz about the paradox of choice if you’re truly interested. He speaks about how in modern society people are so busy making choices and the amount of potential options has become so high it’s extremely hard to make a choice at all. Another interesting point is that when there’s tons of options, we end up being less satisfied with the outcome after we’ve actually made the choice.

https://youtu.be/VO6XEQIsCoM?t=22s

Even our identity has become a matter of choice. Every day that you wake up in the morning you have to decide what kind of person you want to be. I very much believe in the fact that we can be whatever we want to become, the question is will we do what’s necessary and actually choose to go for what we truly want? An even tougher question: what is it I truly want? With an infinite amount of possible paths to take in life, which one do I take?

Of all those lives, which one is the right one?

Not so long ago I found out about this movie called Mr. Nobody. Impressed with the trailer I decided to give it a go and was pretty much mind blown by its core message. I’d describe it as a two and a half hour long confusing emotional rollercoaster ending with a very satisfying return to the station.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpi0qsp3v_w

We have to make the right choice. As long as we don’t choose, everything remains possible. This movie sums up everything I’ve talked about in this post and is exactly the type of message I’d like to convey with my game.

Realize this post is a little long, but choose to post it anyway

Whew, you’ve made it all the way to the bottom of this post. I’m supposed to come up with some form of a satisfying conclusion now am I? Let me think about that for a few years while I figure out the meaning of life.

On a serious note I’m completely open to exchange thoughts about anything down in the comment section if you’d like to. Also if anyone finds anything on the subject that might be of interest feel free to share it with me.

Thanks for reading and/or skipping to the bottom! :)

~Frycandle