Storyline

The Narrative

I wanted to construct a narrative that the player would slowly piece together as they ascended the tower. The player begins emerging from a strange solution tank in a labratory, and with limited information must find out what to do, let alone why they’re here. Clues around the room (the “tutorial level”) will lead them to think they have to kill the one at the helm of the Panopticon. However, when they reach the top, they discover too late that the person in the Watcher’s chair looks… exactly like them. They are wearing the same clothes and have the same skin shade. They were a previous occupant of the solution tank room.

The rest of the game hinges on the player realising this information and instead trying to escape the Panopticon while simultaneously keeping the other people, who are also being led to believe they must kill the Watcher, away.

The Meta Narrative:

The reason why the player is in this Panopticon is because they are being selectively bred for technological compatability and survellience capabilities. The one who manages to survive the “Panopticon test” will then have their genes taken and remodified to create an even better generation of “Watchers” every few years.

Because of this approach to storytelling, much of the narrative will be extrapolated through the world design as environmental storytelling. One idea I had was posters alluding to being monitored on the cameras. However instead of being targeted at the player, it’s targeted at employees who used to work in the facility. Additionally, leftover research around the building allude to cloning research.