Imperfect Simulation

About:

This will be a short narrative game about escaping your reality - the primary antagonist is a computer running a simulated world and trying to keep you trapped inside it. At various points throughout, the simulation will glitch or boot you out, and this will change how you can progress through the environment.

Presentation:

The game will run essentially as an arcade machine, but in the shell of a retro TV (attached image is the current build state). There's a modern screen, speaker, and gaming laptop in there.

Soundtrack notes:

I'm after a kind of chill but unsettling background track for the simulated world. Everything in the sim is meant to feel a little bit wrong, so the idea is to build up tension so that people feel relieved when it cuts. I'm also going for a kind of anachronistic retro vibe so imperfections you'd get on analogue recordings could add to it. References below:

Controls:

Again, this'll be on a standalone device with custom controller, but for this prototype:

• Movement - WASD + Mouse
• Interact - E

-- not accessible in full game --

• Toggle Simulation - Left shift
• Restart - Spacebar