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Game Ideas Survey

A survey is one of the things I wanted to get done quickly, as gaining a lot of feedback from my peers early can help steer my direction for the rest of this phase. I want to gauge specific things in terms of what the most interesting aspects of simulation theory is to my peers. 
1. Which of the following concepts interests you the most?
One of the most important parts of my research was ascertaining different motivations and purposes behind the simulations in different media, since this was come up with on my own. Because of how important that was, I figured it would be just as important to include some different motivations into the survey, since it sets a foundation from which the entire world around a simulation could develop from.

From my research, the primary motivations I found were:
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  • Escapism
  •  Furthering knowledge
  •  Observation
  • Recovery (simulating reality to recover lost information)
  • Control (subduing the simulated to mask the truth)


I believe people will be inclined to choose control or escapism mostly, as these have the strongest narrative and world building potential in my opinion. Escapism is a very prevalent topic within my generation (gen-z, which is my target audience) due to the progression of mental health in our society, so I expect to see it get a lot of votes. 
2. Which genre do you think applies to your chosen interest most?
This question is to assist me in choosing a genre for different ideas. I decided to link the individuals choice back to the first question, as it drawing a connection allows me to more confidently say 'this is what they would expect/want from this concept'. Having the two disconnected would mean I would have to make an assumption about what the 'best' genre would apply to the first question. I decided to opt for more generalised genres, as I'm going to ask the audience about themes in a separate question.
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The genres I gave are:
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  • Action
  • Action/Adventure
  • Adventure
  • Puzzle
  • Role-Playing
  • Strategy
  • Sandbox/Open World
  • Educational
  • Card Game
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Out of these choices, I would assume that action-adventure and sandbox/open world would be the most popular choices. Simulation theory innately ties into the action-adventure genre, especially when you consider existing media utilising it. In hindsight, I should have probably omitted the 'open world' part, as that is not necessarily exclusive to sandbox games.
3. What themes do you think are the most important for a game driven by simulation theory?
This question is a very important one. It's easy for me to assume that people will think darker themes of conspiracism, existentialism and nightmares will dominate the survey, but that could be incredibly wrong. Understanding what themes my target audience will associate with the concept of simulation theory the most will help me massively as it helps to steer everything from aesthetics, soundscapes, level designs and even dialogue. 

The themes I went for are all linked with simulation theory to a relatively strong extent at least, which should give the audience a good variety of options:
 
  • Determinism
  • Free Will
  • Existentialism
  • Dreams/Nightmares
  • Body Modification/Hacking
  • Psychology/Mental Health
  • 'Icarus Flying too Close to The Sun'
  • Religion
  • Conspiracism
  • Anarchy
  • Politics
  • Technology
  • Physics
  • Genetics

    Like I said before, I think conspiracism, existentialism and dreams/nightmares will dominate the survey as they all have big parts to play in a lot of pop culture media. But, given the wide array of themes, I'm thoroughly prepared to be completely wrong!
4. Which of my ideas do you prefer the most?
This question is simply to start building feedback in regards to my own ideas. I feel quite happy with the simple ideas I've come up with so far and I feel like I could honestly take most of them forward. The (simplified) ideas I have so far are:
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  1. A simulated dreamscape in which players must survive by employing dream characters and/or genetic/mental 'upgrades' 
  2. A nation plagued by underground, black-market hackers who 'upgrade' people by manipulating the simulation's code, causing instabilities in said simulation
  3. A spiritual journey in which the protagonist explores a post-apocalyptic world to uncover the secrets of our reality and to find God
  4. A medieval world in which dark cults uncover magical spells that allow the universe to be manipulated
  5. A simulated 'afterlife' affected by a powerful virus, infecting the world
  6. A protagonist attempting to break out of a forced dream-state
  7. A confusing and colourful dreamscape where the protagonist must solve abstract puzzles
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My personal favourite is the number 1, because it ticks off the most interests I have within simulation theory. I love the concept of dreams as a basis for world building and character design, and body modification/hacking/superpowers is a good basis for building mechanics and combat scenarios. I'm not sure if it will be the most popular choice, but I think it'll get a reasonable amount of votes. I think number 2 will get the most attention, followed by number 3 as I feel like these pander to my target audience a bit more than the others. 
5. Do you have any thoughts or critiques of these ideas?
This is an optional question where the participants can simply offer some feedback and/or direction. Second opinions and feedback are extremely helpful when building a game, because we can all tunnel-vision and block out criticism. Being steered onto the right course before I get too deep into ideation is a good idea and will help me massively. 

I'm not expecting everyone to give some feedback, but I hope the ideas inspire a bit of thought from participants, enough to try and expand on them.
6. Do you have any tops or helpful comments?
This is another optional question, and it is there to hopefully get participants to offer some inspiring media or research I can look into to further my own. I'm hoping specifically for some aesthetics or potential mechanics ideas, but I am open to any and all! It is also an opportunity for my peers to potentially establish some links, so hopefully they can offer me some of their own research that I could use in my own.

Survey Response

1. Which of the following concepts interests you the most?
So far, the response to this question has come back mostly as expected, however, one of the most popular options was 'simulation as a means of recovering lost information', which is really surprising! In hindsight I wish I added a text option to allow people to explain what about their choice they thought was interesting, because I'd be very interested in finding out! I do have a concern however that the participants may have viewed this concept moreso as a plot device rather than a motive for a simulation's existence. 

Alongside the recovery (both with 23.8% of votes) option is 'simulation as a form of escapism' which was expected. I assumed it would be popular due to the rise in escapism (in the form of games, books etc) within my generation and target audience, as well as the greater emphasis on mental health. I'm glad it was chosen either way though, as its quite an interesing route to go down regardless.

As expected though, the most popular option was 'simulation as a form of control'. I think this option is the easiest concept to imagine a potential world and aesthetic, as the concept is heavily rooted within media like the Matrix, the most popular form of media containing simulation theory. 

'Simulation as a form of observation' had 14.3% of the votes. I wasn't sure what to expect of this one as I thought it was somewhat abstract, and a narrative is difficult to immediately imagine. I'm glad people find interest in it though, as I personally find the concept to be very interesting. Again, I wish I put a box in where participants could elaborate on their answer a bit, because to me, observation connotes something divine - I would only associate this motive with a higher being having so much power that the only thing left to do is simply observe. 

'Simulation as a form of furthering knowledge' came last, which I expected. I feel as though this option is too 'passive' in terms of a narrative and worldbuilding device. It's much harder to imagine an antagonist or opposing force to motivate the player through the narrative within this context, so I think the connoted genres end up being puzzle and/or strategy games, when clearly the audience prefers more expansive genres, as demonstrated in the next question. 
Generally speaking, the votes were quite evenly distributed, which I'm not entirely sure how to feel about. It's good that people are interested in a variety of concepts, but it doesn't necessarily convince me that one or the other is the outright favourite for my target audience. I think the best thing for me do from this is to try and iterate ideas around the three most popular choices, then to create another survey in order to gauge feedback on them - essentially a process of narrowing down. 
2. Which genre do you think applies to your chosen interest most?
For this question, I assumed that 'action-adventure' would be the most popular pick, whilst I could not necessarily predict which other genres would be most popular. This assumption turned out to be true, with action-adventure getting 28.6% of the votes. Despite its high popularity, I want to explore some of the other options, as, even though it is the most popular, it may not be objectively the best genre for my final idea.

Puzzle came in a close second with 23.8% of votes. I'm happy that the puzzle genre got some good attention as I feel like this is a good option to explore for simulation theory in particular, and it ties directly into synthesis-activation hypothesis. It also has deep ties into psychology, as I feel as though puzzles are a fantastic metaphorical device for a lot of different topics, especially topics in which one must 'overcome', such as mental health. I don't necessarily see myself making a puzzle game as I'm not a particularly logical person (I think) but I'll give it an honest go and see where it takes me.

The third place vote is a FIVE way tie between action, strategy, role-playing, sandbox/open world, and adventure. All of these are suitable for a simulation theory based game, but it isn't a particularly favourable outcome as a tie doesn't quite direct me enough, especially when its between 5 options! For this situation specifically, I'm going to choose the option I feel is more interesting and broad, which is role-playing. Strategy is a genre that I feel can be incorporated into a lot of different games in a more consequential sense - a lot of games despite not necessarily being strategy games can often require a lot of strategic thinking (competitive shooters are intensely mechanical but can have a layer of sophisticated strategy unerpinning their gameplay, for example). I think the sandbox genre is a bit too broad, and I don't necessarily feel a direction inspired within me when I think about it. Action and adventure are combined within action-adventure, and since I'm already going ahead with the latter, I feel as though researching the former would be a bit redundant. 

Unfortunately, my preferred choice in terms of my abilities, which was the card game option, got no votes at all. It's a bit disheartening as I feel as though a physical game generally is much more achievable for me, but regardless I will accept it and experiment with the other options in order to develop my ideas. I'm still going to experiment with card games too, of course. 
3. What themes do you think are the most important for a game driven by simulation theory?
For this question, I expected hacking, dreams and conspiracism to be the most popular choices, with the remaining be somewhat distributed. However, hacking was not as popular as expected! Instead of hacking, free will ended up being the most popular choice, with a pick-rate of 61.9%, which is much higher than I expected. In hindsight it makes a lot of sense that it'd be a very popular pick, I think it just blindsided me as I had most likely tunnel-visioned into thinking my preferred topics must be the most interesting and therefore popular. That's what this process is for though, so we move forward!

Existentialism came in a close second with a 57.1% pick rate, which was expected. Simulation theory by its very nature carries existentialism as an extention of it - I personally don't feel as though simulation theory driven media can avoid the theme of existentialism. 

Dreams/nightmares and technology came in joint third with a 38.1% pick-rate, which makes me very happy! Dreams are one of my favourite topics at the moment and I'm feeling highly inspired to utilise it within the conctext of simulation theory, so I'm very excited to explore it. Technology is also a good one for people to place importance on, as I find the juxtaposition of biological elements and psychology with technology itself to be fascinating - biomechanics is something very much worth exploring as a consequence of this. I also think there's something quite unsettling about biomechanics and cybernetics, and it treads into the realm of darker and grottier themes, which I love.  

 I'm a bit dissapointed that hacking and psychology only ended up with a 20% pick rate. In hindsight though, I can understand why. I feel as though psychology and hacking can still play a major role in a simulation based game, but are more consequential to bigger themes. If free will is explicitly addressed, it intrinsically addresses aspects of psychology. The same applies to technology and hacking, where they are somewhat one in the same. Dreams also ties into psychology nicely, so there's room to experiment with it. 
I think the best thing to do here is to mirror what I'm doing for question 1, I should try to adhere some ideas around the most popular choices in order to better hit the marks that my target audience are expecting. Of course, I'll have to figure out some research into physics and conspiracism in particular for this to work out. 
4. Which of my ideas do you prefer the most?
For this question, I expected option 2 to be the most popular, with number 3 following close behind since I feel these hit my target audiences expectations the most. However, this was not entirely the case. Option 2 did in fact end up on top, with 23.8% of votes, but it was options 3 and 4 that came in second, with 19% of votes each. I think it's quite interesting that participants were interested in option 4, as I don't feel as though its as convincing aesthetically, but in hindsight I'm starting to build a better picture of it - going from one of the responses to question 5, it seems as though the juxtaposition of modern concepts within an older time period is interesting to the participants, which I can certainly get behind! Another answer brought up the concept of time-travel, which is certainly something to explore within simulation theory. 

Option 5 is in a relatively close third with 14.3% of votes, which is a little bit surprising as I assumed participants would prefer this idea over 4 especially. I'm glad participants enjoyed this idea though, because there is certainly room to take this forward. 

Option 1 lagging as far behind as it is is genuinely surprising to me - I assumed a sort of dreamscape filled with abstract and powerful characters/abilities would be much more popular as I feel as though it is captivating imaginatively. Dreamscapes are still very interesting, but perhaps its just the notion of 'survival' that may sound a bit cliche? Perhaps I should have fleshed out what 'survival' actually means in this context, perhaps with more of a narrative focus or emphasis on a metaphor of some kind. 

Option 3 is one that I am glad participants were interested in specifically, because simulation theory often times carries such negative and depressing themes and values. A more spiritual take on the concept could open the door for something much more positive, even if it would still be quite existential by nature.
The best thing to do here is to simply experiment with these. As it stands, I'm the most interested in options 1, 2, 5 and 6, so I think I'll mess around with these ones in particular to develop further, with a little bit of exploration in terms of conflating opposing time periods.
5. Do you have any thoughts or critiques of these ideas?/6. Do you have any tops or helpful comments?
I agree with the first comment strongly! I think magic and manipulating of a simulated reality can allow for a nigh-endless array of concepts, powers, locations, soundscape and aesthetics that can ALL be justifiable within their respective universes so long as they're made properly. I want to explore the concept and portrayal of magic within the context of simulation theory - it has a lot of ties into hacking and body modification, it just has different contextual and societal concepts surrounding it. 

I also agree with the third comment, I think the idea of choices mattering and having an interactive narrative is really interesting. They also make a really good point about how that ties deeply into the concept of free will, so an emphasis on choices and research into media that does so will be a good thing to do!

I'm not necessarily sure what 'differing perspectives' means entirely since it doesn't really elaborate on the idea, but I suppose perspective and perception could be something to take further from my previous research?

Time travel as absolutely something worth exploring, even if minimally. It has enormous potential within a narrative and mechanical sense and could really tie into physics, technology as well as psychology to some extent. 

I'm glad someone acknowledged the potential to create characters and abilities, as this is something I absolutely want to focus in on for one of my 3 main ideas. Dreams absolutely facilitate that well, since dreams can range from normality to incredibly abstract. 

The final comment is mostly right in its interpretation of the idea - the only exception being that I initially intended the protagonist to be aware of the afterlife simulation to begin with, as I felt that it'd be hard to justify them NOT knowing since it'd be nigh impossible to seamlessly carry on their lives based on their memories as though nothing happened - that isn't specified within the pitch so the participant couldn't have known that however. I do like the concept of the protagonist slowly coming to terms with the fact that they have died via tidbits scattered throughout the game as a result of the virus, but, like before, I feel like it'd be quite hard to justify. That being said, there is definitely some room here to explore the concept of memory implantation/manipulation, since this concept could help to build a more believable scanerio than I'm currently envisioning! I also absolutely agree that there is a lot of room for symbolism and metaphors within this context as well.
Question 6 got some recommendations and suggestions out of the partcipants - I was suggested to look into Fable, Prey, Deus Ex, Half Life, and SAO. I've already looked into Prey but I'm grateful for the suggestion because this would've been a huge one if I didn't look into it already! I'm particularly interested in Deus Ex and SAO. Deus Ex is very interesting due to the presence of a powerful AI within it - I can't remember much about it but looking into it will be good. Deus Ex also reminds me of the ending scene from Metal Gear Solid 2, specifically the interaction between the Patriot AI and Raiden, in which the AI completely dehumanises and diminishes Raiden by deploying a powerful argument about humanity and media, which could be a really interesting concept to look into and take further. 

The proposed concept of characters hacking into code to upgrade themselves and their weapons in SAO is right up my street and fits in perfectly to what I'd like to explore, so I'll definitely look into that!

I don't necessarily agree with the portrayal of VR in the last comment, as VR is a peripheral expansion to our regular experiences that has a lot of benefits to the puzzle genre; a lot of non-puzzle games exist in VR too, so I think this comment may be a little biased, but I also don't actually own or dabble much in VR, so maybe I'm wrong here. Either way, I'm not too sure I want to look much into VR - I'll absolutely put it into consideration when ideating, but as a final direction I feel as though its a bit too far, as my specialisms lie within 2D space, despite my relatively good understanding of 3D modelling (this is me sugar coating that I absolutely don't want to do modelling for my FMP because it's way too frustrating and slow for me).

The final comment is very appreciated as it offers suggestions in terms of key elements to address and question prior to moving further. I like the suggestion of focussing in on specific interactions between player and game, since this isn't something I really thought about. It's kind of a common sense thing, but because of that, it's ended up being something I take for granted, so it'll be good to focus in on that while I'm testing. 

What do I do now?

The next step would be to use the information I've gathered in this survey to boost my own ideas and nurture some new ones. I'm going to aim to create 3 new ideas using the themes and concept that the survey has offered me and I'll then look to compare them to my original ideas to see how I'm feeling about them. I can also look to create another survey to help decide which ideas are worth presenting back as part of my 3 final ideas. From the responses, I'm going to use the following to create these 3 new ideas:

The 3 motives:

- Simulation as a form of control
- Simulation as a form of escapism
- Simulation as means of recovering lost information

The 3 genres:

- Action-Adventure
- Puzzle
- Role Playing

The 8 themes:

- Free Will
- Existentialism
- Dreams/Nightmares
- Conspiracism
- Physics
- Determinism
- Icarus
- Technology

With these different concepts to choose from, how do I go about putting them together? I personally think that the motives behind a simulation are the most important part - they set a foundation from which everything else develops, so I think I'll develop the ideas based around these three motives in particular. From there, I can adhere specific themes and genres that tie into that motive the most appropriately.
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