Misc Mechanics
This is where assorted mechanics go.
****Imported for reference.
-God’s Will. Each pivotal NPC in the game (ideally, all of them) will have a hook in their motivation AI called God’s Will. Depending on their receptiveness to righteousness, they will be less or more likely to follow it, yielding a potential army of willing soldiers toward a specific task, if they will just cooperate. While a strongly connected NPC will be obedient in the face of great adversity, possibly even death, the player will not want to squander the faithful on minor objectives. However, trading the death of a faithful servant, who is then secured in heaven, should appear a viable choice to save another life and bring another character to salvation.
-Population equilibrium mechanic- the entire game can run with zero player input, and the result will be basically a worst-case but believable scenario. Player actions have a butterfly effect, as one character they interact with will then treat others better. Opportunity cost then comes into question. Who will you help become a better person, or keep alive so they can help others?
-Self-scaling difficulty. Players can choose to nurture and protect additional pivotal characters, but a loss of focus may place other characters at risk. The more balls kept in the air, the more souls saved, but one action means not taking another. Saving Anne should be relatively straightforward, saving the Nazi Commandant very difficult, and saving everyone almost exactly impossible. The player is in the driver’s seat, deciding how much they want to attempt to take on.
-Normal roles. Each pivot character will have a purpose in life, one which they carry out with either selfish or godly principles based on their Nephesh. Nurturing a change in their Nephesh will change how they play their role, with either delightful or sickening consequences.
-Limited time. Everything happens in a 48 month (turn) cycle, after which time runs out. Players should be desperate to accomplish as much as possible by the time they enter the last year.
The nuclear option mechanic???
Give the player the ability to rain judgment on the town if they turn universally evil? This would likely constitute losing the game, but could count as a win if Anne finds salvation, which can only happen well into the game. This could be an alternative win condition where turning everyone to righteousness is out of reach and the only way to right the train is to destroy it.
Alternatively, a “lighting bolt” mechanic could be used to visit judgement on the particularly aborehent, such as the Turncoat Pastor.
This would mirror the final judgment, where God visits his wrath on the world after he has saved the number he intended to save. It could follow the story of Lot, except in reverse, where Melphus begs the almighty to destroy the wicked, and the response is always something like “while there are still 10 good people in that town, I will not do it.” Until the player themselves wants nothing other than to stop the cycle of evil and characters hurting each other every day, and literally cuts their losses. Cue the American Bombers flying over and obliterating the town with carpet bombing as God removes his protective obfuscation of the target they have been trying to find. While this is not the primary intention of the game, if done correctly it could frame people’s thoughts about why God allows so much evil in the world, and why He delays His return: he is waiting to save as many as possible and the ones who choose to stay dead don’t matter.
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