Creating Pariah

I had originally planned to create Pariah in three days. Inspired by game jams I had read about, I was curious to see if I could create a fully functional game within such a short period of time, using minimalist resources. So, naturally, it took two weeks. I don't regret the time I spent on it at all. The heart of the game was very simple: I would have no complex turn based battle system, or advanced minigames. Instead I would focus entirely on a story I had been going over in my mind.

What are the main forces that control our lives? How much freedom do we have to make our own decisions? In what ways are we controlled by others? I had been researching the ways people are controlled and brainwashed in order to make them do things that are not in their own interest. Child soldiers, cult followers, prostitutes, sex slaves.... and even normal, everyday people like you and me. These are the morbid questions I had been thinking about for some time, and these became the backbone of the story.

Listening to classic rock masterpieces like "I shot the Sheriff," and "All along the Watchtower" also infused my writing with something vaguely apocalyptic. The idea that the story would start grounded in the everyday lives of a cast of downtrodden characters, and end on the eve of some great revelation or change. That the abuse of power experienced by normal people would finally become too much, and that societal change and upheaval was inevitable. I don't know if I succeeded in capturing that tone or not, but that was what I was going for, at least.

This game started out as a small project that existed mostly for my own benefit, as I dipped my toes into game design and tried to see a project through to completion for the first time. However, to my surprise, I found that I had poured a lot more of my own thoughts and emotions into this then I expected. The themes of the bonds of family, and how those can be worn away and broken by society and misfortune hit home particularly hard.

I don't really expect many people, if anyone, to play this game. But I've found that it's come to mean more to me then I initially expected, and I'm glad I took the time to make it. I may make further projects in the future, or even build on the themes and ideas presented here. If no one plays this obscure little game, and I suspect that not many people will, and even fewer will read this, then I still consider this to be a positive experience. But, if anyone does happen to discover this little message in a bottle in a great big ocean of video games and ideas, then thank you for your time. We don't have a lot of it, and I'm grateful that you would share a few moments for this conversation.