Solo journaling games as 2-player games - I think you might be overthinking that. What if the players were both related to each other such as in Caveat Emptor, the players could both be demons on probation in the same shop. They have their own customers but could talk about them and their curses. They could either be friends or rivals trying to thwart the other by giving bad advice.
Or in The Last Tea Shop, both players could have shops on the ethereal plane and discuss the comings and goings of their patrons. Or one player could be a patron lingering in the shop who also interacts with other customers.
I’m almost certainly overthinking this. What you’re describing is sort of what I’ve told people to do with my games in the past. Either playing the solo game as a pair of characters or in parallel. It also calls back to my post from a few weeks ago about Rules vs. Tools. If we look at the game as a set of tools (mechanisms, prompts), anyone is free to make it a 2-player game in whatever way they like.
I guess I was trying to make the structure as much like the book as possible, but you’re right; it would probably be easier to write it as a “solo” game where the character is one of the characters from the story, and it you wanted to play 2-player and each respond to the prompts, you could certainly do that.
5. Not yet a game designer; haven’t read the book, yet. That it is a perfect set up for arch-nemeses, Holmes & Moriarty style, is the first thing that springs to mind.
Then immediately after it occurred to me that if you want something less conflict oriented you could have two scientists racing to save people/the world/universe etc etc (I have Race for the Prize by The Flaming Lips in my head as inspiration).
Having a time traveler contact themselves or the same person(s) from alternate universes could be beautiful as well; examining missed opportunities and such…. Your favorite tarot deck(s) and their interpretations are an easy fit.
6. Yes, absolutely. In fact you are inspiring me towards my first project!
“Shameless engagement fishing” the hot, controversial, new Netflix show from the creators of Love is Blind. Incel outdoors folks compete to find the fish of their dreams since people are a let down. Will they finally snag the big one?
Yes, having the characters at least start as arch-nemeses is perfect. Pushing them all the way to one end of the relationship spectrum makes character change (do I talk about that too much) that much easier. If they. are just floating in the middle of that spectrum as disinterested parties, it would be easy to just stay in that boring equilibrium. Force the characters to either destroy each other or decide not to.
You could absolutely do a 2-person journaling game the way you describe, where the focus is more on the goals of the characters rather than the relationship between the characters. Again trying to avoid spoilers, but I'll just say that the book has me wanting to focus more on that relationship than on whatever world conflict we are going to build for them.
Finally, when Netflix signs your show, I think 10% would be an appropriate cut.
Not sure if you were aware, but there were TWO separate games in this ZineQuest based on this book:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ickbat/against-time-and-death
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lunarshadow-designs/the-words-we-leave-behind
I did NOT! I’ll have to check these out. Thanks for the tip!
Solo journaling games as 2-player games - I think you might be overthinking that. What if the players were both related to each other such as in Caveat Emptor, the players could both be demons on probation in the same shop. They have their own customers but could talk about them and their curses. They could either be friends or rivals trying to thwart the other by giving bad advice.
Or in The Last Tea Shop, both players could have shops on the ethereal plane and discuss the comings and goings of their patrons. Or one player could be a patron lingering in the shop who also interacts with other customers.
I’m almost certainly overthinking this. What you’re describing is sort of what I’ve told people to do with my games in the past. Either playing the solo game as a pair of characters or in parallel. It also calls back to my post from a few weeks ago about Rules vs. Tools. If we look at the game as a set of tools (mechanisms, prompts), anyone is free to make it a 2-player game in whatever way they like.
I guess I was trying to make the structure as much like the book as possible, but you’re right; it would probably be easier to write it as a “solo” game where the character is one of the characters from the story, and it you wanted to play 2-player and each respond to the prompts, you could certainly do that.
5. Not yet a game designer; haven’t read the book, yet. That it is a perfect set up for arch-nemeses, Holmes & Moriarty style, is the first thing that springs to mind.
Then immediately after it occurred to me that if you want something less conflict oriented you could have two scientists racing to save people/the world/universe etc etc (I have Race for the Prize by The Flaming Lips in my head as inspiration).
Having a time traveler contact themselves or the same person(s) from alternate universes could be beautiful as well; examining missed opportunities and such…. Your favorite tarot deck(s) and their interpretations are an easy fit.
6. Yes, absolutely. In fact you are inspiring me towards my first project!
“Shameless engagement fishing” the hot, controversial, new Netflix show from the creators of Love is Blind. Incel outdoors folks compete to find the fish of their dreams since people are a let down. Will they finally snag the big one?
Lures? Lures!
How do you neg a catfish? No, a REAL catfish!
Tune in every Wednesday!
— aj
Yes, having the characters at least start as arch-nemeses is perfect. Pushing them all the way to one end of the relationship spectrum makes character change (do I talk about that too much) that much easier. If they. are just floating in the middle of that spectrum as disinterested parties, it would be easy to just stay in that boring equilibrium. Force the characters to either destroy each other or decide not to.
You could absolutely do a 2-person journaling game the way you describe, where the focus is more on the goals of the characters rather than the relationship between the characters. Again trying to avoid spoilers, but I'll just say that the book has me wanting to focus more on that relationship than on whatever world conflict we are going to build for them.
Finally, when Netflix signs your show, I think 10% would be an appropriate cut.