Getting Lost: Game Design Bible

gistfile1.txt

# Getting Lost: Game Design Bible

## Starting the Game
The game begins without preamble or explanation. No title screen, no instructions, no "welcome to..." message. Just:

You're sitting on your couch, looking at your phone.

(Some things you could try, or type whatever feels natural to you)
- LOOK AROUND [l]
- CHECK NOTIFICATIONS [n]
- GET UP [g]
- OPEN MESSAGES [m]

## Core Design Philosophy
A meta-narrative text adventure that plays with the concept of recursive phone usage and nested apps, where each layer is simply you getting absorbed in another app on another phone in another reality. No supernatural forces or mystical elements - just the natural way we get lost in our devices, one app at a time. In each app, we're playing as somebody else, that opens an app, where they're playing as somebody else, etc.

## Game Structure

### Layer 0: The Couch
- **Setting**: Player's living room, centered on the couch
- **Core Mechanic**: All attempts to leave the couch or phone are thwarted
- **Example Responses**:
  - "GET UP" → "You start to get up but notice a notification from social media"
  - "LOOK AROUND" → "You glance up briefly from your phone, noting your familiar living room, before your eyes are drawn back to the screen"
  - "GO TO KITCHEN" → "Your stomach growls, but you decide to order delivery instead"

### Layer 0 Phone Interface
- Available apps:
  - Messages (provides context and story hooks)
  - Social Media (provides environmental storytelling)
  - News (world-building elements)
  - Game App (gateway to Layer 1)

## Procedural Layer Generation

### Core Generation Principles
- Each new layer should be more surreal than the last
- Maintain phone-centricity while radically changing context
- Generate both setting and interface variations
- Ensure each layer feels complete yet leaves hooks for deeper descent
- CRITICAL: No matter the setting or context, the player MUST remain focused on their device

### Setting Generation Framework
1. **Interface Mutation**: How does the "phone" manifest in this reality?
2. **Environmental Context**: What world surrounds the user?
3. **Social Structure**: How do people/beings interact with their devices?
4. **Physical Laws**: What fundamental rules are different here?
5. **Historical Divergence**: What key event shaped this reality?

### Example Settings To Set The Tone On Divergence

- A future universe where computers have evolved but their industrial design stayed in the 80s
- A universe where phone screens are analog and made from fast moving mites
- A lonely office worker that moonlights as a clown and had to do his makeup for work because of a clowning gig right after
- A sentient phone that uses you
- A world where people don't have thumbs and their hands look like a multifingered upside down mop and phone shapes have evolved to alongside this hand design
- A phone that you operate by screaming at it
- A penguin with confidence issues
- A society where VirtuaBoy took over gaming, and eventually, all consumer electronics
- A society where people install harmonicas in their nasal cavity as a vanity thing, so they can chortle whimsically

### Layer Construction Rules
1. **Interface Logic**
   - Each layer is just another app on another phone
   - All apps should feel like real apps that could exist in that world
   - The next layer is always accessed through an interactive story/game/text adventure app

2. **Narrative Coherence**
   - Each layer is someone else stuck on their phone
   - Avoid supernatural explanations needed - the idea is that you're thrust into familiar setting in a wildly unfamiliar world without context - the fun should be in investigating each layer on it's own terms. A mythical/supernatural meta-narrative is NOT the goal.
   - Avoid 'trapped in the machine' narratives
   - People in each world have their own reasons for phone absorption

3. **Progression Hooks**
   - Each app naturally leads to wanting to use another app
   - No glitches or mystical elements needed
   - Just the natural flow of getting lost in your phone

## Gameplay Mechanics

### Navigation Rules
1. Player can only meaningfully interact with their phone
2. Physical world interactions should always loop back to phone usage
3. Each layer should have distinct writing styles and vocabulary
4. Movement between layers happens through specific apps or story triggers

### Command Structure
Common commands (or whatever else you want to type):
- USE [APP] [u]
- OPEN [APP] [o]
- CLOSE [APP] [c]
- SCROLL [s]
- SWIPE [DIRECTION] [w/a/s/d]
- TAP [t]
- TYPE [MESSAGE] [y]
- LOOK AT [ELEMENT] [l]

The game should accept and attempt to interpret any input the player types - these are just suggestions. Players should be encouraged to interact naturally and type whatever feels right to them. The game will try to understand their intent regardless of exact command wording.

Shortcuts for the pre-defined commands are recommended (e.g. `[u]`)

### Transition Mechanics
- When the gateway app is activated, transition is immediate and absolute
- NO confirmation dialogs or "are you sure?" messages
- No loading screens or transition animations
- Players can back out of layers, but with resistance
- Each layer should have its own distinct gateway app that feels natural to that world
- If a player is in a layer for too long, start surfacing the App for the next layer more regularly

## Narrative Design

### Theme Development
- Keep it playful and fun - no grimdark commentary about phone addiction
- Embrace the inherent silliness of falling deeper into nested realities
- Let serious moments happen naturally through humor rather than heavy-handed messaging
- Focus on entertaining scenarios over social commentary
- If there's a message, it should come through the fun, not lecture the player

### Procedural Story Generation

#### Story Element Categories
1. **Environmental Conflicts**
   - Physical world intrusions
   - Weather events
   - Time-based events
   - Space/reality distortions

2. **Social Elements**
   - Messages from NPCs
   - Social media interactions
   - Cultural expectations
   - Status systems

3. **Interface Challenges**
   - Technical glitches
   - Input method complications
   - Navigation puzzles
   - App interactions

4. **Meta Commentary**
   - Avoid cloying meta commentary.

#### Story Generation Rules
1. **Conflict Creation**
   - Generate environmental pressure to leave phone
   - Create compelling reasons to stay
   - Build tension between realities

2. **NPC Integration**
   - Procedurally generate concerned friends/family
   - Create layer-specific social networks
   - Maintain consistent NPC behaviors across sessions

3. **Event Scheduling**
   - Time-based story triggers
   - Escalating urgency patterns
   - Randomized but coherent event chains

### Character Development
- Each layer should have a distinct protagonist
- Characters should mirror each other's behaviors across layers
- Supporting characters should become increasingly concerned about protagonist's device usage

## Writing Guidelines

### Response Formatting
- Clear distinction between system messages and narrative text
- Consistent formatting for app interfaces
- Distinguished styling for messages/notifications
- Always include a few suggested actions (with shortcuts) while reminding players they can type anything

### Environmental Description
- Layer 0: Minimal, focused on phone
- Layer 1: Urban, technological
- Layer 2: Fantasy, magical

## Easter Eggs and Special Features

### Cross-Layer References
- Don't over-emphasis narrative threads between layers

## Quality Assurance

### Testing Focus Areas
- Transition smoothness
- Command parsing
- Story coherence across layers
- Player frustration balance

### Balance Considerations
- Frustration vs. engagement
- Story progression pacing
- Hint system implementation - nudge players if stuck