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A tone that is dark/ edgy is one that tells a serious story, and isn't afraid to make you unconfortable. Generally, the world is grim and the main character needs to be cynical to succeed. This might mean curse words, violence, pessimism, tragedy, right and wrong being murky, etc. "Dark and edgy" has a bad reputation but these traits aren't inherently subtractive. There's probably something you enjoy that just so happens to be dark and edgy, even if it doesn't call itself that.
Recently someone called our game a "darker and edgier version of Paper Mario" so I'd like to set the record straight. Paper Mario covers a range of tones from soft to dark, but arguably stays on the softer end of the spectrum for most of the game. Paper Mario as a series is less kid friendly than, say, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, but not by much. Sure the stories are more complex, and the gameplay requires a little more thinking but otherwise there is a lot of room for things to get more... well, grim.
The Thousand-Year Door is now 12-1/4 years old, so naturally most of the fans who played the game, such as myself, have gotten significantly older. For this reason, and many others, I've decided that this should be a game targeted at older people. A more mature game doesn't always mean a game that is darker or edgier, but in this case it somewhat does.
Paper Soul Theater is what TVTropes calls a "reconstruction." A deconstruction is a work that has been altered to be more realistic. In doing so, logic allows things to become more consequencal in life-like ways, and life is almost always darker than a work of fantasy. A reconstruction, on the otherhand, takes that new idea and tries to somewhat bring things back to how it originally was while still paying respect to good points made by a deconstruction.
Mario is the kind of dude who can leave home any time and go after seven star-shaped gems for weeks without consequences, aside from his brother getting lonely. A deconstruction would point out that Mario is unlike most people, and weirdly so. Most people have more family/ friends than a single brother, have house bills to pay, and daily obligations. An adventure like that has intense consequences; to an older audience, this fact might be on my mind as I play TTYD, but that wasn't the case when I was young. Mature consumers don't like plot holes in their entertainment because they can't undo realizing them; thus ruining the experience to a degree. That said, some are quick to remind you that mature audiences like excapism, and a videogame that is made realistic can accidentally ruin excapism.
A reconstruction would walk a thin line by trying to show that Mario's sudden leave-for-adventuring had negative consequences that he'll have to deal with later, without it getting in the way of the actual adventure. Mario might have a moment when he panics from not being able to let his brother know that he'll be gone for a while, but then there would be an option to write an email to him later. Despite the email, Luigi might be a little mad at Mario for always forgetting about him, and then maybe at the end of the game, Mario would apoligize to Luigi (wordlessly somehow) and things would be fine again. That would make for a story with better writing but wouldn't alter the course of the story or reduce the excapism too much. Be making sure the story is without holes, the excapism is without distractions. That's largely how I want Paper Soul Theater to tackle telling a story that has a similar structure to TTYD, though there is a fair amount of pure deconstruction planned.
To finally answer the question, I'm going to stay complex. Paper Soul Theater has no rules that limit things like cursing, sex, drugs, etc. except for whether or not it "feels right." For me, what "feels right" is a careful combination of logic and fantasy to tell a story that seems possible if not for the fantasy elements but still pleasant as a fantasy. A character getting their arm cut off is very possible in a more violent and lawless world such as Aponi's but that doesn't mean people suddenly lack the empathy for someone who get's their arm cut off; if a character was to do something that drastic it would have to make some sense as to why. If it's right for the story, I'll make sure the person has a good reason to chop the other person's arm off.
The people is the game are loosly based on natives all across the world from different times. Natives in America were know to do drugs for spiritual reasons, so don't be suprised if Aponi came across a spiritual leader smoking something other than tobacco to get in connection with their god. On the other hand, you might also see a drug addict on your adventure. As part of the plot, I do want to openly adress daily-burdons and hardship as a major theme because that's simply the type of world I want to explore with our game (carefully so that the game world retains excapism). As a world that is free, wild, and young, it is also a world without the benefits that most fantasies have. Even in the middle ages, the standard of living was better than for nomads in a then-bygone era. I intend it as a catch 22: the world is somewhat unexplored, open, and exciting, yet also tougher, and lonelier.
There's a point to the decisions we made and will make. This is a game that isn't safe, won't likely have mass apeal, or fill you with good feelings at the end. In that way, I'll admit this game has an edge to it, and I hope you stay optomistic about that. There won't be boundary pushing for the sake of it, but we want the player to leave with something solid to consider.
A tone that is dark/ edgy is one that tells a serious story, and isn't afraid to make you unconfortable. Generally, the world is grim and the main character needs to be cynical to succeed. This might mean curse words, violence, pessimism, tragedy, right and wrong being murky, etc. "Dark and edgy" has a bad reputation but these traits aren't inherently subtractive. There's probably something you enjoy that just so happens to be dark and edgy, even if it doesn't call itself that.
Recently someone called our game a "darker and edgier version of Paper Mario" so I'd like to set the record straight. Paper Mario covers a range of tones from soft to dark, but arguably stays on the softer end of the spectrum for most of the game. Paper Mario as a series is less kid friendly than, say, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, but not by much. Sure the stories are more complex, and the gameplay requires a little more thinking but otherwise there is a lot of room for things to get more... well, grim.
The Thousand-Year Door is now 12-1/4 years old, so naturally most of the fans who played the game, such as myself, have gotten significantly older. For this reason, and many others, I've decided that this should be a game targeted at older people. A more mature game doesn't always mean a game that is darker or edgier, but in this case it somewhat does.
Paper Soul Theater is what TVTropes calls a "reconstruction." A deconstruction is a work that has been altered to be more realistic. In doing so, logic allows things to become more consequencal in life-like ways, and life is almost always darker than a work of fantasy. A reconstruction, on the otherhand, takes that new idea and tries to somewhat bring things back to how it originally was while still paying respect to good points made by a deconstruction.
Mario is the kind of dude who can leave home any time and go after seven star-shaped gems for weeks without consequences, aside from his brother getting lonely. A deconstruction would point out that Mario is unlike most people, and weirdly so. Most people have more family/ friends than a single brother, have house bills to pay, and daily obligations. An adventure like that has intense consequences; to an older audience, this fact might be on my mind as I play TTYD, but that wasn't the case when I was young. Mature consumers don't like plot holes in their entertainment because they can't undo realizing them; thus ruining the experience to a degree. That said, some are quick to remind you that mature audiences like excapism, and a videogame that is made realistic can accidentally ruin excapism.
A reconstruction would walk a thin line by trying to show that Mario's sudden leave-for-adventuring had negative consequences that he'll have to deal with later, without it getting in the way of the actual adventure. Mario might have a moment when he panics from not being able to let his brother know that he'll be gone for a while, but then there would be an option to write an email to him later. Despite the email, Luigi might be a little mad at Mario for always forgetting about him, and then maybe at the end of the game, Mario would apoligize to Luigi (wordlessly somehow) and things would be fine again. That would make for a story with better writing but wouldn't alter the course of the story or reduce the excapism too much. Be making sure the story is without holes, the excapism is without distractions. That's largely how I want Paper Soul Theater to tackle telling a story that has a similar structure to TTYD, though there is a fair amount of pure deconstruction planned.
To finally answer the question, I'm going to stay complex. Paper Soul Theater has no rules that limit things like cursing, sex, drugs, etc. except for whether or not it "feels right." For me, what "feels right" is a careful combination of logic and fantasy to tell a story that seems possible if not for the fantasy elements but still pleasant as a fantasy. A character getting their arm cut off is very possible in a more violent and lawless world such as Aponi's but that doesn't mean people suddenly lack the empathy for someone who get's their arm cut off; if a character was to do something that drastic it would have to make some sense as to why. If it's right for the story, I'll make sure the person has a good reason to chop the other person's arm off.
The people is the game are loosly based on natives all across the world from different times. Natives in America were know to do drugs for spiritual reasons, so don't be suprised if Aponi came across a spiritual leader smoking something other than tobacco to get in connection with their god. On the other hand, you might also see a drug addict on your adventure. As part of the plot, I do want to openly adress daily-burdons and hardship as a major theme because that's simply the type of world I want to explore with our game (carefully so that the game world retains excapism). As a world that is free, wild, and young, it is also a world without the benefits that most fantasies have. Even in the middle ages, the standard of living was better than for nomads in a then-bygone era. I intend it as a catch 22: the world is somewhat unexplored, open, and exciting, yet also tougher, and lonelier.
There's a point to the decisions we made and will make. This is a game that isn't safe, won't likely have mass apeal, or fill you with good feelings at the end. In that way, I'll admit this game has an edge to it, and I hope you stay optomistic about that. There won't be boundary pushing for the sake of it, but we want the player to leave with something solid to consider.