Telepathy Planning V1

Broadly speaking, there are two distinct philosophies in game development. The most popular approach is to start with gameplay: create a loop of fun mechanics that work together, then write a story around them. This is a perfectly valid approach, and countless awesome games have been made using it.

But it does not suit me or my game.

I have always been enamored with games that allow players to fully immerse themselves in a secondary world and influence it as if they were truly part of it. As such, it is only natural that my game follows that direction. My mechanics are born out of the story and the world, allowing the player to immerse themselves in the themes I’m trying to convey.

This brings us to telepathy.

In its most basic form, telepathy is the ability to read other minds, which makes it the most important mechanic in my game. This power, which almost all Espers possess, puts them on a collision course with the world's normal population. An Esper can never truly block the thoughts of the normals around them, and yet using that power on normals is highly illegal under the laws of the universe. But at the same time, criminals can only be punished once they are caught.

This has already laid some pretty strong groundwork. I need an ability that lets the players see, hear, or experience other characters’ thoughts. I need to keep track of when the player is using it and which character they use it on. I need to define potential consequences for using this ability, and allow the player to “get away with it” if they are clever.

Okay, now, let’s break it down further and focus on the see/hear/experience part — or, more specifically, the hear. Hopefully, I’ll get to delve into and experience in the future too, but I’ve got to start somewhere. In this world, thoughts express themselves in three main ways.

Deep Thoughts — Memories, secrets, or anything the NPC is not currently thinking about. An Esper must focus on a character and delve into their mind to explore this. If an Esper is caught doing this to an unconsenting normal, they get a one-way trip to the reeducation camps.

Ambient Thoughts — What the NPC is currently thinking about. These are the thoughts you get inside your head just by living your life. They can be important, an earworm, or just plain random nonsense. Normals do not widely know this, but Espers will always hear them, and it is expected that they will just forget what they heard. Therefore, an Esper will not get into trouble for accidentally hearing them as long as they keep their head down and their nose clean. Unless, of course, they have made themselves into a problem someone needs to get rid of.

The Echo — Quieter and less coherent than ambient thoughts. When an Esper is alone, or when the surrounding thoughts grow quiet enough, they may begin to hear it: a string of incomprehensible mumbles and whispers whose origin shall remain a mystery for now. Though if a player concentrates and listens, they might receive some cryptic advice.

To sum up, I want the player’s character to always hear the Echo and the ambient thoughts of the surrounding normals. I need the player character to be able to focus on a Normal to hear his ambient thoughts more clearly. And I need to keep track of when the player uses this ability on a normal, for future reference. I’ll get to telepath on telepath telepathy later on.

I’ve technically had a version of this ability before, but that was before this blog existed, and it had a couple of major issues that I needed to rework. So while I’m calling this Telepathy Planning V1, it is really more like a V2 — and even this version still has problems. There are many things I have yet to consider, implement, and test, so please bear with me. I will try to include some “lore” about the previous version where relevant.

If you think there is a better way to do things, see something I haven’t considered, or just have a thought you would like to share, please do not hesitate to reach out.

See you next time with a detailed implementation.