The Agency at its heart is a game of resource management and worker placement, that looks at ideas of choice and consequence. The third world setting is not a specific comment on a geopolitical situation but rather a broad (and at this early stage very broad) glance at the choice consequence and manipulation on a political and human scale. Early in our conversations the question of 'what are we saying' by choosing and international aid theme to the game was raised. And i am still a bit uncertain myself, i know the game is not a direct comment on say Rwanda but equally neither is it divorced from the reality of international politics. it is important to clarify what the game is and what it is not.
It is not a simulation of the economics of the third world. we are very clear on this, in no way are we trying to recreate or simulate the complicated economic and political web that links western politico-military organizations and third world countries.
the game is not satire, although there are satirical elements within it, the tone and feel are ones of cartoon-ish exaggeration, but these are to encourage gameplay and immersion, and from these hopefully meaning will emerge, rather than being strictly pre-determined.
Although i am very dedicated to the concept of meaningful play we all desperately want to avoid the "Got Ya" type of game, where you pull a card at the end which implicates you in an activity you never ascribed to or planned to undertake (the final card in Train which reveals your destination as being a concentration camp for example). Although this mechanic has been used very effectively it is an aggressive way of constructing meaning, whereas we feel that a situation that is compromised from the start but that draws you in through gameplay and then ramps up as the game goes on will be more effective, as the consequences of choice undertaken with full knowledge is a far more affecting device than a choice taking under duplicity or with hidden agenda.
And finally in this initial thoughts post is the important question of resources. What are the resources and what are their effect? i have a much longer post to write about the concept of resources and how a player interacts with them and how they can be used but the nature of the resource itself is an important question both thematically and practically. do all players use the same resource? or are there different ones for different units and abilities? how are they collected, how are they stored, how scarce are they ect...
more on that later.
At this early stage we are very much thinking of this like a board game, but gradually the live experience itself will begin to emerge alongside the mechanics and themes, as the players themselves will make the piece as they are the key performers in the country's destiny and the characters they play will become all important.
B.
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