Developer Commentary: Project Oracle
Developer Commentary: Project Oracle
"Yujin, are you perhaps a demon?"
"What kinda bullshit is that?"
"No human would create a story like this and force players to go through it without completely giving up on humanity."
A gust of wind whooshed by, scattering the papers on my desk everywhere.
Wiki's petty little act of rebellion.
I gathered the flying sheets back into a neat stack with levitation magic and replied.
"But... this is the only way to get players focused on the girl who's the real key trigger."
The scenario. Obviously, I wrote it.
And it took a ton of head-scratching.
This masterpiece of a world, the best one yet, born from memories of chats with my scenario writer buddy from my past life (a webnovel author who'd killed off his heroine in the ending and got canceled into retirement).
I chose a real organization called the Council because most players would be mages anyway.
The Council's like the mages' national pension service—familiar territory for them.
Setting it 500 years in the future, in an arcane + steampunk world where magic has vanished? Same reason.
Your main audience needs a world they can buy into quick.
With all the recent Council debates on magic misuse and practical black magic applications, it was perfect fodder for players to chew on.
Even I thought it was meticulously planned.
Background lore, characters, relationships, interactions, personalities, dialogue, era details, ecosystem...
You gotta nail all that clean for it to count as solid game design.
Why, take that hyped-up Red Sky flop from somewhere?
Proof positive of what happens when you skimp on planning in a single-player game.
What's the point of density if there's no immersion?
Of course, the current setup's plenty immersive already, but it felt like it needed that decisive kick.
Enter: character death.
"Hey, even Sir Dante, the empire's top playwright, agreed with me on this."
They do say you see as much as you know.
Even in this era with jack squat for literary insight, geniuses like stars keep popping up.
His perception rivaled 21st-century creators who'd devoured every theory and reference out there. Blew my mind.
"Still, killing her right in front of their eyes is too much."
"No! Mary wasn't even the heroine to begin with? The girl who shows up after is the real deal."
"Who do you think's gonna get that, Yujin? If I were a player instead of the producer, I'd Ice Spear you five times right now."
"Why five...?"
"Two hands, two legs, and the crotch."
"You little pervert!!"
I lunged to grab Wiki, but the jerk shimmered intangible and fled into the air.
Of course, I knew it too.
Killing the heroine?
Players would suffer massive emotional damage and want to crucify the dev.
But... that's exactly how you get insane immersion.
Mary's death imprints the 'girl'—the story's core—deep into the player's memory, emotions, and future actions.
The Last of Us. Part 2 bombed hard, sure, but Part 1 snagged GOTY on story and direction alone.
By killing the protagonist's daughter right at the start.
After tutorials and you think, Okay, escape achieved—bam, she dies. Shocks folks into hyper-focus on the next beat.
It even deepens bonds with later characters and my playable protag, boosting realism and logic.
Plus, unlike regular console games, this being VR tripped us up.
Think about it. If it were just a PC/console game?
Easy—rail 'em along fixed paths.
Even open-world games with "high freedom" force choices behind the scenes.
But Dimension's VR. Forcing actions tanks immersion, ramps up fatigue and resistance.
Ex: Make Mary too competent, players feel sidelined.
Too incompetent? They get annoyed instead of attached.
Too loose? They ignore the story, grind monsters outside or banter with NPCs forever.
That nukes climax immersion.
If at her death they're like, "Finally," "Now what do I do solo?" or "Why'd she die?"—scenario fail!
So I tuned her ambiguously.
Players babysit this NPC, build rapport. She's a hassle but useful-cute.
Steps on traps nonstop but drops key hints.
Combat support too—solid backup.
Followers just need to not block paths.
Nothing kills vibe like a dumb follower staring at the cave exit while you die.
Build that trust steady, then she dies leaving last words: Take care of my siblings?
Companion route or not, everyone's attention shifts naturally to the 'girl.'
"Then why even have choice branches? Just force the companion route from the start."
"Even sans companion, if the seeming MC dies saving you, it's shocking. And who knows—speedrun the incident, maybe save her?"
Non-companion routes are for NG+ bait.
You can clear the labyrinth solo easy, skip Phaeton's yapping and still crush him.
Yeah. Know how much grind went into scenarios accounting for every tiny variable?
Heart pounding, I demoed Project: Oracle to the 12 invite-only devs—
"Die! Die!! You monster!"
"Gaaah! Ack! Bone hit! Ow! It hurts, miss!!"
"Guildmaster, hit the outer thigh—minimal injury risk, max muscle pain."
"Stomping the instep works too."
"Go miss!!!"
I got my ass beat raw.
Well, only by Liana—who's legally fair game since her noble rank's below mine—but still.
After that beatdown...
"Happy... ending... right...?"
I swallowed tears and revised the scenario...
Anyway, all 12 game dev club members experienced Project Oracle.
Next up: feedback time.
A few pulled surprise protests, sure, but strip away the jokes and every single one was hooked on the content.
Problem: This is just Act 1. And the next scenario hasn't even wet its beak yet.
I gathered the 12 and said,
"This is the world you all will create and build from here. Luckily, Master gave me a break from library duties, so let's sync schedules and dev hard till next month's Council session."
"All activities and timelines are top secret. I know you won't blab, but reminder anyway."
"Also, Liana Merchant Guild's fully backing this. Deputy Liana's set up an office on 32nd Street—work there. And—"
"Time to announce the official name."
Project: Oracle was just a working title.
Now that it's officially greenlit, proper game name time.
I nodded, and Dante—standing beside me—stepped forward with a nod.
"From today, call Project: Oracle this."
Ruined city. Lost magic. Clock tower square beyond the fog, grotesque monsters lurking everywhere. Isolated sanctuary, residents lingering undead.
If one word encompassed it all...