#sure that works

had an idea for a meta video game today. i’m imaging it as some kind of rpg in a traditional fantasy world, but any kind of game where you gather a “party” of playable/main characters would work - or, perhaps it works better if you’re not supposed to have a party? you be the judge.

the premise is this: the protagonist has absolutely 0 meta knowledge, but the three characters they recruit for their “party” are seemingly entirely unremarkable background npcs, copy-pasted sprites/models and all, who each have somehow gained a certain level of developing Awareness, and each more directly fourth-wall-breaking than the last.

the first is a person from protag’s hometown with knowledge of the Narrative. it starts out as a vague prophetic sense; for example, shortly before the whole town is ransacked (for the sake of giving protag motivation), they had a sense that some shit was gonna go down and thus escaped unharmed. as the game progresses, they start actively predicting things and slowly comes to an understanding that the narrative of their adventure is already written… and the ending in store for them is not a happy one.

the second party member is a person with knowledge of the game mechanics, the rules and foundations of their world, in a way that eventually lets you break combat (if the game has any) and perform various “glitches” to progress. however, they don’t understand exactly what they’re doing - that the world is a video game and they’re manipulating literal code (in the fantasy setting I’m picturing they wouldn’t have any frame of reference for that kind of thing after all).

until, that is, the party meets its final member: a person with knowledge of the Outside, aka our reality. they know it’s a game, they know things about the Creator… and they know that protag is being controlled by a Player.

also, i like to imagine that they know about other stuff unique to our reality. like our memes. knowledge which they share just as freely and candidly as the world-shattering meta stuff.

anyway, the only other plot idea i have for this rn is this: maybe protag has a fairy companion who serves as narrator and grows more and more frustrated with the fourth-wall-breaking, with how these faceless, nameless characters are ruining the immersion of the world (with the irony being that the more fleshed out characters are hopefully making players more invested) and making protag’s story not about them anymore (the irony here being that protag was initially intended as a blank slate to be overwritten by the player, making them as non-distinct as the background npcs, and it takes the third party member joining and making clear the distinction between protag and player for protag to start being able to define themself beyond us and make the story actually about them). think of them as a cross between a navi-type character and tsp’s narrator.

also, maybe something about the protag having initially been intended to have proper party members, but they were never created, because the game was “abandoned” by its Creator - a fact which also means the heroes have no way to actually beat the villain (whoever they are), hence the previously alluded to predetermined tragic end? idk, still chewing on it. would love to hear what any of y’all think of this general concept :)

fangamer refuses to restock so to get a cool wandersong thing to put in my room I had to take matters into my own hands

Today this blog turns 10 years old!  Absolutely wild that I’ve been here for a decade (even if I’ve been pretty quiet on this blog the last few years).

Some quick updates from me before I vanish once more into the ether:

• I’m using she/they pronouns these days, if you haven’t already heard
• I am officially Dr. Queenie!  Dissertation is submitted to ProQuest and everything.  If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been, the answer is writing 115k of text.  Also, yes, the conclusion to my dissertation is about queer futurity.
• This fall I will be Professor Queenie!
• In related news…Pacific Northwest aces…I may be darkening your meet-up groups (we’ll see if I can circumvent social anxiety)

I feel like I should end with a linkspam or something but I gotta work on a conference paper that’s due on Monday so please imagine your ideal linkspam in your mind (and then build it–you too possess the linkspamming power).