The Ship is Alive
One of my design principles for Mimir is to make the ship seem alive. In many ways the ship is another character, with its own quirks and personality. It’s not just a place, not just a container for play, it’s a breathing entity.
It’s easy to put a bunch of cool looking mechanical objects into a scene to make it look “spacey”. I want to make each object a real part of the world. I don’t want fake panels and screens that look neat. I want each screen, panel and even button to have a real effect on the ship.
The first, and most important ship system is power. When we start the game, restoring power will be a prime directive as all other ship systems need power to work. Of course...there’s not enough power to bring everything online, at least at first. This will challenge the player to make decisions about how to use the limited power they have. Obviously life support is pretty important, but do you choose to power on the lights or power the riser lift? Turn on the auto fire-supression system or fight them by hand and use the power for something else?
The game isn’t an escape room, there will be no prorammed sequence you have to follow to win. Instead, players can try different approaches to reach their goal. It’s the systems that provides the framework, the player choices are what rules the game.
Of course, all this occurs within the context of hull breaches sucking out oxygen, fires starting from electrical impulses and aliens running around the ship that need to be contained. The ship will ultimately be your best ally and your worst enemy.
It’s easy to put a bunch of cool looking mechanical objects into a scene to make it look “spacey”. I want to make each object a real part of the world. I don’t want fake panels and screens that look neat. I want each screen, panel and even button to have a real effect on the ship.
The first, and most important ship system is power. When we start the game, restoring power will be a prime directive as all other ship systems need power to work. Of course...there’s not enough power to bring everything online, at least at first. This will challenge the player to make decisions about how to use the limited power they have. Obviously life support is pretty important, but do you choose to power on the lights or power the riser lift? Turn on the auto fire-supression system or fight them by hand and use the power for something else?
The game isn’t an escape room, there will be no prorammed sequence you have to follow to win. Instead, players can try different approaches to reach their goal. It’s the systems that provides the framework, the player choices are what rules the game.
Of course, all this occurs within the context of hull breaches sucking out oxygen, fires starting from electrical impulses and aliens running around the ship that need to be contained. The ship will ultimately be your best ally and your worst enemy.
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