Examining the Narrative of my concept in relation to Propp’s “Spheres of Action”

The Villain – Dungeon Master/the Player

The Donor – Wardens/ Locations within “Underground Empire”

The Helper – Wardens/ June/ Syo/ Dwanholf

The Princess and her father –June/ Syo

The Dispatcher – Dungeon Master/ Detective Dwanholf

The Hero – The player

The False Hero – The player/ Detective Dwanholf/ June/ Syo

Due to the complex nature of my game there are many overlapping and multiple characters acting through each role because it is dependent on the choices the player makes so it is very difficult to apply roles to each character strictly. Still if I was to analyse my choices this is why:

The Villain

Dungeon Master: He/She placed everyone in the life and death situation they are in and because of it they would be seen as the antagonist even if they weren’t included in the situation. The stipulation that the player must discover who he is to save everyone who is innocent also makes them the villain and makes the role almost the same – the player must “defeat” the dungeon master by discovering his identity and leaving him in his own game when they win.

The Player: Two choices the player has (whether to pick up the gun in an area (not decided where yet) and whether to save the player they are paired with) can determine whether or not they themselves are the Dungeon Master and in turn the antagonist. If they let June fall, or push Syo into the falling debris, it will switch the game ending immediately to “Antagonist” whereby the player themselves was the dungeon master all along, which would then be tied together by a number of smaller cut scenes at the end of the game. This isn’t the true ending of course given the that Dungeon Master is in actuality the Warden in the theatre so an exchange between to two would hint at that but not explicitly show it.

The Donor

Wardens: If the trust is high enough on a Warden at the end of an investigation segment, they will give the player an additional clue or hint – acting as Donors of information.

Locations within “Underground Empire”: They are the places of which the Player will receive their clues from.

The Helper

Wardens/June/Syo: Whoever is present with the player in their chosen location can act as a helper to aid investigation segments should the player so wish

Detective Dwanholf: More of a plot related “helper”. He brings June, Syo and the Player together at the beginning of play and keeps everyone more or less together as the plot progresses via radio contact. Of course this isn’t necessarily helping because he has his own motives but for the sake of plot progression until the final stages of the game he plays the role of the “Helper”

The Princess and her father

June/Syo: Purely for the option to save them in the game. Technically this could be seen as the player because they would be progressing through the game to ultimately save their own life. The other innocent NPC’s could be included in this also.

The Dispatcher

Dungeon Master: The Dungeon Master sets the player on their initial “quest” via the rules of his game.

Detective Dwanholf: Acts as a plot pushing device in that he will urge everyone to keep going and where they could look.

The Hero

The Player: The player ultimately is the only possible catalyst for which an outcome where a hero could immerge (aka: Saving everyone and defeating the dungeon master) so he takes the role of hero in the “True Ending”. All other endings he would either be saved, killed or be an antagonistic character so he wouldn’t fit that role.

The False Hero

The Player: If you solve your mystery and become the dungeon master you are given a conundrum in that you cannot save everyone for one of them is the dungeon master and all of you will die but at the same time if you choose to save the only people your certain about (which would be yourself) you are essentially as bad as the original Dungeon Master. Both of those choices paint the player as a False Hero.

Detective Dwanholf: The Fourth Player who will stop at nothing to kill the dungeon master. His tactic for this is simple – by feigning his status as a warden and directing the players to collect all the clues, he can simply eliminate the one which has His Clues, solve his mystery and use his power as Dungeon Master to only allow his escape – which would kill the dungeon master and anyone else in the process. While he understands most of them are innocent, he cannot allow the Dungeon Master to escape. Depending on choices made, he will either Kill the Player, June or Syo, be killed by the player’s pistol or be restrained in the true ending by Syo and June.

His sense of Justice (admittedly twisted and cynical) makes him a false hero rather than an antagonist as he is only trying to do the best choice in the long term.

June: Again like Dwanholf, her sense of Justice is misplaced and leads to the death of everyone. If she solves her mystery then she will let everyone free, which includes the dungeon master – activating his stipulation that everyone is killed.

Syo: Will only save himself and maybe the Player if your trust with him is high enough – not because he wants everyone to die but rather to save himself. Picking people is too risky in his eyes, especially for a bunch of strangers.