"A text-based game where the player can only make 1 choice".

This was the main rule for this game jam.

So, I began with some  sketches on how I could use the game mechanic, what idea would be most expected from past and current submissions and what could I provide to stand out instead.

The most expected mechanics were:

1. Only having one choice which would greatly impact the outcome

2. Having one choice that has no impact, with 2 versions :

-Fake sense of choice (even if it's a mix,  Underneath the Same Moon is not as straightforward as other games.)

-Or it is a main point that is made by the creator, such as Mirror Girl, where the lack of choice show a point.

3. Not even having a choice, which would add difficulty in making the player engaged.

With that in mind, I'm trying to see if there is not any ways to tweak the rules, as it is the easiest way to stand out and to explore something new, imo.

In this game jam, you have one choice per game.

But, what do you define as "the game"?

Is it everything? Only the part you played? 1 playthrough?

So I asked that to the game host:

In short, a playthrough is equal to a choice, as long as you restart to the main menu.

Now that I have my main mechanic, I have to think of an idea for my game!

It had to be on multiple playthroughs, I could do some kind of a DDLC-inspired game, but I'm not in the mood for doing a Yandere game or a horror one.

So I began a list of what I wanted:

-The player can only play the playthroughs once.

-The player cannot go back

-The player does not have an obvious answer (which I felt in some games, turning them into lock-picking ones instead of moral dilemmas.)

-I like the "pick your poison" kind of choice in Underneath the Same Moon, either you regret being silent, or have remorse for speaking about it.

With that, I decided to go with the subject of death.

My first thought was the protagonist or a character dying in a hospital, as it is the closest I have been subjected to death.

As it is multiple playthroughs and the player cannot have the sensation he can go back, the idea of it being the same characters interacting defeats the whole point.

So, I decided to make a game about a dying character and multiple protagonists (6 at first, then 5) who will interact with him for the last time.

One major point of my game which deviates from others I saw, is the focus on subjective identity.

You will see the same dying characters in a different light, from a subjective point of view, which is not reality.

From a Santa Claus, a disappointment,  a liar,  to a ᒲ𝙹ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ∷⎓⚍ᓵꖌᒷ∷.

Despite being his final memory, you will never know him.

Which is the point, can he even pretend to know himself when he forgot the good, the bad, and the ugly things he did during his life?

And, with that in mind, do you even have an identity, who are you?

If you can be an angel and the biggest pos at the same time, to different people, can you pretend to be one or the other?

The other main mechanics, 1 choice, 2 options for each playthrough, which I took from Underneath the Same Moon, regret or remorse, which I disguised as needs and wants.

So, will you choose to say what needs to be said, or what you want to say?