(The following text will spoil a mechanic in S&M.)
It's far easier to imagine mechanics before attempting to create them. The visions we had during the planning phase for S&M were ambitious and, at least at that time, impossible. Entering into a project optimistic and blind enables a level of imagination that will almost always lose in a battle against practical realities.
This, however, is not a story of defeat; this is one of triumph!
When planning the structure of the story, choice mechanics were at the front of ours minds. Maybe we were still a tad bit bitter that Life is Strange had promised so much and ultimately delivered too little when it came to the impact you as the player could have on the world and narrative. Of course, our small group (with bright eyes and egos in desperate need of checking) insisted that we not only could do it better, but that we would.
…Reality was unkind to this idea, obviously.
By August of 2022, those grand ideas had decayed into the concept above. That's clearly a far cry from what we were originally imagining, and as such the whole idea was tabled. If you remember, the original S&M lacked any choices, even these futile ones.
Jumping forward to June of 2024, we had begun working on a different way of approaching the mechanic, that being the Poli-Psyche.
The mechanic pulls from two sources of inspiration, Suzerain and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.
Now, obviously that's far from the best Silent Hill to draw from–but it featured a mechanic where it profiled you as you played, and began to tailor its content for who it imagined you to be. It was simplistic, but subtle enough that, at least in theory, you wouldn't necessarily know that it's happening.
Suzerain enables and disables potential routes through choice in a relatively similar manner. You won't know that you're locking yourself into/out of content, but given the structure of the game, it's relatively obvious when it's happening.
So what the hell is the Poli-Psyche?
Given the number of choices that appear in the new iteration of S&M, ranging from miscellaneous to route-ending, there was an opportunity to resurrect the original concept with the lessons learned, and with inspiration taken from the other similar aforementioned mechanics.
Each choice, no matter how mundane, will now contribute toward the creation of your playthrough's unique Poli-Psyche. This mechanic works entirely behind the scenes, but allows for the game to adapt to your playstyle organically, and personalize dialogue and scenes to best fit your outlook. In theory, no two playthroughs will be the same.
For instance, this is how three different playthroughs could appear by the start of Chapter 3:
…And, all things considered, there aren't that many choices in the first two chapters. ^^
As you develop your poli-psyche, routes will close and open, and your interactions with members of the cast will shift. You may believe you can trust them, but will they trust you?
While fleshing this system out, we've been taking care to polish other elements of the story and broader world behind the scenes.
Back in June, we included the following mock-up:
This is from around the time that we settled an internal debate surrounding terms with historical ties, even if their in-universe meaning differs. Some terms attract attention or strike nerves, even if we don't intend for that to happen. To side-step the matter, we've replaced nearly all, and continued to develop theoretical forms of analysis for the political landscape seen within our projects. The point has always been to have something familiar yet utterly foreign. You may have brief moments of lucidity, but more often than not they're mirages that get dispelled as your learn more.
As much as I detest the superficial nature of these sorts of representations, they still have a role in communicating the broad strokes in a meaningful way. With that in mind:
Gotta put my degree to use somehow. Make of it what you will. ^^
In short, it's up to the poli-psyche mechanic to figure out just where you land within the (literal) political sphere, all the while dissecting your likes and dislikes. Might even figure out more things? Hm… We'll just have to see how well it gets to know you.
The poli-psyche will be included alongside the "forecast" mechanic, and the Florette currency system. Don't worry, this isn't suddenly turning into a gacha, (even if lootbox money would be real nice right about now) these mechanics are meant to augment your experience, rather than disrupting it. No need to grind to unlock content!
This is all slated for the next update for S&M, coming sometime next month.
'Til then. ^^