An Orchestrated Demise

An Orchestrated Demise (AOD) is a hilarious and engaging puzzle game where the player must think and plan like a mastermind. In it, players take on the role of a spirit with the power to enter the bodies of NPCs and subtly influence their actions by controlling where they’re looking, and where they aren’t. The goal of each puzzle is the demise of an ill-fated mortal, and each puzzle has a variety of entertaining solutions.

In AOD the player can’t directly interact with the environment or control a host’s actions, so they must orchestrate the objective by indirectly manipulating the behaviours of individual bystanders, setting in motion a seemingly innocuous sequence of events. Each character that the player inhabits has their own possible interactions with the environment. Players must predict, based on simple audio and visual cues, how an NPC might interact with, or react to, the environment, another character, or an event.

After entering an NPC, the player can see what they are currently paying attention to, and change their focus by looking around and highlighting something more interesting--or distracting. Once the player selects a focus for the NPC, they can shift to an elevated perspective overlooking that area of the level, allowing them to watch their handiwork unfold. Players can only jump to other NPCs within the field of view and a certain range of the current host. Often the player must figure out how to reposition unsuspecting bystanders into more advantageous positions to advance the puzzle.

The player starts each puzzle with a tactical perspective overlooking the map. Each level contains a starting point and a target, as well as an assortment of characters and environmental obstacles and opportunities. The following are just several possible interactions that the player can provoke:

1. Attract: Focus on another NPC to flirt with them, creep them out, or raise the ire of a jealous partner!
2. Reveal: draw the attention of a police officer to a crime or show a squirrel a new hiding place for some nuts.
3. Distract: cause an NPC gaze at the majesty of a rainbow instead of an oncoming train or prevent a sneaky thief from being spotted.
4. Suggest: steer the attention of a hungry NPC to a nearby burger, which looks all the more tasty while the current owner is looking the other way!

Our main focus and greatest challenge will be in maintaining Presence during viewpoint transitions. Rather than attempt a complex AI system, in AOD most of the personalities are simple and straightforward, much like the lowpoly graphics style and the simple one-touch input system. The fun and immersive gameplay arises from combinations of strategic interactions between the player and the NPCs, and the resulting entertaining interactions between them and the environment.