GGGB vs ORS: Themes (2) (Patreon)

THEMES (2)

Continuing with the commentary on the theme of both games, I felt I could pinpoint a few of those particular themes that rose to my attention while I was working on GGGB. The nature of my first game didn’t allow me to explore those themes with the depth I would’ve liked, since I had to take care of a lot of possible branches, but I wanted to give myself that chance with ORS.

If you’re a bit perceptive you might already know what particular themes are those. In GGGB Ashley could, through the pictures she uploaded in social media, end up dipping her toes in the modelling business, even becoming a cam girl at some point, but that was never integral to the story. I tried to do that in ORS, where Lena starts as an amateur model, and her reasons to delve in that world and make her presence known in social media are not only to fulfill a simple yearning for popularity and notoriety, as was Ash’s case. Also, being integral to Lena’s development, social media, modelling and all the stuff that can be derived from it will have a major impact on the narrative, while in GGGB it felt a bit like its own, separate storyline.

Arthur was the main villain in GGGB, but his motivations were very narrow in scope, and only involved himself and his twisted fantasies. Ethan has also potential to become a very interesting villain, but his role was confined to Ashley’s mom side of the story. But what if I combined both men and created an antagonist that delves in corruptionand has the power and the brains to really get what he wants? Well, you can surely imagine who that character would be.

Dave and Eric, and even Jack in some sense, were also very interesting to me as characters. The first two, especially, were young men trying to figure out what they wanted to do in life, pursuing their not-so-easy-to-achieve dreams and trapped in the flux of rocky relationships with the girls that surrounded them. They got themselves into hot situations, into fights, into traps and betrayals and more... I tried to make their struggles and adventures relevant, but of course I was very limited since they were NPCs. Adding a male POV would also allow me to develop and explore those themes in a much more fun way.

There are more themes that crossed over from GGGB into ORS, some others are new, but my goal is to delve deeper into all of them to make a more impactful, engaging and meaningful gaming experience. Do you feel this is the case so far? Which other themes you think exist in GGGB and ORS and how you think they’re being treated differently?

Other posts on GGGB vs ORS series:

Gameplay

Main Characters

Themes

Structure