My essential experience: Challenge the player to think critically and empathetically through problem solving where their actions affect the environment and people in the game world rather than the protagonist. I think it would be really interesting to test the players moral judgement.
A workshop in class allowed me to present an idea, that would allow me to create this essential experience, and then gather feedback from my classmates.
Here is the idea that I presented to them:
Play as a '"God". You have several tasks that need to be completed within a short space of time. You need to decide which tasks are of the most importance and which you can sacrifice. When the time runs out, you will see how your actions affected the game world.
The premise is quite open and leaves a lot to the imagination which I thought would be best as it's the experience that I need to sell, not how it would look or what the theme could be.
Feedback:
Generally, people were very interested in the decision based feature especially with the idea of the player been pressured to make the right decision or be limited in the time they had to make it. The theme of the game and the relationship with the characters would be most instrumental in giving the player motivation to make the "right" decision. Some were also interested in being able to see the consequences of their in-game actions play out before them. I think showing the consequences would be essential in evoking emotion in the player and allow them to learn from their mistakes.
One person made an important statement to consider - what makes the actions "good" or "evil"? And who is it that decides this? I like to think I am empathetic and intelligent enough to have a decent understanding of what is considered right and wrong and am able to express this without too much personal influence. But others may not agree with that. I will research into themes of morality to back up my design choices.