04-23, 10:05–10:35 (Europe/Amsterdam), Theatre 2
In this talk, I will cover the appeal of deliberately engendering discomfort in players. How and why to make them uncomfortable, and the ethics of mechanical and narrative coercion.
Games may be used to put players in compromised and uncomfortable situations, potentially in conflict with other players or themselves. A great deal of emotional development can be caused by such experiences, accompanied by the need to accept that hurt. This talk includes development discussions from our ethics design groundwork at Polynormal Games, as well as my own experience with writing intense, trauma-focused games.
I'm the technical director at Polynormal Games, an indie studio focused on accessible and inclusive game design.
I created my own dialogue plugin, with which I wrote LONER_DOG, a transgressive indie visual novel that received the IFDB award for Outstanding Godot Game of 2025.