Day 65: FotLC through the 113 lenses from The Art of Game Design

Day 65 - Lens ∞: The Lens of Secret Purpose
To make sure you are working toward your one true purpose, ask yourself the only question that matters:

Why am I doing this?

I have a bunch of reasons for making Fall of the Last City...

"I want to make games that matter." But that is more a fact that has shaped how I have made this game than a reason for making it.

"I wanted to make a VR game on a platform that collapsed so I ended up pursuing the paper prototype because it had promise." Well that's true and it's the practical reason I made the game. But I could have been done a year ago and had something playable to put on my development shelf and then moved on.

"I want to be GOOD at making games." I didn't give up because I felt that I still had more to learn from this design, form the development process. I still think that following through with this to publication or irrefutable rejection is valuable. I will need to go through the process of looking for a publisher and running a Kickstarter, and I think those things will make me a better designer. I feel like this is my journeyman project, that by finishing this I will finally be able to consider myself a 'real' game designer... despite having been part of the industry as a developer and designer for more than 6 years.

"Because I have thought long and hard about what this game can say through it's mechanics, dynamics and esthetics. I have looked at the game through 65 lenses so far and I see something there that is worth making." Regardless of what game I was making I would be driven by our world today to try to say things about power and diversity and revolution. It just turns out that the game I am making can say those things.