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Virtue's Heaven

A game about Infinite Dogs, Radical Friends, and the End of History

Narrative systems: Convictions in Virtue’s Heaven

Goal: Create a reason for players to explore the areas in Virtue’s Heaven, provide them with a customisable upgrade system, make sure that it is connected to the game’s overall theme (you can’t create a future for an entire world on your own).

Idea: Connect every upgrade that the players find to a different character, give every upgrade two different, situational effects to encourage experimentation and increase potential for systemic interactions between different upgrades.

Execution: Players will find special stages in which their Friends are imprisoned. In freeing them, players will get access to that specific NPCs “Conviction”, an upgrade that reflects parts of the core beliefs of the NPC in question. Every conviction has a passive and an active state, the latter oftentimes being incredibly powerful. The players might be alone while exploring Virtue’s Heaven, but they carry the beliefs and hopes of their friends with them at any time and draw strength from them.

Examples:

Conviction of DR Jay: "We should not adjust our bodies and identities to better fit a world that is hostile towards us, but instead change the world to be more welcoming for us."

Passive Effect: Take less damage from stage hazards

Active Effect: Ignore stage hazards entirely

Conviction of Radical Moon: "The more our enemies try to suppress us, the more certain we can be that we’re on the right track."

Passive Effect: When at 0 hp, get revived and immediately enter ‘Radical Mode’ (special state that activates all of your convictions)

Active Effect: Deal and receive more damage