In order to be capable of being inspired again, in general, I have to increase my sensitivity through immersive experiences, whether fictitious or imaginary.
What sort of experiences do I need?
Well, the sort that is highly emotional, which for me when it comes to gaming, typically has to do with my care for characters or otherworldliness that is radiated by something beautiful and explorable.
If it’s beautiful, I will care for it, and if it’s explorable, that means that I know nothing about it - making it otherworldly.
I care specifically about characters like Ai Hoshino, or Makima when in holiday mode.
As for beauty and otherworldliness from an architectural and world building standpoint, you can never go wrong with religious or yogic/spiritual lore and science.
Hmmm… It looks like what I want in a game is something that can get me to actually care about it, deem it as significant and personal, rather than just some knowledge added to the list of facts that I subconsciously store as I mindlessly do things.
If I want to design a game with a personal relationship in mind, then I’ll have to come up with a very unifying gameplay experience between the player and the game’s world.
The world however has to create a sense of alienation between the player and the things that happen TO them, for without that submission, a relationship cannot be possible.
Then when it comes to the idea of making the player themselves Devine in some sort of respect, giving them a feeling of gratitude and feeling as though the world revolves around them without any need for ego so as to make it remain pure, then the player must make the game see the player as otherworldly, as to keep the relationship mutual.
What does it mean for a game to put its player on a pedestal, objectively speaking?
Well, it can be summed up as The Chosen One trope, but it must be done in a way that prevents ego from getting in the way, and has the player caring more about the game than themselves, for they are fully immersed with that particular, grounded, view of existence.
What would happen to a player who plays a game with that degree of immersion?
Worst case scenario
Well, first we need to define what’s good and bad.
Objectively, good must be perceived from the perspective of objective morals and ethics, which are determined by a transcendent intuition that children have, prior to being corrupted by any sort of educations or ego-makers.
So, by this definition, the BEST thing for a player is to offer an experience that makes them genuinely care about as much things as possible in general, not just rely on the game for a sense of what it means to be truly alive.
After all, if all they can do to make themselves feel alive is to play this game till the ends of their days, then clearly is a failure of a product, for it doesn’t actually help them become better human beings, and instead creates the most dangerous and self destructive form of addition; desperation.
I don’t want this, nor do I care for the inability to care, so I want to create a game where I myself can hold onto my love for the game outside of the game itself, as a stepping stone of sorts to be able to then fall in love with other things, still holding respect for what once was (the game), but being far more grateful for what is (New life experiences).
…
With this design consideration in mind, the most enjoyable gameplay that works best with a life changing and purpose giving storyline, is…
JRPG + Souls-like mechanics.
JRPG is fast paced, which helps with engagement and fun.
Souls-like isn’t fun, but it is enjoyable - Best used to customize the pacing of the gameplay to fit the storyline, while also creating a sense of triumph from effort of the player, for their decisions must be performed with active engagement in order to allow for a sense of yearning to take affect in a hopeful way.
In order to have both work together, the JRPG mechanics will be the fighting style, where as the souls-like will be the difficulty and progression style.