Lore questionnaire:

DISCLAIMER, PLEASE READ: Feel free to answer in any way you like. If you can provide justification for your preferences, all the better, but even just the answers by themselves are helpful. In the same vein, you can provide multiple answers for each question if you feel like it. Each question comes with an explanation and example answers (I’ll try to keep the examples as far away from what I think we want so they won’t influence your answers, so don’t be shocked if they seem too out of place). Also, keep in mind that what we want to get out of this is “things you think would (not) be cool in the context of a game”. You can even base your answers in stuff like “I would really love to have a scene where you enter a town and everyone there has been possessed by a demon, but you don’t really realize it at first, you just think things are a bit off as a player, then at some point during the quest line you get to fight the demon but he’s throwing the townsfolk at you and you’re forced to kill some of them even though they’re innocent, so that’s why I think we should have demons in the game”

Themes:

1. *In order of most important to least, what are the PRIMARY themes that you want to focus on?* Explanation: these would be the thematic through-lines of the game. They should be reflected on the visuals, the music, the world, and the main/side story. Ideally, they should also be reflected on the gameplay (even if only superficially). Examples: coming of age, the power of friendship, love, betrayal, survival of the fittest. If, say, we pick “coming of age” as a theme, the stories should focus on the increased responsibilities of adulthood and the uneasiness caused by leaving the comfort and idealism of childhood. If we pick “betrayal”, the stories should focus on trust issues, the heartbreak caused by being betrayed, and the music would probably have an uneasy feel, peppered with unexpected moments of tension or outright violence.
2. *In order of most important to least, what are the SECONDARY themes that you want to focus on?* Explanation: these themes would pop up every now and then during the main story, and they would be featured prominently in side quests/stories. This is a much more open topic, since we can include them as we see fit, and then see how we can tie them into the main theme if necessary. Examples: same as the first question, although the way they would be applied is much more narrow. For example, if we pick “the power of friendship”, there would be moments in the main story where the player realizes that they cannot do everything by themselves and have to lean on other characters/players to get things done. There could be an entire side quest related to rescuing a friend in need.
3. *Which themes and topics should we be very careful about or avoid entirely?* Explanation: these themes are either too controversial, difficult to handle correctly, or just plain not exciting. Examples: workplace drama, infidelity, sex,

Setting:

1. *Describe the world physically.* Explanation: this description should consider things like whether the world is a planet or a floating disk in the sky, its geographical composition, possible climates and biomes. You can go as narrow or big as you want. The idea is to get a feel for what kinds of things are “normal” in this environment. You can mention what sort of creatures you expect there to be, but also which creatures would not be able to exist in this world. Examples: The world is contained inside the glass eye of a gigantic sea turtle that floats across an apparently never ending sea. It is comprised of several small islands with very specific and self-contained climates and wildlife. The inhabitants of
2. *Describe the world metaphysically.