I didn’t write any of the story until the game began and it was definitely influenced by user input in big and small ways. On the small side, I added cat food to the store because there was a cat on the Jewel. The biggest way the story was influenced was taking out Don Mondo, the whole second week could have been different.
I originally had plans to introduce PvP in the second week, I wanted people to be able to spend money to send additional space scum after their enemies or to sacrifice their own hull points by taking them on directly. I ended up leaving it out because it didn’t seem to fit into the narrative that the captains were creating.
One thing I didn’t want was a clear way to “win” the game. I wanted each individual to decide what they were trying to achieve… money, grit, living to the end, etc.
As for the eyeball theory, nope. Waaaaaay off. I did think it was incredibly creative though!
I really liked Don Mondo and wanted him to do the classic villain trick of never quite dying all the way but I wasn’t planning to bring him back into the game until the epilogue.
