The Snake Pit (TSP) is a realistic and hard-hitting Indie 2-D Single-Player RPG Outlaw Simulation set in the middle ages with brand new gameplay elements revolving around espionage, intrigue, as well as accusations, justice and punishment within our gang, in which we must recruit, satisfy and successfully lead a horde of obscure scoundrels, to amass enough wealth through successful raids to expand our network of informers and spies as well as our knowledge of strategies and tactics in order to successfully defy the external danger of the nobility and their henchmen, who threaten us with death, as well as the internal threats of betrayal and rivalry within our own ranks. Due to its high level of difficulty, the success of each individual player is ultimately measured by the amount of the bounty that is placed on their head in the course of their game as a result of their crimes and which is shared globally online as a high score. Unfairly, every single game ends for the player with death in battle or on the gallows, unless there might be a secret way to escape from these lands undetected with the lion's share of the loot...
Power, Mood, Relations & Maneuvers
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Normally, the party in any RPG, regardless of whether they are a fixed or replaceable "heroes", are nothing more than robots that blindly follow the player like a trained puppy. This is much different in TSP: Here there is actually a chance for each NPC to pursue a goal or even a secret goal at a certain rate, the NPC can even reveal his goal to the player after a while and ask him for help; and no, this is not like the NPC wants a shiny hat or a better bed, it can bet that the NPC wants to get his sweetheart from his home village to the camp, for example, or wants to hold a certain position, such as that of the paymaster. A secret goal on the other hand, is never revealed, and only the spy can look into it, and such a goal is almost always dangerous for the player on the mid- or the long run.
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If the NPC informs the player of his goal, the player can decide whether to support, don't mind or even sabotage it. The spy can also help to find out these goals, even before a revelation and if a goal is unfulfilled, the NPC may disappear one morning and get his sweetheart by himself without the help of his boss. Either he returns happily with his sweetheart or he is caught on his way and imprisoned in a dungeon. If he does not get the desired position, he may simply beat up or poison the person who is already the paymaster. NPCs who do this and are caught can also be sentenced and punished, but what if an innocent person is severly punished? How will this affect the mood of the gang?
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In addition, members of the gang can develop relationships with each other, ranging from friends and blood brothers to rivals, bullies and even cliques that form under their inoffical leader and can therefore pose a threat to the player's own claim to power. The gang therefore acts very individually each time and we have to somehow keep them together. We use praise, reprimands, scaring and many other maneuvers to influence the power and mood values of our gang. A deployed spy has even more far-reaching and unscrupulous maneuvers at his disposal, but caution is advised here, as such underhand tactics can also be exposed, and then the player may even be accused of a crime by it’s own gang, unless perhaps we manage to pin the whole sordid affair on our dangerous rival?
All this adds an unprecedented psychological element to the game and gives the player the experience of not controlling machines, but really being the boss of a gang of flesh and blood, which the player can lead, influence and manipulate exactly as his mind and feelings see fit, and this offers frustration and a sense of achievement in an intensity like never before.