Mechanic Detail - Presence of God

DRAFT

PRESENCE OF GOD DETAILS

A combination of love story and resource scarcity mechanic, the presence of God uses time dilation to emphasize what is important to God, what isn’t, who God desires to interact with, and who he doesn’t. At both regular stages and occasionally in response to prayers, the player will, for a limited time, become the presence of god, tuning into the village of Chevries to observe the state of affairs in tiered level of detail, and choose personal and strategic actions of great consequence. A real-time mechanic, this will exist separate from the will of god mechanic (or includes it).

HOW PRESENCE OF GOD WORKS

“I will now focus on Chevries, where a few faithful remain.”

The strategic view loads, with the map spread below and points of interest faintly glowing. From this vantage, time moves very slowly or is completely paused, and the player can interact with various menus that provide information about changes to high-level statistics, major news bulletins in NAPOX and SUPOX, and issue their general will for the area. The phase may be ended by the player here if desired, skipping the next element, but with limited impact.

“I will move among them.”

The player dives from the clean air of their perch in the clouds to take a closer look, and a timer starts.
While objects are made non-collidable in this mode, a radial aura from all humans’ Nephesh is collidable based on the density of humans and the distance from a centerpoint (arbitrary average value) of their combined holiness. - the more holy they are, the slower time moves, the less holy they are, the faster it moves, because God does not gladly suffer the presence of the wicked.

“Draw near to me, and I will draw near to you.”
“Away from me, you evildoers.”

When the player is close enough to an NPC to be affected by the aura of their Nephesh, more detailed examination and context-sensitive interactions will be available. Interactions that are possible but not available will be grayed-out with a biblical explainer of flavor text when moused-over. The clock is stopped while the player considers and choses an action (god does not acti hastily.) Taking an action will speed up the clock (god takes a direct hand in our lives, but is not our personal assistant.)
1) Encouragement: The player can choose an aspect of an NPCs Nephesh to be strengthened directly (gifts of the Holy Spirit), or receive a bonus to growth potential (attributes.) May be termed as blessings.

“I will lift up the downtrodden.”
“I will give you strength, and you will mount up on wings like an eagle.”

2) Judgement: In accordance with their culpability, an NPC may be given a punishment on the spot, but it will damage their Nephesh. The Turncoat Pastor can be zapped with a lightning bolt, disease can be allowed to spread in the wicked, business arrangements can be spoiled, or a person can be made the target of anger and ill-intent. Judgment will often be made in the form of allowing well-deserved evil to befall an NPC immediately. (Cue cut scene where Nazi’s break in or a bomb falls on them?) More subtle judgements include causing degeneration of their Nephesh, specifically, their attributes. All but the most extreme judgements are in the framework of temporary reproof and correction, with the overarching theme that all evil will eventually be judged and you really have to piss God off to earn on-the-spot correction.

“You were innocent before, because you were blind, but now you are guilty because you can see.”
“They received in themselves the due penalty for their sins.”
“You have turned my house into a den of thieves.”
“I will deliver them into the hands of their enemies to be destroyed.”
“I will cause their hearts to quail.”

3) Aid: If a Christian NPC or a Christian who cares about them has prayed for something, the player can grant it (although perhaps not in the way the NPC hopes for.) RESTRICTIONS APPLY - aid will normally be in the form of going to another NPC who can give the desired aid and impressing upon them the will of god is to render that very aid. Prayers made to benefit someone besides themselves are easiest to grant. Prayers of non-believers will not be grantable (unless they are in service of the path to salvation.) ***Note on healing. This is very likely the thing most prayed for by believers, and God specifically says that prayers for healing will be answered, but they often seem not to be. Two possible explanations for this are: The natural order of things - God allows disease and physical damage to exist as part of his creation- and God’s decision to limit the length of our lives because he is weary of our wickedness.

“Your prayers are not answered because you pray for your own selfish desires.”
“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can tell a mountain to get up and move and it will.”
“Ask anything in my name (in accordance with my will) and it will be given to you.”
*Need more exact scripture reference*: “You have scorned my greatest gift.” (God does not hear the prayers of the wicked?)
“I will not contend with man forever; their years will be limited to 120.”

4) Guidance: If an NPC prays for guidance, they can be given a conviction with an enormous boost to their probability of complying. They can also be given a mission from god, a multi-tiered purpose that scripts them to receive additional will-of-god guidance automatically as they execute each task.
“(1) Go then, to the city of Nineveh, and (2) tell them to turn away from their wickedness.”
“(1) Go to the city of Macedonia, and (2) preach the gospel.”
“(1) Take this woman to be your wife, then (2) flee to Egypt.”

5) Conviction: A precursor to judgment, an NPC can be given a powerful conviction that they should do or not do something.

“Give generously to the poor.”

This is designed to serve these purposes:
1) Place a value on the time and attention of God, which is in some ways a McGuffin.
2) Allow the player to experience the desire of God to be with those who are holy, and his attraction to those who are attracted to him.

“Draw close to me and I will draw close to you.”

3) Make god feel powerful
4) Make god feel purposeful
5) Make god feel well-reasoned
6) Teach us about the purpose of prayer.
7) Create a sense of expectation when in Melphus’ viewpoint, that, while angels are only given so much authority, God has ultimate authority and power and the situation will be handled appropriately in due time.
“I can’t believe the Commandant just did that. God is gonna come in here and judge that ass. It’s coming!”
“Don’t worry, Anne. Hang in there, God’s got your back.”
Design choice alternatives. Royal “we,” and “us” may be used, or first-person “I.”