Demosynthesis: A video game about planning through unpredictability
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Authors
Logan Wenz
Issue Date
2026
Type
Language
Keywords
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Abstract
Life is complicated, difficult, and constantly changing. It often feels like an unending road of trials and tribulations, and the desire for simpler times continues to grow in popularity. My work aims to alleviate the stressors of daily life through entertainment that is not only enjoyable to play, but contains gameplay and mechanics that provoke the players to think about how they approach their day-to-day lives.
As a New Media Studies student, I am independently developing Demosynthesis, a multi-player platforming video game focused on action, replayability, and strategy. The setting of the game reflects a potential future - a glowing, hostile, robot-filled concrete jungle. The player characters are genetically modified humans with the genetic material of plants, symbolizing the struggle between the Earth’s natural state and the modern reality of weaponized human technology.
The core gameplay loop is focused on players battling as a team through levels, finding respite in naturally vegetated areas where they can spend their experience points on developing their stats or powering up their weapons. However, the types of weapons and abilities available are randomized, forcing difficult decisions. Is it worth it for a player to take a sub-par weapon, or for them to spend extra money to re-roll, potentially leaving them without enough money to level up? Based on their skill, character build, and the scenarios they find themselves in, it is up to the player to decide.
The ability-modifying items, referred to as emotions, will alter a player’s stats far more erratically, reflecting their unreliable but powerful nature. However, survival is what matters. Characters aren’t immortal, and if the team dies, the run is over, and they must attempt from the beginning. Success will be entirely reliant on adaptive strategy, teamwork, performance, and luck.
Demonsynthesis’s gameplay should draw parallels to real life. Future plans may easily be thrown in disarray due to random chance. Our choices are shaped by the emotions and abilities we possess, and our outcomes are decided by how effective we are at enforcing our will upon a world full of others looking to do the same.