Hey everyone!
Have you ever wondered if there’s a deeper meaning to all the “My Beautiful Paper Smile” world? Well technically there isn’t, but there is. Let me explain.
I think many stories in movies and games are hampered by an underlying message, and that pins writers into a very small corner. It doesn’t leave as much room for an engaging story, because you’re being constantly berated by a fourth wall-breaking call for change. I certainly don’t think morals and other messages are inherently bad in stories, I just believe that they are inherently difficult to do well, and because of that, I decided to avoid weaving any messages too heavily through the game.
When I was coming up with ideas for MBPS and structuring the story, I enjoyed the idea of adding some sort of moral, deeper message within the game. Ultimately, I was inspired by one “deeper meaning” (which I’ll talk about in a minute) that did have some influence over the story and characters, even though it’s not clearly presented at any point.
So, what was the theme that did end up influencing the game? As I was planning the worlds and characters, I thought it would be fitting to add some hints to the idea of social expectations. If you’ve played the game yourself, you might have noticed some connections to the idea. During my incredibly deep, thought-provoking, and philosophical high school years, I thought it interesting how everyone is raised to recognize and respond in specific ways, to specific social cues (some grasp these a little worse than others, myself included). These interactions and acceptable responses change vastly depending on the scenario, but appearing happy is always a crucial social response. Hence the weird world of MBPS that forces happiness.
If you play through the game with that in mind, you’ll probably notice some interesting connections between the story and that theme. Hopefully, you found it interesting!
Until next time! Keep smiling :)
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