Trolley Troubles: Concept

The Elevator Pitch

An off-the-rails party game where you and 3 friends vote on the path of the trolley, in desperate bids to upgrade, deliver, or die trying.

Core Gameplay Concept

- Players first start at a station where they choose a mission to complete. The mission will have at least 1 primary objective, which must be completed, and 1 side objective. The primary will be to deliver something to the next station, and might have some additional attributes, like being fragile. The side missions can be anything, like kill 20 people with the mission active, or save a baby.

- Next, they’ll set off down the track and be confronted with a series of decisions to make. Players will have a very short time to vote after the problem appears. The outcomes will impact the score on the missions, but may yield other benefits. For example, players can choose to run over some people completing their side mission and giving a bonus to score at the end, but damage the cargo in the process. This can compound with other decisions. 

- All players must vote, otherwise the trolley will crash and the game will be restarted.

- Once players arrive at the next station the mission will complete in success or failure, depending on the decisions made. A successful mission will add to the overall score, a failed one will subtract. 

- At the station players will vote on a new mission and modifiers/perks for the next mission. Like choosing less time to vote, but will yield a bonus to score. A failed mission will apply a modifier without the bonus, like just having less time to vote

Prototype Plan:

- Players first start at a station where they choose a mission to complete. The mission will have at least 1 primary objective, which must be completed, and 1 side objective. The primary will be to deliver something to the next station, and might have some additional attributes, like being fragile. The side missions can be anything, like kill 20 people with the mission active, or save a baby.

- Next, they’ll set off down the track and be confronted with a series of decisions to make. Players will have a very short time to vote after the problem appears. The outcomes will impact the score on the missions, but may yield other benefits. For example, players can choose to run over some people completing their side mission and giving a bonus to score at the end, but damage the cargo in the process. This can compound with other decisions. 

- All players must vote, otherwise the trolley will crash and the game will be restarted.

- Once players arrive at the next station the mission will complete in success or failure, depending on the decisions made. A successful mission will add to the overall score, a failed one will subtract. 

- At the station players will vote on a new mission and modifiers/perks for the next mission. Like choosing less time to vote, but will yield a bonus to score. A failed mission will apply a modifier without the bonus, like just having less time to vote

Comparable Games

While the main inspiration is absurd trolley problems, trolley troubles differs because of the timed aspect, progression (ish) with perks and modifiers, and score.

Different from ‘We Need to go Deeper’ because trolley troubles is not a roguelike, and the trolley does not have an interior or need repairs. I.e, it’s not really a character, the focus is on the decisions and your friends.