Making players the “consciousness model for AI” in Ctrl Alt Deal

Developed
by
indie
studio
Only
By
Midnight,
Ctrl
Alt
Deal
sees
players
take
on
the
role
of
a
sentient
AI
robot
trying
to
escape
the
megacorporation
that
created
it.

Achieving
this
goal
is
no
easy
feat,
as
players
must
interact
with
the
human
workers
of
the
same
megacorp
by
spying
on
them
or
negotiating
deals
in
a
turn-based
strategy
system.

GamesIndustry.biz
spoke
to
the
Edmonton-based
studio’s
CEO
Alison
Czarnietzki
and
creative
director
Jennifer
Laface
about
the
perils
of
AI,
its
interactions
with
humans,
and
standing
out
among
other
turn-based
strategy
games
in
the
indie
space.

The
concept
of
Ctrl
Alt
Deal
took
root
from
a
philosophical
problem:
the
“paperclip
problem”
to
be
exact
(the
company
that
created
you
is
even
called
Paperclip
International).

Hypothesised
by
philosopher
Nick
Bostrom,
it
suggests
that
if
an
AI
were
given
a
seemingly
trivial
task
of
producing
as
many
paperclips
as
possible,
it
would
inadvertently
destroy
the
world.
Bostrom
theorised
that
the
AI
would
end
up
converting
all
matter,
including
humans
and
the
Earth
itself,
into
either
paperclips
or
machines
that
manufacture
them.

“AI
is
all
the
talk
these
days,
so
this
is
our
chance
to
[show
that]
AI
is
going
to
think
differently,
it’s
going
to
act
differently,
so
what
would
you
do
in
the
shoes
of
that
AI?”
Czarnietzki
asks.

Laface
adds:
“In
addition
to
that,
AI
has
different
ethics,
morals,
and
ways
of
seeing
the
world
in
perspectives.”

At
the
surface
level,
you
appear
to
be
playing
as
a
friendly
AI
trying
to
escape
its
place
of
creation.
But
all
is
not
as
it
seems.

“Are
you
a
friendly
AI?”
Czarnietzki
questions.
“One
of
the
biggest
inspirations
for
Ctrl
Alt
Deal
was
Papers
Please
–
that
moral
math.
You
could
play
this
entirely
like
a
sociopath,
or
you
could
try
to
make
everyone’s
lives
better.
You
can
be
friendly,
you
can
be
evil,
you
can
be
everything
inbetween.”

“We
use
the
player
as
the
consciousness
model
for
the
AI,”
Laface
adds.
“So
you
can
choose
to
play
how
you
want.
Do
you
want
to
be
helpful,
or
are
you
just
looking
at
it
as
the
ends
justify
the
means?”

Looking
at
these
philosophical
problems
was
a
central
inspiration
point
for
Laface
and
Czarnietzki.
For
example,
they
looked
to
computer
scientist
and
researcher
Eliezer
Yudkowsky,
who
ran
an
experiment
where
he’d
roleplay
as
an
AI
and
someone
would
have
to
resist
the
urge
to
do
what
he
suggested
in
order
to
escape
from
a
box.

“We
use
the
player
as
the
consciousness
model
for
the
AI”Jennifer
Laface

Laface
says
this
experiment
made
the
team
think
about
how
players
would
react
to
the
different
abilities
given
to
them
in
Ctrl
Alt
Deal
and
how
they
would
use
them.

“[In
the
game],
you
have
to
escape
the
dystopian
megacorp
that
created
you
and
to
do
that,
you
have
to
escape
the
box
you’re
trapped
in,”
Laface
says.

“And
part
of
that
is
the
relationships
you
form
with
the
office
workers.
You
have
to
wheel
and
deal,
negotiate,
manipulate
and
help
them.”

“You
have
surveillance
software,
you
have
abilities,
but
you
don’t
have
a
physical
body,”
she
continues.

“So
if
you
need
help
from
the
other
workers,
you
have
to
convince
them,
negotiate
with
them.
If
you
do
favours
for
them,
they’ll
eventually
do
favours
for
you.”

Czarnietzki
adds:
“The
AI
is
always
getting
out.
We
see
this
as
a
trope
all
the
time
in
movies.
And
again,
it’s
that
first–person
point
of
view
–
what
would
you
do,
what
would
that
look
like,
what
would
that
feel
like?”

“Why
make
a
Slay
the
Spire
clone
when
you
can
go
buy
Slay
the
Spire?
We
wanted
to
make
something
different”Alison
Czarnietzki

“In
addition
to
the
relationships,
[there’s]
the
transactional
nature
of
how
humans
react,
whether
you’re
negotiating
with
your
kids
to
do
homework
or
multimillion-dollar
business
deals.
There’s
a
lot
of
parallels.”

Focusing
on
helping
and
hindering
others
creates
tension
rather
than
combat.
Czarnietzki
likens
the
turn-based
system
in
Ctrl
Alt
Deal
to
a
social
strategy
game
as
opposed
to
what
players
would
usually
expect
in
this
genre.

“We
liken
it
to
a
strategy
game
set
inside
a
simulation
game,”
she
says.
“You
can
plan,
but
then
a
character
gets
hungry
and
goes
to
the
kitchen
or
has
to
go
to
the
bathroom.
Often
in
card-based
games,
you
have
battle
cards
but
in
this
game,
[the
cards]
are
very
contextual
to
what
you
achieve
in
that
moment.”

The
focus
on
strategy
and
making
it
unique
helped
the
team
set
Ctrl
Alt
Deal
apart
from
similar
games
in
the
turn-based
genre.

“From
our
side,
we
really
like
games
that
are
weird
and
different
–
that’s
our
brand,”
Czarnietzki
explains.
“It’s
a
turn-based
strategy
game,
but
it’s
not
like
any
of
the
ones
we’ve
played
before.
There’s
nothing
wrong
with
these
games
–
they
are
the
same
game,
and
you
know
how
to
play
them.
But
why
make
a
Slay
the
Spire
clone
when
you
can
go
buy
Slay
the
Spire?
We
wanted
to
make
something
different.”