Sanctuary

We are Team Rat! https://team-rat-games.itch.io/

Sanctuary was made for the 2023 JustPlay Game Jam hosted by Anima Interactive.

An unconventional tower defence game where you play as a cosmic Explorer trying to survive harsh conditions on an alien planet. This game flips tower defence mechanics on its head. Win conditions can’t be achieved through killing or hoarding of resources. The player must truly understand the dynamics of the fable in which they find themselves to transcend them. There is one ending to the story but you must subvert traditional game mechanics to achieve it.

Build and scrap towers. Defend your outpost against attackers. Engage with the mysteries inside you and around you in this strange world that could be your home. 

Controls (use your mouse!) 

• Hover over question marks for tutorial prompts. 
• Click on panels to purchase and/or scrap towers.
• Click on the map to place towers strategically in between each enemy wave. 
• Click through dialogue sequences. 

Themes of Justice and Game Design

Through the use of allegory, Sanctuary explores multiple gamejam themes on justice: spirituality, ecology, narrative, and post-colonialism.  Our goal was to empower the player to engage with these themes, and understand how they might influence each other to tell a complex story.  Typical tower defence game mechanics are used in gameplay, but they are not enough to win. 

The Explorer (the player) relies on an intense spirituality to survive in what they perceive as a hostile environment. The planet they have decided to build an outpost on is home to inhabitants that the Explorer doesn’t have the means to understand. However, when they learn and accept the true goals of the planet’s inhabitants, their interests converge and a new, fuller, spirituality emerges. 

The combination of narrative and interaction is unique to video games and XR. This is why we designed an emotive experience that is incomplete without player action. Unlike in most tower defence games, in Sanctuary there is a path to reconciliation between those in conflict. The player needs to interact in a considered way with the game mechanics in order to arrive at the ending. 

We hope the player will think critically about the relationship between an individual’s spiritual beliefs and how they make sense of their environment.  This includes who they perceive as “the other”, and what they believe their interests to be. We want the player to feel a sense of discovery as they learn the usual assumptions around how to win don’t work.  We also hope to encourage them to question the “win conditions” in other areas of life and how they can be changed. 

Credits

Lead Narrative & Game Design: Helen Lam

Programming: Laura Rosa

Writing: Josh Aldred

Art: Vlad Bacescu & Steph (JC) Jordan

Music & Sound: Justin Gohde

Assets

Art - Team Rat original made for the JustPlay Game Jam

Music and Sound - Team Rat original made for the JustPlay Game Jam