The player soldier is a gear in the machine. To deliver this overwhelming sense of terror and oppression, the aesthetic and mechanics are designed around having the player in a constant sense of dread. From our low time to kill, visceral imagery, troop order system, and level design, we bring our players on the ground and into the face of the abyss. Do not play this as you would an arcade shooter, you will be put down fast like a dog. You take things with some wisdom about you. Think of all the places the enemy may be, because they could be anywhere. Think of your actions, how will they effect the battle? Consider all the tools at your disposal, and what you will need to do in order to complete the mission. 

There is a limit to how many times you may spawn in. The officer is in total control over how much they will be willing to spend on your ass. If you are a fool in gameplay, then you will be out of the match fast, with your only accomplishment being wasted the time and effort from the team. Approach the game how you would a team sport. You have a coach, the other players and their positions, and a gameplan to follow. With all this in mind, the player may get immersed in the experience by through their focus and effort. This helps draw the player into the world so we may tell our story proper.

There is no compromise in the morally grey area we place players into. Picture this, your stereotypical FPS or RTS war game protagonist. Our hero is probably young, ambitious, American, and they are in the right. They are fighting against overwhelming odds whose power is only matched by their evil, and our protagonists must fight to stop them. In the end, our heroes succeed, with a couple sacrificing themselves in the name of their country. They will fight against Russians, or terrorists, Nazis even. With diverse battlegrounds like the Middle East, or even Eastern Europe. All the while a sense of patriotism is littered throughout, and though the protagonist may question some of their actions, the player knows that in the end it is the right thing to do.

Now, lets describe The Theaters scenario. You are young yes, but tired. Your fighting exclusively as a pawn for one of two imperialist, authoritarian superpowers. You are actively participating in a campaign centered around the subjugation of the people and the annihilation of freedom. Your not patriotic, you know your putting more people into the same war machine that you were forced into. You don't do it for honor, you do it because it was either this or execution for you AND your family. You don't fight against the morally inferior, but other pawns in the same exact situation as you, the only difference being a different name. Your not fighting in some vague foreign land, but the small town streets of anywhere USA. Those little figures down your sights? That may not be the enemy; that could just as likely be an American civilian looking to escape with their lives. Or worse, an insurgent looking to push back against the "scum" invading his or her land. That scum they speak of, they are referring to you. Whose the morally inferior in that situation?

What justification will the players give to their actions? If players are able to connect to this game, how will they justify the positions they are in and the decisions they will make? Just like actual combat, players are forced to reflect on the ethics of warfare, and what it means to be a warrior. That is our goal with The Theater. 

This is a war game, therefore it is inherently political. We focus on the philosophies of conflict, both in the social sphere and the militarily. While we don't want to give too much away to the reader, it is important to note that the games world is dystopian in presentation, but has much more to do with our current political culture than meets the eye. The idea of conflict, the justice of it, the effect it has both the willing and the unwilling. As the great conjurers of war sit atop their silver perches, the players are left to kill each other despite their mirrored lives. The innocence lost and passions for hate against your kin are a source of such tragedy, and we will not steer away from such topics. 

This dark fantasy is based firmly in reality. There is an entire life and history behind these characters and events. Steamboat Willie's Mickey is a figure of the Infa ground soldier, while Oswald the Lucky Rabbit has his place on the right seat of the Czar trooper. Culture and life is swayed by the influence of war. Despite you being a dog of war, when given the chance to speak to one another while waiting for command or sharing a psygarette, your avatar has a story to be told far beyond the front lines of combat. All this plays into the themes we are approaching. While we cannot fully discuss such matters quite yet, we can assure you that players will be privy to grit and honesty from our perspective on war.