Beyond Super: Life Behind The Mask
What the game is about
“Beyond Super: Life Behind the Mask” is a one-player journaling game that takes a peek behind the mask of a superhero.
The job of superheroes is just like many other jobs, at some point it becomes routine. But other challenges arise around it. Missed your moms birthday because you were saving the city from Doc Trine? Handed in work late because you were busy running from an intelligent turtle turned supervillain?
How do you deal with the challenges of a regular life once you have a handle on your after-hours job? Can you keep a regular job? A relationship? Raise kids? Who do you have to lie to and who can you be honest with?
The stakes are not if you can save the city. They are unfulfilled dreams, burnout, loss of identity and loneliness. Who you have to lie to, who you don’t spend enough time with, who you lose, and who you have to pretend to be, to protect those you love most.
What the characters do
The characters in this game try to navigate regular life while dealing with all the issues that come with it, in addition to those that come with their after-hours job of being a superhero. They will have to prioritize, sacrifice, lie and pretend, while attempting to lead two lives at once.
What the player does
The player creates a world and character, interprets prompts and tells the story of their character. They are both writer and director and decide how their character navigates life by creating a journal entry for each week during a year of their characters life.
Notes
- Players: 1 (optional 2 player rule)
- Duration: a couple of hours, depending on how detailed you write
This game was created as a submission to the “Beyond The Super” jam held by Riley Rethal and is based on “The Quiet Year” by Avery Alder.
Also check out:
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $5 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Exclusive content
Support this game at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.
Community Copy
Feel free to claim a community copy if you are dealing with financial hardship or are a member of a marginalized community. Please consider leaving a rating or comment though, doing so helps me out a lot and doesn't cost you anything.
Development log
- Version 1.0.1 - Small changes to format, naming and phrasingMay 23, 2020
- Version 1.0.0 - Full release with additional optional rulesMay 22, 2020
- Version 0.1.3 - Another couple of small changesMay 20, 2020
- Version 0.1.2 - A couple of small changesMay 18, 2020
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
This game hooked me. It's a theme I love, and the setup is great. The story telling immediately captivated me as I was making hard decisions and trying to maintain lines between my character's personal and superheroic life. I wasn't expecting this journaling game to be as good as it was, but I highly recommend it.
Glad you enjoyed and thank you for the feedback, very much appreciated :)
I absolutely loved my time with Beyond Super, and that's even despite my glazing over the optional rules which look supremely fun! I really hope to come back to it, because the depth of the basic prompt system allowing you to choose your character's reaction to the situation alone is still so fantastic, so adding the extra layers of keeping track of the public's reaction to your actions in the mask, and the complications rule adding more layers to how the prompt goes off, will really give the potential story being told a lot more room to work in. The complications rule in particular feels VERY apt for these types of stories, allowing you to add tense and difficult twists to an already intense prompt to start with. (Also really appreciate the potential for a villain's story!) Anyway, here's the video of my session I did live, I hope how good of a time I had with the game comes across!
Thank you for the kind words!
Looking forward to check out the video in the evening.
Beyond Super: Life Behind the Mask is a solo journaling game that explores the life of a superhero's alter ego. How are you going to deal with burnout, unfulfilled dreams and lying to your loved ones?