Yoshiro Kimura, Producer of Little King’s Story wasn’t kidding when he told us Discipline would be Marvelous’s “riskiest title yet.” Just reading about it made my head spin.
Here’s a quick recap of what we knew so far: Discipline is a WiiWare game by Kazutoshi Iida, the developer behind Tail of the Sun, and takes place in a prison. It was first mentioned at TGS 2008, but since then, we haven’t seen or heard much of it. Now, we finally have some info, courtesy of Famitsu.
“Discipline” is both the name of the game and the high-security prison that the story’s events take place in. You’re undercover as an inmate, in order to assist with a test management run of the prison administration and procedures, so you can earn money to pay for your sister’s surgery.
The camera is stationed just outside of your cell, which you share with two other inmates. Your task is to keep your fussy housemates satisfied, a state of mind that is represented by a “desire meter.” You’ll be helping them with issues like sleeping troubles, boredom and wanting food.
To help the inmates, you make use of the Wiimote, referred to in the game as the “You-con” (presumably short for You Controller). Using your You-con requires that you first collect a type of energy known as “You Fluid.” You build up this energy by raising your Wiimote when you’re not being watched by the security guard. Being spotted by the guard while using your You-con will also get you in solitary.
Once you’ve built up your You Fluid, you aim the Wiimote at the screen to switch to a first person view. This is the game’s “My World mode. In this mode, you can shoot out your You Fluid at things like walls and the toilet. Depending on what you shoot at, you’ll end up solving different issues faced by the inmates. An example shown in the magazine concerns shooting your You Fluid at a poster to give the inmate some excitement. We’re not sure why this makes the prisoner excited, but there’s probably a good reason.
By solving these problems, you break through their “Heart Walls,” which sound kind of like the psychelocks from Ace Attorney (although, “psycholocks” as Edgeworth likes to call them seems a more appropriate term here). Breaking through the psy…er, Heart Walls, makes prisoners open their hearts up to you and give you a Heart Crystal.
Very touching. I wonder what else you can do with “You Fluid.”
Oh wait! That’s what it describes next. You can shoot your You Fluid at pigeons passing outside your window in order to “soar through the skies on a mental trip with the pigeon.”
Discipline hits WiiWare on August 25th for 800 points in Japan. Official site here.
Never let it be said Marvelous Entertainment lack originality.
