Bractwo Foliarzy

A mobile game concept inspired by 80s text games and conspiracy theories with use of NFC and QR tags.

Idea

I have always taken interest in reading about conspiracy theories circulating the internet. UFOs, flat earth, Illuminati - you name it. The mystic aura around a big mistery mixed with absurd ideas about the world were fascinating to me. Many of these conspiracies have grown in popularity in recent years, escaping the niche internet bubble and getting into mainstream. I have created a game by which I wanted to show that these controversial views and rejection of science can sometimes lead to catastrophic consequences.

About

The story takes place on the streets of Cracow, where it’s your job to stop a group of conspiracy extremists from making an attack on one of the city institutions. It’s a classic text game, where the player is asked to make a choice every few moments during the gameplay. They can bring you closer to winning the game and save the city.

Name

Famous Foliarze is a common polish slang name for a group of people interested in conspiracies. I wanted to take this further and make them an official organization, ready to take over the world. The logo is a merge of a tin foil hat and eye symbols.

Design

Game aesthetics are inspired by retro 80s and 90s console games. All illustrations are made in 8-bit pixel art style which resemble popular old gaming console Pegasus. To get more into mysterious 8-bit mood I have composed music theme in collaboration with Bartosz Zaskórski. The official soundtrack is available to listen here:

Puzzles

To win the game you have to solve a few puzzles. They require scanning a QR code which you can find in selected secret spots in Cracow. You can find them using tips from the game. The code gives you a missing part of the puzzle that you can now solve. 

Marketing

To keep the mysterious aura of the game I decided not to place it on application stores. Instead, to download the game you need to scan a vintage floppy disk with an NFC tag inside. You can also look for an NFC sticker around the city, and maybe if you’re lucky you will also join Bractwo Foliarzy.