Team 6: The Machine Stops

In a year of isolation and social distancing the short story “The Machine Stops” by E.M. Foster, has an eerie familiarity. The story follows a mother and son who live in a post-apocalyptic world. Humans now inhabit a vast series of underground pods, isolated from each only communicating through technology, and where every need and want is provided by the omnipresent Machine. However, humans have become too dependent on The Machine and now the thing that sustains them is shutting down.

Team 6 were tasked with the challenge of gamifying E.M. Forster’s 1906 short story into a functioning prototype. The challenge Team 6 had to overcome was staying true to the narrative of this century-old story, all the while creating an original, and unique game. This was accomplished through retelling the story through a parallel perspective by showing the main story through the eyes of The Machine. We have created a game that combines the rich narrative of the story with a challenging puzzle game. We achieved this by splitting gameplay between three distinct sections, the puzzle area where the player places component parts to solve the puzzles; the projection area which is connected to the puzzle area by a series of pipes; and three cutscenes which contextualise the game in line with the story. The player takes the role of The Machine and must solve a series of puzzles to serve the protagonists of the story.