The Oracle of Delphi game allows users to take the seat of the Pythia. As advice seekers approach from as near as the city of Delphi, and as far as modern day Egypt, the user will hear the seekers questions and choose how to answer. Each seeker has their own narrative, the path they take is determined by the insight received from the Oracle.
Playable deployment coming soon! For now, see this video of the game running locally.
Oracle of Delphi PlaythroughThis seeker approaches the Oracle of Delphi when deciding whether or not to abandon his dying crops. If the user chooses to encourage the farmer to leave, his story ends there. If he is encouraged to tend to his crops despite hard times, he is rewarded by finding a hidden basin and is able to nurse them back to health. If his crops are revived, he returns to ask about his failing wife. He asks if he should make the trip to a faraway village to find a healer, or stay and tend to his crops.
The King seeks to know if he should go to war. The Oracle famously replies that a great empire will fall. Unbeknownst to him, the great empire refers to his own. If the Oracle is more explicit in dissuading him, he will not go to war and return later to seek advice about a rebel uprising. The Oracle helps him determine whether or not to make an example of the rebel leaders.
The Merchant wishes to overcharge a blind man who does not know the value of his coins. If encouraged to steal from the man, the merchant will later return confessing that he is rich but remains unhappy. The Oracle decides whether to tell him it is a lesson, or if he is simply not rich enough.
Historically, it is said that a friend of Socrates asks the question: Who is wiser than Socrates? In the game, he asks the question himself. He asks later whether it is better to suffer injustice or to commit it. The Oracle may decide to answer in alignment with Socrates beliefs, or against them.
Plato asks about how to spread his wisdom, through conversation, or through the written word. He also asks about the greatest good that a mortal can achieve, and how justice can be defined.
For version control and organization, I used Github. The backend is typescript and the frontend is react. I used jest for unit testing. The readme includes instructions for running locally if that is of interest.
Github RepoMy main source for research was lecture and course material from PHIL 211 2024w1 with Dr. Michael Griffin. I consulted my notes taken in class, lecture slides, and the reading guides for Plato. I also watched some videos on the Oracle of Delphi for inspiration. I found it very interesting to review the course material with a question and answer format in mind. Given more time over the next couple of months, I will certainly be adding more content to fill out the game.
Interaction with the God, the God somehow communicates with the Pythia, encouraging certain answers over others.
Maintain a Piousness bar, the closer your insights align with the God Apollo, the better your piousness status. The goal of the game would then be to maximize piousness. For example, if you answer the philosophers questions with the answers that they would come to believe themselves, your piousness will increase.
The questions and seekers are represented as json files, so are very easy to update. New content can be added simply by swapping the resource file for something more robust.
Gentler transitions, more and improved art, smoother entrance to the game.
“Delphic Philosophy 3: From Palace to Polis.” Michael Griffin, last edited [Unknown]. Accessed 15 Dec. 2024. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b7_ILb60ooRsb1Jq3AkRP9PB7sTrzq2qFiwTi2XBUeA/edit.
Kaz Rowe. (2024, February 16). So What WAS the Deal with the Oracle of Delphi?. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuGRoHgVELk
Salt, Alun, and Efrosyni Boutsikas. “Knowing When to Consult the Oracle at Delphi.” Antiquity 79.305 (2005): 564–572. Web.