The World Machine

Self-Reflexive Worldbuilding in "OneShot"

Abstract Worldbuilding in video games is typically associated with the creation of immersive virtual environments. In the independent puzzle adventure OneShot (Little Cat Feet 2016), however, worldbuilding becomes the game’s central theme in a highly self-referential manner. OneShot presents a multilayered universe in which not only characters and players but the game’s very code seem to move freely between ontological levels. Drawing attention to the aesthetics and mechanics of worldbuilding and deconstructing the architecture of its own game world, OneShot invites reflection on the relation between fiction and computation; the virtual and the actual.

Keywords Worldbuilding, video games, self-reflexivity, metalepsis, immersion