Hi everyone! Welcome to a new devlog!

I know, I’ve released the demo of The Priestess, the Shepherd and the doom of Patras very recently, and a new game is already here, but hey! What can I say? I love O2A2!

So, if you guys remember, last year, I released The Daughters of the Sun for this jam, a short game narrating Phaedra’s suicide, and inspired by Jean Racine’s play of the same name. I then wrote a sequel named Son of the Woods and, finally, the prequel to the three games, The Thread and the Sword.

So, this whole trilogy is a testament to something very capital: I love making these games. That’s silly, but I’m a HUGE fan of Jean Racine. I love his writing so much, and his work has been an immense inspiration of mine, even in games apparently unrelated to mythology.

So, last year, I decided to treat myself and make a game inspired by my favourite play of his and, admittedly, my favourite work of art of all times: Phaedra, a play narrating the guilt of a woman in love with her stepson, and how this love, although not reciprocated in any manner, leads the two of them to death.

But Racine actually wrote twelve plays, and eleven tragedies, and you can guess that Phaedra isn’t the only one worth reading. And while I think it is the most popular, the one that is the most played by the Comédie Française (the most famous troop of comedians in France) is my second favourite play from Racine… Andromache! (Ok I’m actually shaking because The Daughters of the Sun is one of my best received games so I’m worried for the comparison but please let Andromache fly with her own wings, forget about Phaedra but still go read Racine’s play thanks xoxo)

But what is Andromache about?

Phaedra’s plot is rather simple, because the conflict is about the two main characters: Phaedra and her stepson, Hippolytus. Andromache’s plot focuses on four main characters: Andromache, the protagonist of The Ghosts of Troy, Pyrrhus, who is mentioned in the game, Hermione and Orestes. Now, the plot can be summarised that way:

Orestes is in love with Hermione, who is in love with Pyrrhus, who is in love with Andromache, who is in love with Hector, who’s dead.

Now, for a plot that actually makes sense: Pyrrhus holds Andromache, Hector’s widow, captive in Epirus. However, and despite being engaged with Hermione, he is in love with Andromache and has protected her son, whom the Greeks ask, afraid that he will try to avenge the Trojans when he is older. However, Andromache, wanting to be faithful to Hector, refuses the advances of his murderer’s son.

Hermione, to whom Pyrrhus is promised, doesn’t really appreciate that; and she knows Pyrrhus is the only one to blame, as Andromache isn’t interested in him in the slightest.

Orestes, with his friend and cousin Pylades, went to Epirus to try to seduce Hermione (who is also technically his cousin), with whom he is in love.

Pyrrhus has to marry Hermione and will do so if Andromache carries on refusing to marry him. Frustrated, the King gives her an ultimatum, which is the topic of this game: if Andromache refuses to marry him, then he will stop protecting her son and throw him to the Greeks who are asking for him. Andromache is desperate, torn between her love for Hector and her love for her son. Ultimately, she decides to trick Pyrrhus: she will marry him, forcing him to honour his word about protecting her child, and then kill herself, to withdraw herself from this marriage she never wanted and which would make her unfaithful.

Pyrrhus, delighted by it, starts organising the ceremony, to marry Andromache later in the day. Hermione, enraged, asks Orestes to murder Pyrrhus, to get revenge. Orestes doesn’t want to at first, but this is Hermione’s reaction (in Kline’s translation):

These endless reasons mock my anger.
The means to please me is what I offer,
And content Orestes; though now I see
He’ll moan, yet not seek to be worthy.
Go: boast of your constancy elsewhere,
And leave the means of my vengeance in my care.

(And of course, it would be criminal not to include the French verses in this devlog, because Racine’s writing is too beautiful, and the French verses have a bite absent from the English version:

Tant de raisonnements offensent ma colère.
J'ai voulu vous donner les moyens de me plaire,
Rendre Oreste content ; mais enfin je vois bien
Qu'il veut toujours se plaindre et ne mériter rien.
Partez : allez ailleurs vanter votre constance,
Et me laissez ici le soin de ma vengeance.)

And she finishes with:

Ungrateful as he is the sweeter view
Is die with him, than live on with you.

(Et, tout ingrat qu'il est, il me sera plus doux
De mourir avec lui que de vivre avec vous.)

Orestes therefore gets gaslighted into murdering Pyrrhus. However, Hermione quickly gets torn: is she really the one ordering the death of the man she loves? Orestes comes back: all the Greeks massacred Pyrrhus during his wedding. However, Andromache, faithful as she is, is guiding the people of Epirus to avenge Pyrrhus’ death, and honours him as his widow. Hermione is horrified and decides to gaslight Orestes further, blaming him for Pyrrhus’ death:

HERMIONE.
[...] Why did you kill? On what grounds? What for?
Who told you to?

ORESTES.
You Gods! What, did not you though,
Yourself, here beg his death an hour ago?

HERMIONE.
Must one then credit every crazed lover?
Could you my deeper thought not discover?
Could you not see by my inner torment,
My heart spurred my speech in every moment?

(HERMIONE.
[...] Mais parle. De son sort qui t'a rendu l'arbitre ?
Pourquoi l'assassiner ? Qu'a-t-il fait ? À quel titre ?
Qui te l'a dit ?

ORESTE.
          Ô Dieux ! Quoi ? ne m'avez-vous pas
Vous-même, ici, tantôt, ordonné son trépas ?

HERMIONE.
Ah ! Fallait-il en croire une amante insensée ?
Ne devais-tu pas lire au fond de ma pensée ?
Et ne voyais-tu pas dans mes emportements
Que mon cœur démentait ma bouche à tous moments ?)

She then leaves the room and Orestes dumbfounded all at once (yes, this sentence has a semantic zeugma, and that’s why this sentence is hard to understand).

After a few moments, Pylades arrives, urging Orestes to leave and telling him that Hermione killed herself above Pyrrhus’ corpse. Orestes, realising he murdered a king he revered for a woman who would never love him, had he been the last man on earth, goes crazy, even hallucinating:

ORESTES.
[...] Ah! Daughters of Hell, are you prepared?
Who are those snakes for, hissing in your hair?
Who is this destined for, infernal sight?
Do you come to take me to eternal night?
So, Orestes yields to you, the Furies.
Yet, turn back, leave me to Hermione:
She, more than you, knows how to rend me;
My heart she shall devour, I’ll not defend me.

(ORESTE.
[...] Hé bien ! Filles d'enfer, vos mains sont-elles prêtes ?
Pour qui sont ces serpents qui sifflent sur vos têtes ?
A qui destinez-vous l'appareil qui vous suit ?
Venez-vous m'enlever dans l'éternelle nuit ?
Venez, à vos fureurs Oreste s'abandonne.
Mais non, retirez-vous, laissez faire Hermione :
L'ingrate mieux que vous saura me déchirer ;
Et je lui porte enfin mon cœur à dévorer.)

So, those who know mythology can tell Racine took two huge liberties with the best-known versions of the events. Odysseus is the one murdering Astyanax (Andromache’s son) when he is a baby; and Orestes gets haunted by the Eumenides (the Furies mentioned in the English translation) after murdering his own mother, Clytemnestra. However, I really appreciate Racine’s alterations: Astyanax being alive gives the whole plot dramatic weight, and well, the Orestes’ tirade in which he goes crazy is one of the best things he’s written (among many things, but honestly, excluding Phaedra, because I’m biassed, it must be my third favourite piece of writing from Racine).

As a matter of fact, Andromache is quite an important work in French literature. During the first half of the 17th century, tragedy was dominated by two writers: Corneille and Quinault. Corneille is still very famous nowadays, and his tragedies are very heroic and optimistic (a verse I really like from him, which reflects that is: “Ses rides sur son front ont gravé ses exploits”, literally meaning “His wrinkles carved his exploits in his forehead”, and I know it sounds funny in English, but trust me, it sounds great in French); Quinault mostly wrote lyrical tragedies focusing on love.

And then comes Racine, who instead makes psychological tragedies, making the characters acting because of their fears and feelings, and passion eventually leading the whole action. The first play to do it is Andromache: Pyrrhus’ love for Andromache makes him violent; Hermione’s love for Pyrrhus makes her jealous and plot his death; Andromache’s traumatism prevents her from moving from Hector etc.

That is why I had a lot of reasons to choose Andromache as a second play of Racine to adapt after Phaedra. Not only is it my second favourite from him, it is also the first deeply psychological tragedy (Phaedra being the most perfect in the genre). And last reason, more shallow: 10 years separate the two plays (Phaedra was first played in 1677; Andromache in 1667), so separating The Daughters of the Sun and The Ghosts of Troy from a year was funny!

Adapting Andromache

This game was a challenge to adapt because it was released and developed after The Daughters of the Sun trilogy. However, I’ve had it in mind for months.

I knew on the spot that I wanted to adapt into a game Act III, Scene 8 and Act IV, Scene 1. (III,8) is my favourite piece of writing from Racine (if you don’t count Phaedra) and (IV,1) is the conclusion of it. Moreover, in the play, these are the last instants Andromache appears on stage: after (IV,1), she leaves the stage and is never seen again, the plot then focusing on Hermione’s jealousy and plans (since Andromache has solved her problem by making up her mind).

I also wanted this game to give a similar vibe to The Daughters of the Sun – and yet, still to feel like its own thing. I wanted the narrative experiences to be similar: but I didn’t want The Ghosts of Troy to feel like a rip-off, or like me recycling the formula.

My direction last year, for The Daughters of the Sun, was unity: the three daughters in question, Pasiphaë, Ariadne and Phaedra, are the victims of the same curse, and all find tragic destinies in love. That’s why the three of them shared a sprite, with only colour matrices distinguishing them from each other (it was also a way to have the three characters while respecting the one sprite rule for O2A2):

The background was identical for the three of them. Pasiphaë and Ariadne had a desaturated version of it, whereas Phaedra’s gradually lost its colour as the story moved forward, joining them into eternal darkness when she died from the poison she took.

The Daughters of the Sun, by itself (so, without considering the whole trilogy which ended up being about rape), just shows a woman led to suicide by her actions and torments, victim despite her of the crimes of her ancestors. And not only a victim: one more victim. There is no star or celestial body to shine for these women.

Andromache is in a different situation: she is the celestial body, the star that has to shine for Astyanax. She is the one who has the possibility to save her child, but she is horrified with the cost. Phaedra, in The Daughters of the Sun, lost the conflict with Aphrodite and the Sun: Andromache is in conflict with herself.

So, The Daughters of the Sun was about uniting three characters into the same titular label: The Ghosts of Troy instead divide Andromache. Phaedra had succumbed to her despair after confessing to Hippolytus the unutterable; Andromache is torn between two ideals.

That was how I understood what I wanted this game to be about, in a few words. The Daughters of the Sun was about Phaedra’s suicide out the guilt; The Ghosts of Troy is about Andromache having to choose between her son and her husband.

There is indeed a huge difference between Phaedra and Andromache: Phaedra is guilty of loving her stepson; and yet, she is the first victim of her uncontrollable feelings. Andromache is not guilty in any manner: instead, she is traumatised, and forced to become guilty one way or another. And while the choice is obvious to us (I do hope most of us wouldn’t sacrifice the child and refuse the marriage), Andromache is torn because she is haunted by contradictory ghosts. The ghosts of all the people she saw die before her very eyes during the massacres of Troy.

In a few words: when The Daughters of the Sun was about unity, The Ghosts of Troy is about fragmentation. No matter what she tries, saving Troy ends up betraying it. If she marries Pyrrhus to save Troy in her son, she betrays her husband and lives amongst his murderers. If she chooses not to marry Pyrrhus to honour her faithfulness to Hector and save the dignity of Troy, Astyanax dies, and Troy with him. So she is divided.

This was represented in game by portraying “three places” (not really per jam rules, as only one BG was allowed and was FORCED to use solid colours generated with code). The place of her sorrow and her pain when thinking of Hector (black background), a place for her guilt (red background) and the actual situation she’s in (the illustrated background.)

And I used the particle rule to make the red background feel less blocky, and slightly smoky!

So, this fragmentation in the BGs is a way to show Andromache’s inner turmoil. But also a way to creatively use the restrictions of the jam! Admittedly, I think TDOTS was more “original” in its use of colour matrices, but this is what fitted Andromache as a character, and I’m happy with it!

Regarding the voice acting, I apparently decided O2A2 was a great occasion to torture voice actors. Last year, Justine offered a phenomenal performance, voicing Phaedra, Ariadne AND Pasiphaë all at once. This year, the VA was expected to be able to voice Andromache and her son, Astyanax.

And I have to salute the auditions I received: never has the overall quality ever been THIS high. Astyanax was the main difficulty and what helped me make up my mind between the top applications, but I sincerely don’t think there was a single bad audition for Andromache.

I was very happy to work with Vanessa, whose performance is extraordinary: she gives Andromache so much dignity and yet vulnerability and paints a gaslighting Astyanax so wonderfully. This really wasn’t an easy part, and I hope you guys appreciate her work as much as I do!

But yes, one VA, just like the jam expects from us: and, the choice of a single VA has relevance to the story. For The Daughters of the Sun, Justine voiced all the titular daughters to unify them (as I explained unity was the direction). For The Ghosts of Troy, it was also the idea: Astyanax isn’t the one talking to Andromache, instead, Andromache is projecting her fears onto her son, and it is her guilt speaking. So having both characters voiced by the same actress made sense!

Adding Astyanax was an idea I actually had quite late during the months I was brainstorming this game, but I think it was a good one. It didn’t really make sense for Andromache to orally gaslight herself, or really act out of control: while this fitted Phaedra, especially in The Thread and the Sword, Andromache isn’t out of her mind at all, she is “just” traumatised. And I was adapting scenes in which Andromache has an interlocutor (Cephisa): so it was a good way to portray her guilt, illustrate the “ghosts” idea, and yet have her make more sense.

Finally, I think Andromache is a much more sympathetic character than Phaedra: while Phaedra has more psychological complexity and depth, Andromache’s resolve is a more powerful one. Instead of ruining everything about her and then fleeing into death (let’s all remember that, in the actual play, Phaedra lets her wetnurse frame Hippolytus for rape attempt), Andromache instead makes the most selfless decision she could have and manages to overcome the dilemma and her tragedy. That’s why the game design decision is counterintuitive: normally, if the point of your game is a dilemma, then you should conclude it with a final choice offering the player picking an option (like I did in Kissing Snow-White). But here, it felt against the very nature of Andromache’s resolution, and I thought it would diminish her as a character, since her solution to the dilemma not only frees her from the tragedy, but also is the most selfless one she could have thought of.

This is something quite important to Andromache’s character actually: the other characters in the play, Orestes, Hermione and Pyrrhus are rather morally-low. Orestes only cares about Hermione; Hermione is vile enough to gaslight Orestes using his love for her; and Pyrrhus is violent enough to use the power he has over Andromache to force her into a marriage against her consent. The titular character of the play, however, is much higher: that’s why she’s not really part of the tragedy and manages to solve it (unlike Phaedra).

And phew, that’s been a very long devlog! But I had a lot to share because I’m very happy with this game, and I hope you guys are too! Thanks for your support, and see you in the future!