Bacants

1 Concept

The game will revolve around the theme of "gender deconstruction", which is why it will be based on the story of the Bacchae, a tragedy written by Euripides (409 b.C.). The name of the game is Bacchae in catalan, which is Bacants.

Dionysius is referred to in the tragedy as an androgynous deity, as a primordial total god containing opposing powers in itself. In this project, however, we reject this binary interpretation of the androgynous character, so the Bacants will serve as an imaginative vehicle for building an alternative world, reinterpreting the story and at the same time adding contemporary elements to make a narrative of its own, in the belief that gender is a social construction. To explore and interact with this possible world, the game will be structured from puzzles that the player will solve to discover the narrative plot (you will find the detailed explanation in the mechanics section).

2 The Original Myth

"The Bacchae" is a Greek tragedy of Eurypides (s.V a. of n. e.). The title refers to women who worship the god of wine and the dysbauxa, Dionysius or "Bacchus" hence the names "bacchae" and "bacchanal". The central subject of the text is the divine punishment. Other themes such as the inevitability of fate and the expression of distress also appear. The work is a symbolic expression of the philosophical dichotomy of opposition between reason and order (represented by the god of light and truth, Apollo) and chaos and passion (incarnate by Dionysius, god of ecstasy and intoxication). Thus, this binomial becomes apparent throughout the work—in the confrontation between reason and feeling, the city and nature, the "civic semenity" and the "bacchic frenzie", etc.– and culminates through the clash between the two main antagonistic figures, personified in the mortal Pentheus and the god Dionysus.

3 Inspiration

Conceptual references: "The Bacchae" of Eurypides, Bonnie Reuberg and all his work on queer video games & Lil Nas X, with his video "Montero (Call me by your name)".

Graphic References:"Cube Escape" from Rusty Lake, japanese anime of the 1990s (Sailor Moon, Lady Oscar), queer digital culture and media and ancient Greek, Roman and Minoan art.

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