Shaman Games
All my games are influenced by shamanism which fascinates me.
I see direct connections between shamans and artists, which both have the self commited mission to dive into the deep hidden realms within us and bring something back into the material world in form of a paintings, psychological insides, music, movies or video games.
A tool to reach the very depths of our own minds and its hidden chambers is the usage of psychodelics.
To show where this post is heading to lets quickly look at the word Psychedelic.
The term „psychedelic“ is derived from the Ancient Greek words psuchē (ψυχή – psyche, „mind“) and dēlōsē (δήλωση – „manifest“), translating to „mind-manifesting“.
In some way you could say anything that the human mind has produced is psychedelic, it was taken out of the imaginary spaces and with the rational problem solving mind as tool we manifested the dream object into this dimension.
I do not judge if the external manipulation through substances is good or bad here and instead write down some good sources for inspiration if you are interested in what some of this psychonauts brought back to us.
Terrence McKenna
I’m heavily listening to Terrence McKenna on YouTube, which was a psychonaut or modern shaman. Which means he researched altered states through the consummation of psychedelics, such as Psilocybin through Magic Mushrooms and DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) through oral ingestion in form of Ayahuasca(8 hours duration), or stronger in effect and short in duration (max. 15 minutes) by smoking it.
He talked heavily about the human conditioning and evolution and had his own theory to the humans rise of intelligence due the consume of magic mushrooms, within times where we as a species had to adapt to new environmental conditions.
A very great mind, a source of inspiration and research for my next title. You can find plenty of his videos.
But this one has some nice lines of him in one shot.
Jason Silva
A young futurist, with a great energy which brings the word psychedelic into context to technology.
He has a small sum of powerful videos in his youtube channel „Shots of Awe“. Also got his own show now on National Geographics called Brain Games.
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First In-Game Results coming out of my Research
So here are some direct results out of their influence. I will add some of the psychedelics into my game as consumables and spells.
Setting of the Game
My Main Character will be a shaman as in the previous game but this time in form of a cute cat to bring some contrast into it.
Super Mario Mushroom
The In-game currency to buy new clothes which will make you stronger, is the Amanita Muscaria.
Which was used by berserkers before they went to war to boost them self and bring them into a reckless state.
The Shaman Cat also wears a small bundle of these mushrooms, the idea behind is that she eats them as source of her magical power. You may realize that this was also the one mushroom used in Super Mario which made you bigger. One of the listed experiences tripping on this mushroom type is that your osberved proportions change, everything around you becomes smaller. Due its beautiful appearance it was also the one mind-altering Mushroom that got the most attention in fairy tale stories. How ever, this mushroom counts more as an deliriant than a psychedelic and has high potential to intoxicate you, and is not recommendable for real life usage.
For a unexplainable reason digital cartoon cats will not take any harm from them.
Upcoming Magic Spell
The Jungle brew Ayahuasca, which contains DMT and sends you through a near death experience where you might face your inner demons, to come back as lighter personality.
This is the number one psychedelic associated with shamanism in the rainforest and will be added as next Spell into the game, the spell will create a pot in front of the cat and deliver magical energy over a time period.
Thats it for now!
David Zobrist 
