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LEO HEARTGAME RESULTS
Leonardo’s heartgame was developed as a hybrid old school point and click adventure game and a visual novel. This meant that each room was a different “scene", with a standard spread background across each run, text descriptions, and the option to explore an area or examine specific items before moving around to a different screen. There were two locked doors at the beginning, and I did not “reset the board" between the five runs. Things that happened in the previous runs carried on to the following runs, which included all but the final door being unlocked for the following scored runners. This allowed the game to follow “routes" as a visual novel with multiple endings, thus ensuring all players’ runs are canon and deal with the whole “timey wimey" aspect of multiple characters doing the same things at the same time.
There were key items in each area that could be used to unlock the two doors and proceed, as well as other ways to solve these puzzles if characters/players wanted to think outside the box a bit. The goal of the game was to find the key items to unlock the doors and get to the final Door 4 screen to reach Leo where players would have the option to fight him or talk to him.
The game was planned out in such a way that players had to play it similarly to how Leo works: Leo is a very surface level typical teenager - goofy, shallow, egotistical. But the deeper you’re willing to dig, the more you see how he works and how things happen. The first two screens were very much your typical point and click game. It wasn’t until Doors 3 and 4 that the gameplay changed a bit, offering characters help in return depending on choices they made. Leo is a secretive turtle, and keeps his truer feelings close to his chest; while the surface feelings are very much real and easy-going, he’s got a lot going on the deeper you get with him, and I wanted the game to reflect that with how far his CR was willing to go to help him.
Leo’s corrupted personality trait was: greed. Leo is a pretty selfish kid to begin with, but he usually has it in check since he’s used to sharing things with three brothers in a limited-source life in the sewers (and then abandoned subway). His greed was subtly beginning to take control after the fire Jesper and Nnk set, resenting his brothers for (perceiving to) having much more than he ever could, especially when he was already convinced he will die if he goes home. This is part of his canon pull point as well as his knowledge in Rise TMNT that alternate timelines exist and can be as vast as one decision being made differently.
The “menu screen" was simply a starting hub with the door menu, and a look at each door and a clear indication of what the corruption was: Krang tentacles starting to overtake Leo’s heart. The Krang are one of Leo’s worst fears and nightmares, and the manifestation of them was the worst kind of corruption his heart could truly manifest.
The Lair (1, 2, 3)are his home. His relationships to others. A safe place to examine things in his life. His close family happy memories of course were the dvds on the projector. The action figures he has of everyone he’s met were in various stages of progress - the more completed/painted they were, the better Leo knew them, the more familiar he feels with them. If they were incomplete or vaguely sculpted or not painted, he doesn’t know them that well.
Key items in this room included: paints and brushes, pens/pencils/various art supplies that could be used, the dvds of his memories (9 total), the action figures of his family and CR (27 in all), and his phone that could be used to input the code for the final door. (Note: in later unscored runs, I cut the second screen altogether as it was only set dressing.)
The Run of the Mill / Wall of Champions and Cheaters screens are his transition to interacting with the world. He and his brothers grew up secluded and isolated in the sewers with very very little interaction with the outside world until they met April, and then their growth throughout the series. The food and drinks were there as offerings of safety and help to those around him; Leo’s a helpful guy under the ego and teenager attitude. He likes helping those around him. The different frames on the Champions and Cheater walls were his memories specifically with those both in and outside his world in the sewers. This was his larger extended family (Draxum who created them, Casey Jones, the spirits of the Hamato clan, as well as his Snek CR). This was divided into what he considered his “personal wins" on the Champion wall, and his “personal losses" on the Cheater wall. The original Champion wall in Run of the Mill was the first time Leo ever really wanted to be acknowledged by his brothers when it was clear he wasn’t actually mastering his mystic powers as fast as they were, and it holds a lot of importance to him. Leo is fiercely competitive, and he views winning as a way to be noticed and acknowledged. Meanwhile the Cheater wall were his personal losses. Moments he failed his family or failed his team and suffered a great loss.
Key items in this room included: the portraits of his memories that would play when a character touched them and let them feel what Leo felt in that moment (never had a specific number but I had specific ones picked out), the jewel-encrusted pizza slicer (in the manager’s office, used to cut the tape on the arena door), pizza and drinks (there to help anyone there to feel refreshed and full for the trials ahead).
The Arena screens (1, 2) are about his conflicts and forced growth into being a leader his father forced upon him. The Battle Nexus was the first time his father actually trusted him to make a plan and follow through, and see it work to help seal away Shredder. While there was no fight in this room, there was still plenty to pick up. Leo’s also just a ham and wants all the spotlight on him at all times. And what better place than an arena where he can show off?
Key items in this room included: all the signs that would have had Leo’s voice hyping himself up. Giving himself confidence and in turn, filling whomever was holding the sign up with confidence and inner strength. The weapons littered around would have let characters picking them up hear a series of lines spoken to Leo by other characters tearing him down (both in canon and in Snek), cutting his self-confidence to pieces. There was a wooden door with heavy thick chains that contained the code to open the final Door 4.
The Prison Dimension thematically was the final place Leo remembers before waking up in Serpentine Horizon. It is a place of meditation and reflection. Leo was not in the Prison Dimension very long in his timeline, but it was the toughest choice he ever made in his sixteen years of life to seal himself away with Krang Prime to save the universe. The last thing he remembers was being beaten to death alone there. He thinks about that place when he wants to reflect on his decisions and what he could do differently.
The key items in this room included: debris floating around (this would have had an alternate way to hear the negative lines spoken to Leo from the Arena in case characters did not touch those), Krang skeletons/skulls that played Leo’s more horrific, painful solo memories and an empathy link to his feelings in those moments, and a hatch to the final area buried under krang goop.
The Technodrome (1, 2) screens were the final two screens. The viewing bay of the Technodrome overlooked a vision of Manhattan mixed with Serpentine Horizon, his two “homes", engulfed in destruction and flames. With the Krang as the manifestation of his corruption, the Krang’s Technodrome was the final place his heart rested, wrapped up in fear of the Krang and all it threatened to take from him (his home, his family, his life, his world), and his corrupted greed of wanting to have all of it. The Krang were powerful and terrifying, and Leo is truly afraid of them and how he knew his family could not actually defeat or overpower them. The first screen had no option but to leave or turn around - Leo in his current state felt he could not do anything to change his fate or what happened to him before arriving to Serpentine Horizon, so there were no other choices to make. This fear allowed his corrupted personality to manifest as Krang Prime whom he was locked away with and the corruption take him over. This resulted in Leo’s form in his heart to be a possessed version of himself taking the Krang Prime’s throne.
There were no key items in this room. Players had the choice to go back to a previous screen, fight him, or talk to him. Fighting or Talking would have led players to a path to remove the corruption either way.
The straight forward progression would have been: Lair > get phone > Run of the Mill > get pizza cutter > use pizza cutter to open Arena > Arena > use weapon to cut chains on vault > get code from vault > use code with phone to unlock door 4.
Players found ALL SORTS OF WAYS around this, some guessing at the code successfully (Don and Cat), while only one found the code (Gojo). Cat was able to use the broken glass Don left to cut the tape on the Arena door, while Nnk used the pizza cutter to open it. Gojo used Leo's sword to cut the chains on the Arena vault to get the code.
Along the way, if players chose to try and remove any of the Krang goop, they received a series of three prompts:
Leo desperately wants those around him to trust him, trust that he can do what needs to be done and trust that he knows what he’s doing. The more trust a character was willing to have in him, the more likely the katana attacks would achieve the player character’s goal.
Players in the Prison Dimension were given the option to ⏵ REFLECT. Choosing this gave the player a short snippet of Leo’s thoughts while he was in the Prison Dimension, and his reasoning to himself of why it would be all right that he chose what he did. (Players received the same reflection text with only a small variation depending on the character choices to that point.) Every player that chose this option had the same reaction of “stop that you coward".
Player Choices:
Players made a lot of choices that will have long term impacts!
Of the scored runs:
Of the unscored runs:
Leo is going to come out of this a probably? Somewhat healthier turtle with still the same baggage but different points of view to look at them through. Throughout all the runs, everyone was able to unlock all the rooms and obtain almost everything there was to get! Mostly just memory clips and cutting remarks that didn’t get picked up. EVERYONE DID SO WELL AND I loved putting this together and running it for everyone! I’m happy to answer any questions anyone has.
There were key items in each area that could be used to unlock the two doors and proceed, as well as other ways to solve these puzzles if characters/players wanted to think outside the box a bit. The goal of the game was to find the key items to unlock the doors and get to the final Door 4 screen to reach Leo where players would have the option to fight him or talk to him.
The game was planned out in such a way that players had to play it similarly to how Leo works: Leo is a very surface level typical teenager - goofy, shallow, egotistical. But the deeper you’re willing to dig, the more you see how he works and how things happen. The first two screens were very much your typical point and click game. It wasn’t until Doors 3 and 4 that the gameplay changed a bit, offering characters help in return depending on choices they made. Leo is a secretive turtle, and keeps his truer feelings close to his chest; while the surface feelings are very much real and easy-going, he’s got a lot going on the deeper you get with him, and I wanted the game to reflect that with how far his CR was willing to go to help him.
Leo’s corrupted personality trait was: greed. Leo is a pretty selfish kid to begin with, but he usually has it in check since he’s used to sharing things with three brothers in a limited-source life in the sewers (and then abandoned subway). His greed was subtly beginning to take control after the fire Jesper and Nnk set, resenting his brothers for (perceiving to) having much more than he ever could, especially when he was already convinced he will die if he goes home. This is part of his canon pull point as well as his knowledge in Rise TMNT that alternate timelines exist and can be as vast as one decision being made differently.
The “menu screen" was simply a starting hub with the door menu, and a look at each door and a clear indication of what the corruption was: Krang tentacles starting to overtake Leo’s heart. The Krang are one of Leo’s worst fears and nightmares, and the manifestation of them was the worst kind of corruption his heart could truly manifest.
The Lair (1, 2, 3)are his home. His relationships to others. A safe place to examine things in his life. His close family happy memories of course were the dvds on the projector. The action figures he has of everyone he’s met were in various stages of progress - the more completed/painted they were, the better Leo knew them, the more familiar he feels with them. If they were incomplete or vaguely sculpted or not painted, he doesn’t know them that well.
Key items in this room included: paints and brushes, pens/pencils/various art supplies that could be used, the dvds of his memories (9 total), the action figures of his family and CR (27 in all), and his phone that could be used to input the code for the final door. (Note: in later unscored runs, I cut the second screen altogether as it was only set dressing.)
The Run of the Mill / Wall of Champions and Cheaters screens are his transition to interacting with the world. He and his brothers grew up secluded and isolated in the sewers with very very little interaction with the outside world until they met April, and then their growth throughout the series. The food and drinks were there as offerings of safety and help to those around him; Leo’s a helpful guy under the ego and teenager attitude. He likes helping those around him. The different frames on the Champions and Cheater walls were his memories specifically with those both in and outside his world in the sewers. This was his larger extended family (Draxum who created them, Casey Jones, the spirits of the Hamato clan, as well as his Snek CR). This was divided into what he considered his “personal wins" on the Champion wall, and his “personal losses" on the Cheater wall. The original Champion wall in Run of the Mill was the first time Leo ever really wanted to be acknowledged by his brothers when it was clear he wasn’t actually mastering his mystic powers as fast as they were, and it holds a lot of importance to him. Leo is fiercely competitive, and he views winning as a way to be noticed and acknowledged. Meanwhile the Cheater wall were his personal losses. Moments he failed his family or failed his team and suffered a great loss.
Key items in this room included: the portraits of his memories that would play when a character touched them and let them feel what Leo felt in that moment (never had a specific number but I had specific ones picked out), the jewel-encrusted pizza slicer (in the manager’s office, used to cut the tape on the arena door), pizza and drinks (there to help anyone there to feel refreshed and full for the trials ahead).
The Arena screens (1, 2) are about his conflicts and forced growth into being a leader his father forced upon him. The Battle Nexus was the first time his father actually trusted him to make a plan and follow through, and see it work to help seal away Shredder. While there was no fight in this room, there was still plenty to pick up. Leo’s also just a ham and wants all the spotlight on him at all times. And what better place than an arena where he can show off?
Key items in this room included: all the signs that would have had Leo’s voice hyping himself up. Giving himself confidence and in turn, filling whomever was holding the sign up with confidence and inner strength. The weapons littered around would have let characters picking them up hear a series of lines spoken to Leo by other characters tearing him down (both in canon and in Snek), cutting his self-confidence to pieces. There was a wooden door with heavy thick chains that contained the code to open the final Door 4.
The Prison Dimension thematically was the final place Leo remembers before waking up in Serpentine Horizon. It is a place of meditation and reflection. Leo was not in the Prison Dimension very long in his timeline, but it was the toughest choice he ever made in his sixteen years of life to seal himself away with Krang Prime to save the universe. The last thing he remembers was being beaten to death alone there. He thinks about that place when he wants to reflect on his decisions and what he could do differently.
The key items in this room included: debris floating around (this would have had an alternate way to hear the negative lines spoken to Leo from the Arena in case characters did not touch those), Krang skeletons/skulls that played Leo’s more horrific, painful solo memories and an empathy link to his feelings in those moments, and a hatch to the final area buried under krang goop.
The Technodrome (1, 2) screens were the final two screens. The viewing bay of the Technodrome overlooked a vision of Manhattan mixed with Serpentine Horizon, his two “homes", engulfed in destruction and flames. With the Krang as the manifestation of his corruption, the Krang’s Technodrome was the final place his heart rested, wrapped up in fear of the Krang and all it threatened to take from him (his home, his family, his life, his world), and his corrupted greed of wanting to have all of it. The Krang were powerful and terrifying, and Leo is truly afraid of them and how he knew his family could not actually defeat or overpower them. The first screen had no option but to leave or turn around - Leo in his current state felt he could not do anything to change his fate or what happened to him before arriving to Serpentine Horizon, so there were no other choices to make. This fear allowed his corrupted personality to manifest as Krang Prime whom he was locked away with and the corruption take him over. This resulted in Leo’s form in his heart to be a possessed version of himself taking the Krang Prime’s throne.
There were no key items in this room. Players had the choice to go back to a previous screen, fight him, or talk to him. Fighting or Talking would have led players to a path to remove the corruption either way.
If players chose to FIGHT Krangleo, the mechanic was set to be player’s 1d20 roll against Krangleo’s 2d20 roll. The purpose being that they are fighting against Leo and the Manifestation of Krang Prime. If players chose to try and remove any of the Krang goop throughout their session, Krangleo would be rolling at a disadvantage. However, due to one player’s choice (see: Cat), Krangleo was going to be rolling at a disadvantage no matter what. (So everyone thank Cat.)
The straight forward progression would have been: Lair > get phone > Run of the Mill > get pizza cutter > use pizza cutter to open Arena > Arena > use weapon to cut chains on vault > get code from vault > use code with phone to unlock door 4.
Players found ALL SORTS OF WAYS around this, some guessing at the code successfully (Don and Cat), while only one found the code (Gojo). Cat was able to use the broken glass Don left to cut the tape on the Arena door, while Nnk used the pizza cutter to open it. Gojo used Leo's sword to cut the chains on the Arena vault to get the code.
Along the way, if players chose to try and remove any of the Krang goop, they received a series of three prompts:
⏵ DO YOU TRUST LEONARDO? If players chose yes, they received access to wield his katana. Choosing no would have closed all option to use it.
⏵ DO YOU WANT TO HELP LEONARDO? If players chose yes, they would be given the options to SLASH, STAB, BLOCK, or SPECIAL. Players who chose no would have to wield the weapon themselves as a basic katana. If they chose “yes", SLASH or STAB in this stage would have the sword attacking with a will of its own to assist the player, as well as include the use of his small electric ninpo charges.
⏵HOW MUCH DO YOU TRUST LEONARDO? Players would only receive this prompt if they chose “yes" to the previous question to help him.This allowed them the use of the SPECIAL attack. Players received a button and a pressure gauge. The length of time they held the button down determined what kind of SPECIAL attack would be used. This included use of his portals, multiple swords, and powerful electrical charges. The more players chose to trust Leonardo also determined how strong or precise the attack would be, as well as keeping the player safe and out of range of receiving friendly fire from the SPECIAL attack.
Leo desperately wants those around him to trust him, trust that he can do what needs to be done and trust that he knows what he’s doing. The more trust a character was willing to have in him, the more likely the katana attacks would achieve the player character’s goal.
Players in the Prison Dimension were given the option to ⏵ REFLECT. Choosing this gave the player a short snippet of Leo’s thoughts while he was in the Prison Dimension, and his reasoning to himself of why it would be all right that he chose what he did. (Players received the same reflection text with only a small variation depending on the character choices to that point.) Every player that chose this option had the same reaction of “stop that you coward".
Player Choices:
Players made a lot of choices that will have long term impacts!
Of the scored runs:
Emet-Selch - got to the final screen immediately via Ascian cheat codes and choose to Talk to Leo. He presented the idea of Leo creating something personal for himself that he does not have to share, and possibly a new life without the ties of potentially dying in the Prison Dimension. The result of this: Leo will be looking for more positive outcomes of his fate rather than giving in to the reality that he may die if he goes back home, as well as creating small things for himself instead of only creating/making things for his brothers.
Donatello - ripped apart Leo’s memory of drowning in the Blood-Bath game with Snail, and made it to the final screen. The result of this would have been that his memory of that event would be painful, and not in one piece. He would not be able to remember it clearly. (*see: Gojo changes below)
Catherine Foundling - set the 3 action figures of the three Krang on fire. The result of this would be Leo having sharp, painful headaches and full body fever any time he thinks about the Krang.
Nanako - chose to TRUST Leo, and cleared away a lot of Krang goop. The result of this will be that Leo trusts Nanako a lot himself and be more protective of him. Nanako also tried to destroy the CHEATER WALL by slashing at it with his sword. This will result in Leo having a lot more actual self confidence.
Eve - chose to TRUST Leo, and cleared away some Krang goop. The result of this will be that Leo trusts Eve a lot more than he already did, and be more protective of her.
Of the unscored runs:
Mochi - painted all of the SNAIL action figures. The result of this will be Leo approaching his Snail teammates with a lot more familiarity than he really should, feeling like he knows them VERY well when he doesn’t really. Hope Snail is ready to be even more annoyed by him being all over them.
Korone - chose to TRUST Leo and cleared away some Krang goop. The result of this will be that Leo trusts Korone a lot more than he already did, and be more protective of her. Korone also scraped the on-fire-Krang-figures to the floor and isolated them in makeshift crime scene paper. This will result in Leo having actual trouble thinking about the Krang without a lot of mental stress and upset.
Gojo - WHAT DID GOJO NOT DO. He did so much. He did everything.1. He repaired the memory photo that Donnie ripped up with tape. This will result in his memory being only a little messed up and only a little painful to think about.
2. Changed the “CHAMPION WALL" to “a healthier approach of outcomes to strive for". The result of this will be Leo’s competitive nature tempered quite a bit, approaching competition less like something he has to win, and more just something to have fun with.
3. Changed the “CHEATER WALL" to “REALLY UNFORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT FUEL THE STRENGTH TO TRY YOUR BEST". The result of this change will be Leo not feeling so devastated by the losses he mentally kept there.
4. Wrote some descriptions and advice of how to approach some of the losses under the CHEATER WALL photos. This will result in Leo looking at those specific memories in a.. Probably healthier way.
Hunter - mostly hung out in the Lair screens, but made a small scarf to tie the Leo and Hunter action figures together. The result of this will be Leo wanting to stay closer to Hunter and protect him, looking for plans to stay together even if one or both of them should ever leave Serpentine Horizon and find a way home.
Leo is going to come out of this a probably? Somewhat healthier turtle with still the same baggage but different points of view to look at them through. Throughout all the runs, everyone was able to unlock all the rooms and obtain almost everything there was to get! Mostly just memory clips and cutting remarks that didn’t get picked up. EVERYONE DID SO WELL AND I loved putting this together and running it for everyone! I’m happy to answer any questions anyone has.