This analysis centers about a game called Kittens Game.

Calling Kittens Game a video game is a bit of a far stretch in that it is a text-based game, where the only visual feedback is textual instead of having visual images. Furthermore, even though it is text-based, there is not a single line of narrative in the game. All the texts are just statistical numbers, names and descriptions of events and upgrades, and other miscellaneous texts such as the game settings. However, the story it tells is extremely content-rich. I am not going to insert screenshots of the game in the middle of this analysis because screenshots would be the least interesting thing in this analysis before I explain the story. A screenshot or a short video of the gameplay does not tell anything about the rhetorics of the game, but the player can only feel the progression in story by unlocking game mechanics through weeks or even years of gameplay. Rather, I will include some flowcharts of the upgrades that the player can unlock throughout the game. In the end of the analysis, I will include a few screenshots and leave some remarks on them.

For its genre, Kittens Game is an incremental game. Like any incremental games, the main game mechanics is to do repetitive actions or buy automations to accumulate in-game resources. Incremental games can usually be categorized into clicker games and idle games, determined by whether repetitive actions or automation upgrades are more central to the gameplay. Kittens Game is neither. It is not a clicker game because repetitive clicking can produce meaningful amounts of resources only during the first ten minutes of gameplay, which is a very small portion of the full gameplay compared with the months a player has to spend before unlocking the late-game mechanics. It is not an idle game because resources max out so quickly that almost all resource incomes are obtained during active playing. Requiring the player’s active non-repetitive attendance makes the game extraordinarily engaging compared with other incremental games. This gameplay style makes the player experience the progression in the game very attentively.

However, the player does not immediately get to know what the game tries to tell the player through the attentive experience of the progressions in numbers. At first, the upgrades and buildings in the game just feel like any other game with resources and buildings: there are different kinds of buildings, such as Huts for population, Warehouses for storage, Lumbermills for production, and Academies for development; there are different kinds of jobs, such as Farmers, Miners, Hunters, and Scholars; there are different upgrades, whether scientific or political, with different consequences, such as Clear Cutting vs. Strip Mining vs. Environmentalism, Monarchy vs. Autocracy vs. Republic, etc. The game even feels cute in that the population are kittens instead of humans. The player gets to make a lot of choices, such as different assignment of jobs for the kittens and different priorities in purchasing upgrades, but the choices feel purely strategic rather than having rhetorical meanings.

The turning point is when kittens discover Zebras and start trading with them. There are races that the player gets to trade with before Zebras appear, but what is different is that Zebras are especially hostile towards kittens while being the sole source of getting a crucial resource at this stage: titanium. At this point, the player realizes that diplomacy is mostly just about managing hostility, revealing the cruelty of the political world of the game: it is a Hobbesian world of bellum omnium contra omnes (the war of all against all). It is then interesting to think about why the author chose “Zebras” out of all possible names of such a race. This choice of author is not random but a reference to the books The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick (abbreviated as Exegesis) and VALIS (acronym for Vast Active Living Intelligence System) by Philip K. Dick (abbreviated as PKD). PKD explores the idea of gnosticism in those books: the material world is inherently flawed or illusory, referred to as the Black Iron Prison (abbreviated as BIP), created by a lower, often malevolent, deity, referred to as the Demiurge. For PKD, the world we inhabit may be a simulation or illusion, controlled by an external or higher force, the true god. “Zebra” is a name for gnostic gods, a divine, camouflaged intelligence that mimics the environment to communicate with humans. They are not the Demiurge but is the true god, who lives in a higher dimension over the material simulation world; their goal is to wake up mortal people in the BIP, which is the reason why Zebras in Kittens Game act as the external force to provide titanium, the very material needed to build ships and leave the planet. PKD’s visions of the BIP refer to a world of oppression and confinement, which resonates with the gnostic idea of the material world as a prison for the soul.

Speaking of leaving the planet, let us come back to the technological advancement of kittens. As we mentioned, science and technology start as being utilitarianistic, consisting of mostly agricultrue, mining, and construction. However, the story shifts drastically as the player advances to unlocking Rocketry. The story shifts from kittens on a farm to kittens as a galactic force. Science tells the kittens that their home planet is finite and insufficient, but they have to leave the planet to gain more space and more energy. From this point, the focus of the gameplay shifts from constructing earth-based buildings to constructing space-based buildings: there are space-based population buildings such as Space Stations and space-based resource production buildings such as Hydraulic Fracturers. In the next stage, the player gets to unlock more sciences that do not sound like physics at all, but the kittens are using technology to mold the reality itself. For example, Quantum Cryptography signifies the realization that the universe is made of information instead of just matter, and kittens start hacking their way out of reality; Chronophysics signifies the realization that time is but a variable that can be manipulated, and kittens step outside of the linear flow of the game to gain resources from the future. This process is not the normal kind of technological development at all, but the process of breaking out of the BIP.

I have been talking about kittens for a while, but what does this have to do with the player, the one who actually makes the choices that lead all the things to happen to kittens? This leads to the ultimate philosophical question in the game: who is the player? To answer this question, I will introduce another concept in the game: resetting. It is actually a common game mechanics called “prestige” shared by many incremental games, which typically clears the current progress in exchange for permanent upgrades. It mainly serves as a strategic move that players can choose to take to accelerate future advancement. In Kittens Game, the player gains Karma and Paragon by resetting, which are resources that persist through resetting. In order to advance at a reasonable rate, the player has to reset once in a while. This is just like the myth of Sisyphus: the player pushes the boulder up the hill (build the kittens civilization) and then intentionally roll it back down (reset for Paragon). Then, what does the kittens’ lives mean if they are destined to be erased? The game suggests that the only meaning is the accumulation of gnosis, symbolized as Karma and Paragon. What does it mean for the player if the game is just an endless cycle of resetting? The game forces the player to answer the same question posed to Sisyphus every time the player chooses to click the “reset” button. The answer suggested by the game is that the player is playing the role of the Demiurge. The player, or the Demiurge, creates this world in which kittens live, traps the kittens in a loop and forces them to labor for their own amusement (seeing the statistical numbers going up). From this point of view, this game that looks cute from far actually tells a tragic story, where the kittens use their accumulated gnosis through the endless destructions of the world in order to escape the BIP created by the Demiurge, yet they are still under the control of the Demiurge after countless trials, merely serving as the source of amusement for the Demiurge.

All of these are just a small part of the game. Every one of the game mechanics tells a part of the story. For example, the Order of the Sun religion in the game can be viewed through a gnostic lens as the worship of the Demiurge, and the kittens later find out that the traditional “worship” is just another layer of the prison to be exploited for higher understanding. The Leviathans, another race with which kittens can trade that appear after Zebras, is a reference to Thomas Hobbes’ book Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil, and they act as the wardens of the BIP by providing Relics as part of the prison to prevent the bellum omnium contra omnes. The Void, a late-game resource gained from Temporal Paradoxes, signifies kittens’ use of the nothingness of the BIP to power their escape. Literally every mid-game and late-game mechanics can be expanded in long paragraphs on how it contribute to what the game wants to tell the player.

The fact that the game is able to tell the player so rich a story without a single line of narrative is what this game is amazing at and what makes this game stand out among all incremental games. Instead of directly telling the player the story, it urges the player to think and construct the story on their own every time the player makes a choice, clicks a button, and receive a feedback. This form of story-telling is unique to interactive digital media, and Kittens Game pushes it to its limit in utilizing this way to tell the full picture of an extremely rich story.

Now it is time to look back on the visual interface of the game.

As can be seen, this is an extremely plain game interface, which is indeed the least interesting thing about the game at first glance. However, as the player connects the game with the BIP, the asthetic choice of this game interface suddenly makes sense: the interface itself depicts a literal BIP, where everything is just plainly laid out without deep thoughts and freedom. Seeking amusement from such a lifeless-looking thing, is not the player themself looking like something under the control of the Demiurge? Through the interface design, the game breaks the fourth wall to tell its deep philosophical and religional message to the player in the most subtle way.

小明不是爱用草稿本的人。他一直以为草稿本上记录着他的失败——其上的字迹是他向他“低下”的心算能力屈服后留下的痕迹，任何一个写在其上的显然的推导都是对他能力的羞辱。然而，尽管他认为打草稿是“弱者的行为”（他的原话如此），他并不吝惜成为弱者的机会——他仍然时常不得不打草稿。

草稿本翻开后，他总喜欢在右手边的那页上打草稿。当他把草稿本的每一张纸都写过之后，他会把草稿本倒过来再用一遍。

我偶尔能看到小明从草稿本上匆匆撕下两张纸然后离开。有一天等他再次这么做之后又回来，我问他去干什么了。他告诉我他去上厕所了。我问他为什么要撕草稿本。他就告诉我，有一天他急着要去大解，却突然发现自己已经耗尽了携带的纸巾，情急之下，他用草稿本里的纸代替了。后来，他觉得草稿本用了之后也卖不了几个钱，卫生间纸篓倒是个好去处。他从此每当大解，就用两张草稿本里的两面都写过的纸，虽然它们有些过于光滑了。

我听后觉得害羞又有趣。后来，我有时也会在小明大解后回来时问他刚刚的手纸上记录了他的什么灵感。他就会给我讲一道物理题，以及他当时打这些草稿时使用的“愚蠢”的做法。这时我或许能得到一些启发，但他总是说草稿上写的都是些没有灵感的东西，没有价值。

关于小明的草稿本，还有两件趣事。且说我们数学课，老师不时会让我们在课后做一些思考题。众所周知，“思考题”是“普通人思考不出来的题”的简称。很多人对这些思考题望而生畏，就不做了。但对于小明来说，这些题目并不难，他课后总会花几分钟时间简单地在草稿本上写下思路。

有一天数学课，数学老师让我们五人一组一起思考解决黑板上的几道题。我与小明恰好在一组。黑板上的题目有难度，我们几人纷纷表示没有思路。小明感受到了目光的集中，瞟了眼黑板，说这些都是之前做过的思考题，然后就继续坐角落里自学去了。于是，我们组除了小明以外的四个人，每两人看一本小明的草稿本，一人正着看，一人倒着看，直把小明的两本草稿本翻了个遍。终于是找到了大部分的题目，我们依着小明的思路把题目做了出来，黑板上只剩一道题没做出来。

那节课，我们组战绩辉煌。其他组有的只做出来一道题，有的一道题都没做出来。

后来，出于好奇，我问小明还有一道题他做在哪里了。他说，应该是原本也在草稿本上，后来到卫生间纸篓里了，因为他有印象曾经用过写了数学思考题的纸。我又问，为什么把思考题做在草稿纸上。他反问道：“我总不可能专门为了做思考题开一本本子吧？”

又有天，体育课上我想上厕所，一下课我就第一个奔回教室拿纸巾去厕所。然而我突然发现我的纸巾已经用完了，教室里又没有人能借我纸巾，目所能及之处也没有能白嫖的纸巾。这时，小明摆在桌面上的草稿本吸引了我的注意。我迅速上去撕了两张纸，红着脸冲向厕所。

蹲下来，我一边向坑空投物资，一边看着手中的草稿。一方面是因为刚刚奔得太猛，另一方面是因为把男生的东西带进来令我有一种莫名的羞愧，再一方面是因为我蹲在一个狭小而安静的空间，我能听到清晰的心跳。

来不及等我的羞愧感消退，我又注意到我手中的草稿中有一些内容勾起了我的回忆。当时我想知道一个数学命题的证明，后来就是小明写在草稿本上给我看的。数月过去，我早已忘记了证明的方法。手中的草稿仿佛在指责我的遗忘。我感到这草稿存在着它的价值。但很可惜，几分钟之后它就会进入我后方的纸篓。这样的矛盾迫使我做出这样的决定：在这几分钟之内将这则证明背下来。

几分钟后，我终于背出了证明。尽管如此，用它擦去我身上遗留的污物时我仍感到自己在亵渎一样神圣之物。这使我倾向于快速解决，而无暇关注它光滑的表面是否足以带走所有的污物。结束之后，我赶紧离开厕所回到教室。我注意到我的心跳还没恢复。

我回到教室，小明早已在我旁边的座位坐下了。还没等我开口，他问我脸怎么那么红。

“女厕所从来没有过像现在这样散发着智慧的光芒。”

“你把你聪明的小脑瓜落在那里了？”

我没理他。我要赶紧把刚背的证明写下来。但很明显，我的不回应引起了他对我的当务之急的好奇。他看着我，我感到慌张，证明写了一半就忘了剩下的内容，于是更加慌张，于是更加想不起来。我急得眉头皱了起来。

“傻子，这里写错了。我记得我给你写过的……”

他不合时宜的指导令我感觉受到了贬低，虽然我本不应该解读出这层意思。

“我明明记得我在这里写过的啊，写在哪里了呢……”响起了小明翻草稿本的声音。

突然，他安静了下来。他看着我。我感到异常尴尬，也不知道是出于何种情感，我发出“呜呜”的声音。我觉得我可能要失态了，赶紧跑出了教室。

我看着窗外的风景。今天天气很好。

过了一段时间，我回到教室。我看到我桌面上摊着一本草稿本，上面写着小明刚写的我尝试写下的证明。

O, ’tis too true!
How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience!
The harlot’s cheek, beautied with plastering art,
Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it
Than is my deed to my most painted word:
O heavy burthen!