>!Outside of the fact that I am one of many sad about Pianosuarous'..."presence" in the game this post is actually about the Doctor. Narratively, I was so excited to see what the game and story would do with his, especially after knowing about his "one bad day" and his personal connection with those in the factory, especially his idol and leaders.

However...it seemed narratively they didn't know what to do with him in game. They seemed to want to do a mix of portal and what they did with Mommy long legs (where she did run games against the player as a form of punishment until she was tired of them not dying), but couldn't figure out a good balance between making him straight up homicidal and cynically manipulative. It felt bi polar how he would switch from "tests" to wanting to straight up kill the player, especially because, even though he is the smartest doctor in the program and has control over the facility, he doesn't really do a great job trying kill the player only to then act like "haha that was part of the test too. Welcome back, even though you just escaped through a side vent I had no idea or contingency for....*cough cough*....all to plan." Nothing about it felt organic and felt confusing. It was also sad how the Doctor had 0 connection with the player character even though they work there (I think the player is Rich Lovitz but IDK IDK).

NARRATIVE SUGGESTIONS:

• Start him in a weakened state: Make it clear early on that the Doctor has been degraded over time due to the Hour of Joy or other unforeseen damage. This would justify his lack of presence until now.
• Make the player unknowingly strengthen him: Instead of simply surviving his games, have the player unknowingly restore his power while believing they are setting traps against The Prototype.
• More meaningful "tests": Instead of random deathtraps, establish a clear reason for his tests. What is he trying to prove? Perhaps he is testing human adaptability for future experiments or gauging the player’s ability to withstand The Prototype. Maybe he wants full control over the facility and wants final revenge on his superiors (the prototype), so he is testing the player to see if he could be manipulated into killing the Prototype for him so he reigns supreme over the factory. Maybe he wants to escape the facility to continue his tests on a larger scale. Maybe he's like Victor from ARCANE and believes he's advancing past his physical body and has grown attached to being a robotic system and now views it as a step towards human evolution and thus must go out to continue to advance, not only himself, but others. I know a lot of lore is still not given to us...but it would be more meaningful to build off of what his goal is outside of "I'm an evil doctor I do evil things because I'm evil."

Building Tension and Atmosphere

• A slow burn, psychological approach: Take inspiration from the animated movie "9"—build up the Doctor’s presence slowly with eerie encounters rather than immediately throwing players into “games.”
• Gradually reveal his manipulations: Let the player believe The Prototype is the main threat for most of the game, only to reveal it was the Doctor all along, orchestrating the chaos to regain power.
• More organic control over the facility: Instead of him acting like he has full control but still failing at killing the player, show that his influence is limited at first but expands as the player unknowingly assists him.

Strengthening the Confrontation

• Require a major sacrifice to fully restore himself: To fully power up and repair himself, he could require a main character from the safe haven to die, or even an arm from Doey or something that has more weight than simply a random critter character.
• Make his boss battle more climactic: Rather than a scene that feels like running from endos from FNAF, it should have been more like portal here, where you fight a robotic monster and have to destroy parts of it 1 by 1 or even take the INCREDIBLES route and have the the robot accidentally destroy itself while it targets you. It shouldn't just be some computer screens. I should be using the facility in its entirety, as he has control to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time without a physical body to restrain him! Have it evolve into a large-scale robotic fight where the Doctor has fully restored himself and kill you while you trying destroying it.
• Give more purpose to killing the doctor: Maybe make it so the PC has to also download some files about the background of the prototype from the doctor. Something the PC can take from the doctor as the doctor dies, so the doctor can have a moment of desperation saying things like "Wait. no! You need me. There is a reason they kept my mind. They needed me just as you need me." It shouldn't just be fight the doctor because he's simply stopping you from taking the Thanos glove, which he isn't even using for his own schemes...!<

Anyways thanks for coming to my ted talk...