I'm prototyping a short indie game with an unusual narrative structure.

Technically, it's completely harmless. Culturally, it might provoke some discomfort.

I'm going to build this, but I want to sanity-check with this community first.

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The game is set in an afterlife where everyone is a skeleton. No death. No game over. Just a lighthearted adventure.

During the game, the player assembles a crystal skull.

In the ending, this skull is depicted as being swapped with a real crystal skull held by a famous museum — one that's historically labeled "inauthentic" and has been the subject of academic debate for decades.

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Nothing happens in reality.

The game: - Doesn't access external data - Doesn't connect to the internet - Doesn't contact any museum - Doesn't claim anything factual

All code stays strictly inside the game.

But after finishing, every player can make this joke:

"That museum's skull is fake — because I made it (in the game)."

Every player has the same experience. So every player can claim authorship.

The result: Unlimited authorship claims based on identical fictional experiences.

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This structure doesn't alter reality. It only touches perception.

It's a game about authorship instability — where the claim is obviously a joke, but the multiplicity of claims creates something strange.

I think it's ethically harmless but culturally provocative.

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I'm going to prototype this.

I'll release it for free on itch.io and see what happens.

Before I do, I want to sanity-check with this community:

1. Am I missing an obvious ethical problem?

2. Would you be interested in playing something like this?

3. Any technical or cultural pitfalls I should be aware of?

I expect reactions to range from "this is clever" to "this is inappropriate," and I'm prepared for both.

But I want to hear from people who think deeply about tech, ethics, and culture before I release it into the wild.

Thanks for reading.