My game is aimed to raise awareness that depression is a vital killer and can sometimes lead to doing actions that are considered unorthodox and inhumane. The game is a simple stroll in a dark forest full of anxiety and sadness. I called it ‘Unexpected Sadness’ because you don’t choose what issues occur in your daily life. It is a walk through 2 days of agony and pain. I used what I have experienced in trying to deliver the same feelings and emotions. Also the use of my secondary research in the game, psychology of colors, helped me re-experience it again, but with a harder hit. I only let one person play the game, because that person does not know anything about my life. I based it on true events, so the people involved in my life would do the math and understand that it’s about my life and I would rather keep it confidential. At the bottom is the game itself and the other game that inspired me to create a game along the same lines (Depression Quest). The feedback I got about the game was actually really helpful and showed me how strong applying emotions to text is really effective.
Feedback:
I very much like the story and the interesting turn of events. The introduction to the family and all the other members and condition in the story was very important, otherwise it would have been boring. The story is really touching and got me in a way that I actually applied it to my life when I was playing it and ended up thanking god about the problems I have. The choice of decisions is really great, there is no ‘perfect’ decision to take in order to solve the issue. Any decision you take leads to a larger issue, which is actually what happens in real life and to people who actually experience depression. The theme is very suitable to the topic you are trying to discuss. The use of the black background, grey writing and red writing got me in most of the scenarios. The sentences highlighted in red are what amplified my feelings. I would summarize my experience in three words; anxiety, sadness and sorrow. I would advise to add more to the ending because there are still some loose ends to the story but at the same time that is the beauty of it. Leaving unanswered questions in the end made me more anxious and started to make me overthink. Like what did he do with his father, what did the grandmother do or what happens to the mother when she knows that her youngest son died.
My game:
Inspired Game:
http://www.depressionquest.com/
References:
Digital Literacies 