First some gifs… (Note: Art is only first pass and subject to change)
“Some days are good, while some days are bad, and you don’t really know why…”
The product is a game that explores the topic of depression, with aims to promote mental health awareness. It will be a point-and-click puzzle game that simulates the everyday life of someone living with depression, where even the most mundane and menial tasks become a challenge.
Controls
The game will be on the mobile platform, and it will take advantage of mobile gestures, such as tap and swipe for navigation. Being a point-and-click game, the player can interact with different objects and move around the scene using tap navigation. The player can navigate between different scenes through swipe gestures, similar to the mobile apps, as well as the game “Year Walk” and “Device 6”. Some objects are puzzles, which will utilize other mobile gestures such as tap and drag, similar to “Lumino City”.
User Interface
It will feature minimal user interface to increase immersion, similar to the games “To The Moon”, “Year Walk” and “Everyday the Same Dream”.
Narrative and Levels
The game will allow players to step into the shoes of a depressed person by living their everyday life. The game will be similar to “Everyday the Same Dream”, wherein the day loops, but the players will face different challenges each day.
The game will feature different scenes that represent different locations and time, as well as tasks that the character will go through throughout the day, for example, a bedroom scene will represent the character’s struggle to wake up every morning.
Interaction and Mechanics
In each scene, there are objects that the player can interact with, some of which are puzzles. Object interactions will affect latter scenes. Some objects are puzzles, which will players need to solve to unlock further interactions in the game.
Aesthetic Styling
The game’s art will be in 2D. The aesthetic styling, however, has not been set in stone. Current art styles being explored is minimalistic silhouette style, similar to “Everyday the Same Dream” and “Limbo”. Other art styles explored is also the 1950s cartoon style with silhouette foreground objects and a colorful textured background.
Technology and AI
The game will be developed in Unity. It is a single player game but it won’t feature any AI.
Michelle Chen 