Depression Quest:
I really enjoyed this game because I loved the concept and the way that it was set up. It really takes you on a true experience of how depression may feel like in terms of how demotivated you may feel, confused, distant from your loved ones and how much it makes you overthink. It taught me a lot of things about people who struggle with this and allowed me to see how difficult it sometimes is to complete such easy things and that being supportive and checking up, being there and being understanding might go a long way for someone.
I did love the game and the pathway it took me down, it had very realistic decisions and it was very interesting that they had options crossed out. This showed me how such an obvious action that may be taken might actually be so heavy and impossible to take. One other thing I really loved was the ending. The game overall was not too intimidating and really expressed the message. The ending was not about winning, it was about moving forward as well as progress which felt perfectly right in relation to the problem of depression. However, I did feel like sometimes the text was too much to read and the game took me too long. The extra text deepened my understanding but, I do feel like when I go to play a game I expect it not to take too much of my time. In order to be improved I think that the text could have been reduced.
http://www.depressionquest.com/dqfinal.html
Manufactured Evil:
I liked how this game makes you reflect on decisions that might be relatable on the day to day. For example, choosing a reusable bag at the supermarket rather than a plastic bag or choosing a glass bottle instead of a plastic one. It makes you reconsider your normal day to day actions and how they affect the environment.
However, I did not enjoy the game or feel like it was aesthetically pleasing or interesting. It felt weak and too rushed and did not really stick with me. I do not think it taught me anything new. I think in order to improve this game it would be more striking if there were consequences to my decisions to truly show me how the environment is impacted.
Sleep-Deprived Mom Game
I learned that mothers really never overcome the sleep deprivation issue. With every decision I took I always lost sleep, there never seems to be a correct answer. I liked that the concept was delivered lightly and not in a super depressing way. I did not like that the game was on google docs. I find it a bit boring and I feel like it could have been better if it was more graphically pleasing.
The Empathy Toy:
What I liked about this game is that it forces us all to work together and really try to understand each other and communicate effectively. I did find it challenging to build when I was blindfolded and then explain exactly what to do when I was kind of lost myself.
I do think that this game teaches you to understand the struggles of others. This could refer to blind people and how difficult it is to do things and how important it is to be helpful and supportive which was presented by the rest of the group who were not blind folded.
The game was impactful and I think there was a good reason for the shapes being a bit awkward to put together in order to make us struggle more. If I could change one thing I would make the shapes easier to piece together, although I think that takes away from the essence of the game to some extent.
Comparing between the games:
All of the games help teach you something different. They taught me about how people with different identities and experiences to me might feel. The empathy game taught me about struggles and how a blind person might struggle. Depression quest allowed me to take a glimpse of what depression feels like and how it creates obstacles for a person and how it makes them feel. The same thing for the Sleep- deprivation game, it also highlights the issue that mothers may face. The one game that I feel did not show me any new perspective or give me a look into the experiences of a different group of people was the Manufactured Evil game.
From a visual and experience standpoint, my favourite game was the Depression quest because it felt like a real game which really allowed me to be more committed and invested. It did not feel weak or like a survey which helped me really experience it.
Reflecting on my own game:
I want to create a game that really takes you on an adventure and hopefully grabs your full attention. I might want to create an experience where the different decisions have different outcomes that teach you more about the topic. As for the topic I still do not know what I want to create a game about but hopefully something that is part of my identity or something that I am familiar with.
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