Play my game here.

I have changed a lot in my game since the first draft. The main feedback I got in my first draft was to categorize the consequences for each scenario. I spent a lot of time trying to make options that had positive and negative outcomes, but I ultimately decided that it wasn’t the best approach for this game. I added positive and negative consequences to some options of some of the scenarios, but overall, I found that most options being neutral was more effective. I wanted to send a message with my game that there is never a completely correct choice, every choice has both positive and negative consequences. Since the first draft, I also tried to make the premise of the game more clear in the actual game by adding an introduction. I also made sure that you can enter your name and it was used throughout the game to make it much more personal, as it simulates a very personal and emotional experience. My personal favourite design choice was how I created it as a text conversation as it felt like a way to make the game much more real.

While I am satisfied with how the game turned out in the end, I feel as if there was much more I could have done if I had a lot more time to put into this game. There were many more scenarios and details that could be included in the game but I decided to leave them out. I feel as though including the entire journey from the first signs to the present would be much more powerful and make the game a much better experience. The game was based mostly on my personal experience, but I decided to adapt some scenarios so that it is more fitting for the type of game. There is a lot more depth that could have been added to some situations that could have been explored in a much longer game. While I personally experienced some of these scenarios, not all of them were my personal experience but that of someone around me.

Making this game was genuinely an eye-opening experience for me. This isn’t a topic I usually talk about, especially in a class, but creating the game was really enlightening. In fact, when I was designing some of the scenarios I had personally been through, the objectively “best” choice was often not what I chose to do in real life. For instance, in the scenario about telling your friends, I chose not to, and I still have not to this day. Creating this game gave me a new perspective on many of the tough situations I faced. It taught me the value of stepping back and thinking about choices more objectively, which is a powerful lesson to take away from a class project.