grief-game

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A video showcasing what I have created so far, as I have an extension due to a medical issue on this project, I plan to work more on the technical and interactive elements on this game.

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This is a link to the home film that I put together for the media player on the television in my project.

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These are the print strings that play on a timer every ten seconds from the start of opening the game, they tell the story of my losses in a harsh and realistic.

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Blueprinting

I used a lot of blueprints:

The first and second images are of the text print strings which tell the story. These are set on a timer so that when one piece of text disappears the next one appears to coherently tell the story.

The third image is the blueprint to make the media player play the film that I made on a loop as soon as the game loads in.

The fourth image is the blueprint I made for a light function material that causes the light to flicker.

The fifth image is what I had to do on each of the image textures I created which is to resize and move the texture around so that it fits the shape that it is on right.

The sixth image is a material blueprint that I made to make a glass texture that has opacity but is not entirely see-through like the pre-made glass textures that are in the starter content.

The seventh image is a blueprint to make the fireplace light up when the player gets close to it, it also plays the noise of a crackling fire. I set it up so that it will turn off automatically after 30 seconds but the player has the ability to enter the trigger box multiple times to turn it back on.

The eighth image is a blueprinted trigger box that turns off the main light in the room.

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Finished game

I finished building all of the assets in the room, it is a based on my living room at home which is the room that my father died in after fighting cancer for 7 months.

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Films on death

I looked at different films that have themes of death, and all deal with the subject in very different ways.

The Fault in our Stars is about death, terminal illness and uses sad, graphic and realistic tones that go through relationships when terminal illness is involved.

Final Destination has, underneath the elements of thrill, themes of memento mori, the permanence of death and inevitability.

I found it useful to look at different mediums of digital and immersive arts that look at death in vastly different manners as it provides a more in depth analysis of the representations that are available for people to see.

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Research

https://scholar.ufs.ac.za/items/f9c769f5-f89e-462a-a81d-41e9cba99b7f

These are all essays that discuss the representation of grief and death in digital media and games, they talk about how awareness of death and how people currently visualise and create interactive art and media on these themes. I found it useful reading these essays to learn more about how other people use themes of death in interactive art and create awareness.

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Research into games that deal with death and grief

I looked into different games that deal with death, grief, and terminal illness.

That Dragon, Cancer which is an art game created by Ryan and Amy Green, it is an autobiographical game similar to my concept, it is based on their experiences raising their son who was diagnosed with terminal cancer at 12 months old.

Spiritfarer which is management game about dying, you play as a ferrymaster to the dead, building a boat to explore the world and care for your spirit friends, releasing them into the afterlife.

What Remains of Edith Finch which is a first person narratively-driven game, playing as Edith, you explore the Finch house and try to figure out why shes the only one left in the family.

Life is Strange which allows the player to rewind time and affect the past, present, and future.

Death Coming which is a puzzle game where you play as death and have to harvest souls.

Looking into different games that take very different approaches to death and bereavement is useful to see what is already on the market and how different companies and game makers take on the same themes.

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Change of idea

I decided to make the project inside of Unreal Engine instead, which aids in it's accessibility, it would be easy for people to access and makes it a more individual and personal experience, much like grief. I also changed the idea to be set in my living room at home, which is much more personal to myself and relatable. I started to build the environment, modelling all of the individual assets, apart from the pillows which I downloaded, textured, and resized. I decided to keep the environment / game to one room, partially due to the time restraints and it also aids in the containment and somewhat claustrophobic feeling that grief gives, feeling trapped.

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Research on death in art

I have done some research on art in death both traditionally, and more recently modern and interactive art installations. I have included a link to Hans Holbein the Younger's 'The Ambassadors' from 1533, this painting despite being created in the 16th Century has an interactive interesting optical illusion skull, the skull can barely be recognised from certain angles and from other perspectives is completely normal looking, this encourages the viewer to move around in the space, engaging with the painting more so than a normal painting. The second link on this post is a public installation of a chalk board that encourages passers by to write things that they want to do before they die, it was created by Candy Chang in New Orleans originally, after the death of a loved one to reflect on what is important in life and your mortality. On the fourth link in this post is a piece in the exhibition that has a poem about grief and loss etched into glass that is barely visible, there is a note to the viewer to encourage them to use their phones flashlight to create a shadow of the etching on the wall to read the poem.

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More plans

I created more plans and an initial animation for one of the walls. The ideas for each wall were:

A home film with family videos for relatable and personal elements

An animation with the "7 stages of grief"

An animation of some of the common things that are said to people going through grief and bereavement

Information on why grief and bereavement awareness is necessary

Drawings of important things to me in grief

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Initial ideas for my individual project

I brainstormed different issues and things that interested me, I realised that I was most passionate about grief and bereavement as it resonates with me having been through 3 major losses within the last 5 years. I decided to create a projected cube that was both personal and explicitly educational, with each wall having a different piece. It would comprise of a cube that had a family video, information on grief and bereavement, and statistics.