PROJECT NAME:
Claudia Thomas De-stress Me Ver 2
ABSTRACT:
The project now revolves around teaching people about how to de-stress by placing them into a stressful environment, to practically learn how to control their stress in order to progress throughout the levels. Within the game information about specific de-stressing techniques learnt from my stress research will also be displayed to give players not only practical but theoretical knowledge of these methods.
De-stress Me will be team based game that relies on players working together to defeat enemies that have overrun the world with stress.
Utilising the research I conducted into stress, the game was designed around the concept of no control, with this being a key cause of stress. Using this concept De-stress Me removes the control players have on their individual stress levels and gives it to other. The team must work together to de-stress one and other, as a player is not able to de-stress themselves.
Colours are an important aspect of the game and are used to de-stress players, inspired by the concept of Chromatherapy, where illness are healed through the use of specific coloured lights.
Influenced by the game-play and environment in Furi, players will move around an area with an enemy firing multiple damaging attacks at once, which spread across a large range. This will create an overwhelmed feeling, with team members having to move quickly to avoid attacks, creating a highly fast paced experience.
The boss will send out pulses of damage like within Furi and the colour of the attack, will determine the colour a player turns if they are hit. Being stress monsters the bosses’ aims are to make bring panic and confusion to the world, so the boss won’t be affecting the players health though will be making the players stressed through their attacks.
At the start of the game players are given a set colour which can not change. Players are only able to de-stress others who have turned the colour they are associated with.
Bosses will also be a certain colour and their colour is associated to a de-stressing method, as discovered within my stress research. Once a boss is defeated the players gain this colour and so gain this de-stressing technique. Information will be brought up about the method, so players can learn visually as well as practically about the techniques.
The way the enemies are destroyed is still under construction, however as the enemies are stress monsters, I would presume the more de-stressing is done
GOALS:
- Teach players de-stressing techniques, so they can control and reduce their stress.
- Fun but informative experience
USER EXPERIENCE:
AUDIENCE:
- Still need to figure out. – Possible those who are most affected by stress
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS:
- Furi
How will it differ?
Furi has influenced many of the game-play and environment decisions with it being a very fast paced game and involving a lot of dodging and attacking of enemies. However Distress Me will have a much clearer focus on teaching players important information about the methods used to combat stress, and so isn’t solely a entertainment game like Furi, but it also has serious aspects to it.
The game also differs from Furi, by De-stress Me being team based and the communication of the team being of vital importance to the progression in game, whereas Furi is single player.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
Currently my whole project revolves around non game research including:
Gamblin Colour System
The whole game is based around the Gamblin colour system, to create a unique and colourful environment for players to experience. The colour each enemy is determined by the their position in the world, which will relate to what colour is in the same position as the colour system.
Stress Research:
Conducting first hand research into stress, I questioned people about what causes stress, what they feel when stressed and how they deal with it. It became clear that the idea of no control was a large factor into the reason people become stressed. Wanting to create a stressful experience for players, I tried to design all the game-play around players having no control over themselves as so was the reason I players can not de-stress themselves.
De-stressing techniques are outlined within the the Health Science Journal (2011) in the paper ‘Stress Management Techniques: evidence-based procedures that reduce stress and promote health’ by Liza Varvogli, Christina Darviri. I will use the information I gained from this paper to describe and explain the methods to combat stress within the game.
Chromatherapy
Chromatherapy is a large influence of the game, because the therapy uses coloured light to heal illnesses. Therefore taking this concept on board a player must have a matching colour in order to heal their team mate from stress and thus cure them of it. So the game connects healing and colour just like chromatherapy.
PROJECT CONTENT:
COMPONENTS:
Unity game on screen – Because I feel with the use of colour having such great importance within my research, I feel I will need to use a screen to gain the correct colours and larger range of colours than can be printed.
Therefore I can gain colour consistencies, which may not happen if printed or painted, as the colour will never be exactly the same. Also the colours I produce on the screen will not be the same as printed and so it may become annoying, frustrating and very time consuming, ensuring that the physical colours are accurate. Therefore for these reasons I feel I will have a digital game. I plan to use Unity as I have experience with this program and it can support a range of plugins and platforms. So I have more freedom when designing my idea.
FUNCTIONAL SPECiFICS:
- To be confirmed once I have defined a game idea
PROJECT STRUCTURE:
METHODOLOGIES:
- Agile
- Andy’s combining ideation method
- Scrum
- Speculative Design
PLAN:
- Research into who is most affected by stress to define the target audience for the game
- Develop the idea ensuring it is of interest to the target audience, as well as defining how enemies are destroyed.
- Continue ideating to come up with more game ideas to show I have explored the teaching of stress in multiple different ways. Which I will later reflect upon before deciding where my project will go forward.
SCHEDULE:
Week 1
- Research Stress – How, Why, Who – Preventing stress – Reducing stress – Artists interpretations of stress
- Define Audience
- Initial Ideating
Week 2
- More ideations
- Narrow down to a couple of ideas
- Continue researching where appropriate
Week 3
- Prototyping Ideas
- Test Prototypes
- Refining and adapting ideas depending on the outcomes of the tests
- Have 3 ideas ready to present
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