Access the game here
“There are times when we must sink to the bottom of our misery to understand truth, just as we must descend to the bottom of a well to see the stars in broad daylight.”
- Vaclav Havel
Background
As the pandemic turned my decade-long dream (of studying in London) into a nightmare, I suffered from emotional issues that, the first time in life, I needed professional support.
During the counseling sessions, I realized that the stress on my shoulder has been accumulating since the summer of 2019 when social movements and conflicts erupted back home (in Hong Kong).
Ongoing conflicts and the pandemic made my future uncertain that I give up on planning, unlike my past self who always had a lot of dreams and was passionate in exploring new knowledge.
I attempted to express my feelings through different means such as drawing and writing, however, it was so overwhelming that I didn’t know which one to highlight, until one day, a friend said, “Maybe we would be as happy as before if we cover our eyes, pretending all these never happened.”
Developing the story
Being confined in my bedroom to attend boring online course for months, my disappointment and sadness had gradually escalated into anger, especially towards the public health “experts” and politicians who I believe could handle the outbreak much better given the experience in the 2003 SARS outbreak in Hong Kong.
As such, my initial game idea was about showing how the WHO director shamelessly remains in his well-paid position by ignoring the negative impact his decisions brought to people.
The story can be presented in a straightforward manner like a well-dressed man covering his eyes to hide himself from scenes of people suffering.
However, I want the core message to be echoed by a larger audience; besides, putting so much effort to shame a particular person may not be cost efficient (… and for self-censorship reason, too), therefore the angle was adjusted to “looking at an unsettling world from a normal person’s perspective”, and the story should cover more than the pandemic.
Inspirations / References
(URLs available at the end of the document)
It is a chemical reaction between four elements:
- Václav Havel’s concept of “living in truth” that was frequently discussed in the podcasts I have listened recently;
- Name of the Will, an indie game created by a Hong Kong team, which the player has to survive and make contact with neighbours in a heavily surveilled community;
- My friend’s quote;
- Personal experience.
The direction was shifted to exploring how all of us could “live happily” in unusual times, in an ironic way.
The gameplay
Due to limited resource and time, I made a 2D horizontal mini game featuring a person (“character”) hiding herself from social issues to live a happy life.
By the action of covering her eyes, the sprites, or the roadblocks (unpleasant things), would disappear.
Therefore, the main “actions” are:
- Main character walking (moves right)
- Sprites showing up on trigger
- Sprites being shut down
Invisible “buttons” have been set up, once the character “steps” (collide) on the button, the next sprite will show.
The goal
In theory, the character’s journey can go on forever because this story can’t be bounded by time and score (she does not have a boss to defeat). However, when the gameplay, the visuals and the audio are not sophisticated enough to get hold of the player’s attention, a goal is necessary to motivate the player to finish the game.
As such, a “prize” is available for collection and to mark the end of the journey.
Switching of scenes
There was only one scene in my initial plan. After a play test, I believed more scenes are needed to reiterate the core message.
The prize at the end of the game leads the player to the second scene which shows a masked crowd with big smile and similar outfits. They cheer to welcome the player joining them.
It is a next step of the character disengaging herself from reality, and that she eventually becomes part of an ideology or a world of appearances, indirectly supporting a system that rules with cheap talks or symbols, just as Havel’s example of a grocery store owner displaying a “Workers of the world, unite!” banner at his shop front without a second thought of the meaning and purpose.
On the other hand, every regime would (secretly) wish its people to be homogeneous, or “single face for thousands” （千人一面）as the Chinese classic Dream of the Red Chamber coined, so that it is easier for the regime to manipulate and stay in power.
The happy faces were inspired by the paintings of contemporary Chinese artist Yue Minjun, he used laughing men as a theme in most of his artworks.
“I chose to depict the same figure, similar stance, and same features, to highlight the inanity of such parades. To use one figure in such a manner lent them the appearance of cartoon caricatures: satirizing humanity to tell a particular story.”
- Yue Minjun, 2006
The use of masks is also seen in the Hong Kong indie game Name of the Will.
The crowd’s smart casual costume and posture were inspired by the speculators of North Korea parades, who are well dressed to portray a good image of the country.
An automatic count-down leads the player into the ending scene with a quote from Václav Havel’s essay Power of the powerless, which is also the main idea of the game. At this stage the message should be clear enough to prompt the players to review their approaches for handling disturbing phenomenon in real life.
What went wrong
- Time frame vs resource
The time spent on production tripled (from one month to three months) due to the lack of knowledge in coding and Unity. Without a thorough understanding in C#, I had to search for tutorials, seek help from my Programming lecturer and asked questions on online forums. Such back-and-forth trial-and-error had prolonged the production period.
Making art was the easiest and the most enjoyable part of the project, however, when digital drawing allows unlimited changes, I kept revising and adding graphics, extending the process further.
To run this project solo means all aspects — design, research and problem solving — had to be managed by myself. Given the limited resource (one person’s time and knowledge versus a group project which each member spends the same amount of time on one specific area), the quality has to be compromised for a realistic release schedule.
- Lack of Unity & C# knowledge
A game engine must be used since the idea can’t be delivered in a physical way. I chose Unity because it is (relatively) user friendly for beginners. Without prior experience, the production involved a long learning process.
To do so, I broke down the process by:
- Translating ideas of game play into commands.
- Refining my questions and looking up answers online
- Trial and error
- Search more, until it works.
I felt like speaking in Japanese — I know some words and a bit of grammar but my knowledge is not sophisticated enough to give instructions.
The lack of variation also made the overall gameplay boring — just as how a child tells stories versus a reporter’s more descriptive style of presentation.
With proficiency in C# and Unity, the turnaround time can be shortened from a month to a week. However, the reality is that I didn’t have the knowledge, I could only face tackle this setback by looking for answers.
- Sprites not matching the screen ratio
Most of the graphics were created before I started working with Unity, so the area the in-game camera could cover, as well as the space the character would occupy, were not taken into consideration. As a result, one of the sprites cannot be fully shown in the game:
Have noticed this issue, other sprites were created cautiously to avoid the same mistake.
- Visuals too static
This includes the sprites showing and vanishing abruptly, as well as the lack of transition effect between scenes. However, to meet the timeline, I have decided to let go of visual effects, since they do not affect the gameplay and the expression of message.
What went well
- Game Art
The message was conveyed via illustrations created with reference to real events, and the characters are designed to be culturally diversified as the issues raised in the game are global. This is an attempt to make the game relevant to a larger audience.
A cartoon style was used to avoid the images being too explicit, meanwhile, I wish the “innocent” style would create a contrast to the uncomfortable stories they represent and surprise the mentally unprepared audience, who may be expecting a pastel colour game full of sweetness.
Pastel colours were used on the background to echo the trends of recent music videos, which use virtual sets to create a dreamy and warm world. The above screenshot shows how it was created on Photoshop — it is a combination of individual objects that are easy to move around.
How much is too much?
I wanted to sneak unsettling images into the game to “surprise” the audience, therefore I experimented how far they should go.
For example, in the first edition of the second sprite, which shows a dead body covered with a forensics tent, I had added a cut with blood on his wrist to imply it was a suicide. However, blood appearing twice on the same image would be redundant, so the cut was removed to leave rooms for players’ interpretation.
The rest of the sprites follow the same direction to avoid magnifying a certain emotion , the severity of each issue should be implied by the action itself.
The use of red in the images also implies a connection between the events.
- Storytelling (worsening situation)
The use of text is minimized to avoid a language barrier that would bar some audience from getting the message. However, there is still a story in the game to link up the scenes and events ie a journey with “roadblocks” to eliminate and to achieve the goal (by claiming the prize).
The sprites speak different incidents but the level of disturbance gradually increase, from the impact to an individual to a group, from personal financial issues to social injustice. When the player has to ignore them to move on, (s)he must become more and more indifferent.
- Understanding game logic
The most challenging part in the design process was how to make one action, without a visible connection, cause another.
In games, usually the sprites are “shut down” after a direct contact (collision) with another object, for example:
Character → pull a trigger → bullet (contact the sprite) → sprite eliminated
Through reviewing and comparing the cause-and-effect process, I found that one key can be used to trigger two (or more) actions. Together with the player’s own cognition and the character’s change of posture from walking to cover eyes, the two separate actions will be associated.
In the code for each “button”, a specific sprite is called — A) Set active and B) image renderer enabled; this is to avoid more than one sprites being called per collision. Setting the object “active” is to ensure it appears as an interactive game object instead of a plain image.
By the same token, the code for sprites specifies, by object name, which one to shut down, to avoid all sprites being shut down just in case the rest are activated by mistake.
- Learning from searching and asking the right questions
As mentioned, I do not know much about game engine and coding, however, as a former reporter and producer, I am good at mobilizing resource, for example, Googling.
My secret is to narrow down the search area with keywords picked up from previous searches, in case I am not certain about the terminologies, just type the scenario or behavior to be achieved.
There are plenty of experienced Unity users responding quickly on the forum, however, as a matter of respect, I would look for solutions before posting.
My posts would indicate, in point form, what I want to achieve, what has been done and how it fails. Be very exact and provide as much information as possible, do include codes and videos to make sure there will be no misunderstanding — this is what I learn from working with product engineers; and don’t forget giving kudos to the helpful people!
Besides, there are lots of short clips on Youtube which elaborate specific features efficiently. Always compare them with the desired effect and check how to borrow methods from several features to get the desired result.
I completed this project as a Games Art & Design student, therefore I had support from my programming lecturer Alan, but I only sought help from him on a very specific case considering he has other commitments too. I am grateful for his timely response and encouraging attitude, taking me through the painful coding process.
Documenting the process
I did it in a primitive way ie hand writing because I worked in different places from bedroom to park, from cafes to the library… the most handy thing was jotting notes on paper while I was busy with reading or researching.
Conclusion
The above document has accounted only half of the development process, some miscellaneous items were left out to make the report shorter. We would not realize how much effort a simple project requires until we have a first-hand experience. After this project I appreciate indie game makers more than ever.
Having completed this project doesn’t make me less stressful or desperate about the situation back home as new incidents emerge every week, however, by visualizing my emotions and turning random thoughts into technical details, at least my attention was diverted from hours of news reading.
“By telling you my story, I feel that the rock deep in my heart, bit by bit, has become lighter.”
Said a 2011 Tohoku tsunami victim met during in an Iwaki tour, 2017. He watched his wife and elderly neighbor being washed off by the sea waves when they climbed uphill to reach an emergency assembly point. His wife apologized for not making it and said she did not want to leave the neighbor alone.
Perhaps this is how we should handle a trauma.
One day this game may be taken off shelf, we may need to shut our mouths to survive, but at least we don’t ignore truth.
Reference
- Book
Vaclav Havel, The Power of the Powerless - Article
Christie’s, Lot Essay on Yue Minjun’s painting “Laugh” - Unity tutorial videos
Couch Ferret makes Games, Unity Character Movement and Animation in 2D with Sprite Sheet — Tutorial
Xlaugts, Unity 2D Animation Tutorial
Press Start, Unity Movement [RigidBody vs Translate]
Brackeys, START MENU in Unity
Tarodev, 2D Camera in Unity + Confining to bounds [Cinemachine] - Unity Answers Homepage
- News photos
MingPao, Woman with carton boxes
Stand News, Police pepper spraying reporter
Studio Incendo, Pregnant woman pushed on the floor
