Can we go Back?- Dev#2 news

Presentation

Our game will be a 2D sidescroller platformer, which will talk about the evolution of schizophrenia.
The objective of the game is to show the disease and the different stages of the disease, until its cure.
Our game is called Can we go Back? for this purpose.
Will be possible to go back? As we were before, without this disease.

For those who don't know, schizophrenia is a mental illness. And has as symptoms: delusions, hallucinations,
reasoning problems, concentration, lack of motivation, loss of cognitive skills, and less socialization.

Reference: Psych2go

Target Audience

For this, we made questionnaires. In the questionnaires made, the participants answered a series of questions.

For example: what was their favorite game category, what did they prefer in relation to the narrative, what type of game do they expect to be created, what type of art they like, and the age and gender of the participants. Based on several questionnaires that we did, we defined our target audience is between 15 and 25 years old, teenagers and adults.


Research

I'm going to talk about the games and the mechanics that inspired us the mechanics that
we're going to implement in the game.

Reference: Game Luigi's Mansion 3


Mechanics 1. In the game Luigi's Mansion 3 that came out in 2019, there is a mechanic that allows us to leave the body in another form, so that we can escape or finish a puzzle that our original body was unable to.

Reference: Game Maia Unhappily Ever After

Mechanics 2. In the game Maia: Unhappily Ever After of 2020, is the mechanic of push and pull that interested us was how the puzzles are solved.

Mechanics

The mechanics we plan to implement are:

-Jump;
-Move;
-Push-Pull;
-Unstable form (The Unstable form is when we leave our body, and we can pass through objects. This shape symbolizes that the character is hallucinating and is mentally unstable, hence the name unstable.)

I will now proceed to explain the Unstable form skill in the context of the level.

For example: Imagine that on the left is the character, in the right a huge wall. Under the character's feet the left appears to have a passageway, but to activate this passage it is necessary to pass in the unstable form, and go through the wall and go to the right to activate whatever is necessary to open the left passage. And now the character can go under the level e continue this journey.

• Throughout the level, we will have to pick up medicines, to return to normal, ie the opposite of the unstable form. These medicines will be positioned in the best way to solve the puzzles
• Is necessary to have the medicines to end the game. Because the goal is to return as before, to be healed.
• When the character is mentally unstable the background is more gloomy and confused.
  
  
  
  Reference: Game Artist, Tiago Casado (Studio Akemi)
  
  
  
• When the character is mentally stable, the background is more colorful and cheerful.
  
  
  
  
  Reference: Game Artist, Tiago Casado (Studio Akemi)
  
  
  
  
  Written by the Game designer, Marina Marques