Major: Mechanics Design/Ideas
This page talks through my major foci which I decided to be mechanics designing/ideas as I belief that in a game focussed around anxiety looking into mechanics and ways that you can portray different triggers and feelings of anxiety effectively.
As you may recall from seeing the page on the puzzle making lecture this lecture turned the tide for me and helped me gear towards mechanics as that puzzle was the first mechanic that I has designed for the game for the puzzle saw the player arrive at the house and see that there is a piece of paper that has been left on the table they opened it to find that they have a list of tasks too complete before they are due in at work in 2 hours every task has a time it takes to compete the goal of the player in this mechanic is too find a way to complete the puzzle in time before the character is due to be at work,.
​
This task puzzle little mini game essentially is an amazing idea for a mechanic as it saw the players interact with the environment and get a feel for the game straight of the bat as this is the first level/mechanic of the game whist also portraying what stress felled anxiety is like for sufferer by causing the player to get stressed as they only have one change to do this puzzle every play through and their is only one certain way to get all the tasks done as their is only one way their allotted times match.
The image on the right is the written out puzzle with all the information one need to know to complete it in game this information will be conveyed to the player through writing on the list.
​
Can You complete the puzzle? is it even possible? (maybe that's the genius behind the feeling of stressed fuel anxiety mechanic)
Mechanic 2: Dialogue flashback (social anxiety)
After admiring that amazing first cutscene I wanted to come up with an mechanic/feature that shows that in the narrative that surrounds the game the player knows that being taken away for seeming "insane" is an option. I first wandered how I could do this until I had the idea to have it be an panic attack from talking to the boss after failing the first puzzle and being late for work as failing that puzzle is more than inevitable as its designed to fail,
The player is seen approaching a buff, muscular man who towers over him and the players is prompted with talking to this character but whist the muscular man is talking it all fades to black, heartbeats start and the player can hear a distant wail for help, the player runs around the space trying to get closer to the sound to see two figures one being dragged away from the other the ion being dragged screaming "Michael help me " and the one dragging saying "take him away has insane" all whist this is happening if the player tempts to get close to the figures they can never reach them the figures will keep getting further and further the more the player tried to get to them.
This insane idea not only is a key element to the story as the players now know why Michael is scared in dialogue situation but it also portrays what some forms of social anxiety can feel like as some people have annoyed feeling nauseas, blacking out and/ or overthinking past events when trying to talk to someone.
Further research:
Once that second idea came out of my brain I hit a wall where no more ideas for game mechanics where coming out of my head so I decided to do some research into the different triggers for anxiety as well as look at some metaphors that I found online which people have used to describe how anxiety feels.
Different triggers include:
​
-
Too Much Time to Think
-
Lack of Goal Setting T
-
Health and News
-
Loss of Coping
-
Health issues
-
Medications
-
Caffeine
-
Skipping meals
-
negative thinking
-
Financial concerns
-
Conflict
​
The invisible triggers of anxiety can be very complex, because they may also be based on your previous life experience. If you grew up with strict parents, for example, you may develop anxiety when you do behaviours they would not have approved of simply because your mind and body are used to anxiety when these behaviours occurred. That's why upbringing and life experiences play such a complex role in anxiety.
Mechanic 3: Losing of job
The above research into triggers triggered an idea in me for a level that is designed for Michela getting fired from his jobs this scene could occur after the player is late after the first mechanic and the second mechanic takes place as my idea is for if the player said a bad dialogue option here they will see this level in which Michael is fired from his job and the screen fades to black and sees Michael sat in a diner looking at a newspaper job offerings in the paper more scribbled out than ones circled, a heavy breathing track plays as Michaels heartrate rises the controller vibrates along with the breathing and then a echoed voice of Michael is heard as if the voice inside his head say "don't put down a pie , I can only have coffee, please don't put down pie" as the waitress walks over with a pie as she passes Michael is given some dialogue options each having their own rating to the dialogue system to influence the suspicion meter.
​
These options could be something along the lines of "*Stay quiet*" "sorry I didn't order pie" or "NO PIE, How many times do I have it tell ya I cant afford it" whatever Michael chooses to say after he says it he gets up, drips enough change for the coffee and leaves walks to the door
​
In my opinion this idea works as it tackles too triggers for anxiety that are listen above one the financial issues and the other that was too much time to think .
Mechanic 4: Wolf chase
After looking at the anxiety metaphors that I found one that struck my fancy as I thought it could be a good idea for social anxiety it read
​
Anxiety is like being chased by a pack of wolves. You’re heart is racing, your thoughts are in a panic, you expect to be eaten alive but you keep on running. (a level where everyone turns into wolves are starts choosing the player possibly a social anxiety type situation)
​
the idea I have is that some point during the game the player has to do some public speaking as he is standing on the stage the people turn, into wolves and jump onto the stage and start chasing him the player has to run away grab obstacles they are passing and chuck them at the people now turned wolves to stop them from chasing them
​
​
