How to Relax

So it's been a while since my last update so I'll try and summerise what I've been up to.

As much as I loved my idea for Plants in Space (I never did figure out a title...) after speaking with Jim & Josh I somehow felt that although it would've been relaxing to play, it wouldn't have been explicit enough to classify it as a tool for specifically reducing stress & anxiety.

So back to the drawing board, kinda.

Jim thought it would be beneficial to look at the therapies out there so I could back up my game with real life SCIENCE! A lot of it was a bit bloody wordy and by the time I knew it I was face down in psycho-dynamic psychology and wanting to cry. So I scaled it back and started looking at actions that people around me did to relax them, the weirder the better. The list is below.

Reading
Doodling
Colouring in
Painting my nails (this is mine!)
Cleaning
Fiddling with sand
Watching cat videos on YouTube
Petting kitty or doggy
Helping other people
Gardening
Walking
Chewing gum
Drawing repeat patterns
Bathing
Swearing
Doing handstands
Fishing
Writing it out
Walking barefoot
Tearing paper
Collecting things
Lying down
Learning
Blogging
Popping bubble wrap
Sitting in silence
Massaging your ears (what?!)

Before making the list I'd also looked at brain training, I've always found this a bit dull and more like education (no gamer wants to play educational games...sorry but we like guns and shooting and things) so I was always less inclined to play them. The idea behind this list was to take real life things that people think are relaxing and somehow relate this to brain training tasks that I could develop. Not sure how most of these would work but food for thought.

On a side note I love that someone said 'swearing', can I make a game where people just shout obscene four letter words at an iPad and submit it? I wish...

So now it's back to idea creation. My first initial thought was making a game that could only be played lying down but I have absolutely zero idea how I could do this and if it would even work...

The next idea came from Josh who last year showed me a game called Sailor's Dream which focuses on narrative rather than gameplay as such. The player is rewarded with more tidbits of the story and could be a tool for stress reduction simply thorough user engagement.

I really like the idea of creating something that rewards narrative as it gives me a chance to finally stretch my storytelling muscles which have remained redundant for a while. We'll see...

Plants On Mars

The task for the past week was to generate a few game ideas and get something down on paper. I toyed with a few simple ideas but nothing really grabbed me instantly. The idea that I've progressed with came to me in a very odd way, by knocking a plant off my windowsill...stick with me.

I'd been thinking about which sort of games relax me and for some reason I always come back to Sim City, now, the plant thing may seem unrelated to this but it actually isn't. For Christmas someone bought my a Grow Your Own Chilli Seeds kit which I really got into, tending to my plant every day relaxed me (see, told you it related!). So, the idea was to create a game which mixed the two things, Sim City but with plants.

I developed the idea as I always thought gardening was a tad dull, shall we say. I began thinking about the setting and came up with something that would tip the game on it's head a bit...gardening in outer space! The idea was to have each planet have a different set of plants and growing conditions and therefore, level difficulty. Further levels would be unlocked when you have harvested the required amount from your crops. I'd also introduce infrequent Alien Bug attacks where the player has to swat the bugs away on the screen to stop them from feeding off their plants.

So, I've drawn up some paper tests to show Jim & Josh tomorrow and will hopefully get some feedback and direction with where to go next.

The second idea is nowhere near as fully developed however I also have a paper test for this too. I've looked at creating a more fast paced game which will hopefully grant a sense of achievement to the player upon completion, this isn't particularly evident in the first game I thought of. It may be interesting to compare the affects of both games and find a measurement to gauge which is most successful in terms of reducing anxious feelings.

I've slightly strayed off the path there...ok, so, the second idea came to me as I was stuck in traffic on my daily commute which is something that makes my blood boil daily. The idea for the game is to have a central island and varying methods of transport (car/bus/train/plane/boat) which all travel at different speeds and have different end points. Boats and planes appear from the side of the screen and need to be guided to their harbors and airports without crashing either into each other or into the land. That is about as far as I've got with that one!

More tomorrow...

Abstract

The previous games I found were all pretty much online point and click, although I enjoyed Little Wheel, on the whole this type of game doesn't interest me. The idea with my semester 3 project is to make a game that is fun and calming at the same time, I haven't particularly found anything that ticks both of these boxes just yet.

I've started looking at more abstract next gen games which could be put into the above category of 'fun and calming'. I haven't managed to play the first two games however through my research I found these games to be recommended by other players when discussing this subject matter.

Flower

Undergarden

Even though the gameplay of these two titles is distinctly different, there are familiar aspects between the two. They both use similar colour schemes and musical styles. Following on from the games I've looked at previously, this seems to be a common occurrence within these types of games.

The next two titles I looked at are both games which I have played through and found them to have the desired outcome.

Journey

Entwined

I haven't seen either of these games mentioned through my research as yet which tells me that perhaps, the reduction of anxiety could be completely personal to the individual and how they react to certain stimuli. If this is the case, how do I design a game which can appeal to a broad audience but also has these qualities? Hmm...

Existing Games

My second lot of research is more focused on looking at pre-existing games that are either based around the subject matter of mental illness or could help in dealing with these issues. There seems to be a very limited number of games out there directly advertised as a tool for coping with stress or anxiety. At present, I have only found the one - Flowy which I looked at in my previous blog post.

The first two games I looked at deal directly with the subject matter of mental illness; they both have a similar rationale in which, through gameplay, they try to explain how depression feels and works. As you can imagine, both games are pretty dull in terms of gameplay, however I imagine that this was intentional.

Elude was the first game I looked at which looks at the constant struggle and ups and downs of depression. You play as a nameless character in a cyclical environment.

Depression Quest (catchy title...) was the second game I played through. This was less of what I would call a traditional game and more a series of questions, the answers dependent on your characters level of depression within the game.

To complete the game you must work your way through all of the questions until your answers are able to determine that you are no longer in a state of depression.

Even though neither of these games are directly about reducing levels of anxiety etc, they help build an understanding of how these certain illnesses can feel. I did find both games quite difficult to play at times, the second one in particular, as they were pretty darn miserable! Again, I believe this to be purposeful.

The next set of games are more directly linked to my project, however neither of these titles are directly advertised as 'calming' games, as such.

Little Wheel is a short game which I absolutely fell in love with. You play as a robot in a city where all other robots have lost power, your task is to bring life back into the world.

The game itself is very relaxing and friendly, it's easy to pick up and play and I believe that both of those assets will be vital in producing a successful anxiety reducing game. My belief is that games that are over-complicated will more than likely increase feelings of anxiety from the player.

The last game I looked at is flOw, a relaxing game about slow progress and evolution.

For me, this game was calming due to the physical movement using the mouse for directional control, the use of the blue colours throughout and the slow paced music. All of these gameplay elements must also be considered when designing a game with my purpose in mind.

Next I want to look at other games out there which aren't as obvious when thinking about my subject matter.

Hello, Semester 3!

(how are we on semester 3 already?!)

For my final semester I want to look at producing a game that helps to reduce symptoms of anxiety/stress. When I started this course I never imagined this is what I'd end up doing...but here we are. Anxiety and stress (particular the former) are things I struggle with pretty much everyday. Over the past six months it's pretty much got to breaking point, so, in my own little cathartic way I'm hoping that my work in semester 3 will help me tackle these issues head on. I guess this is my own self help project, maybe if I get the game made somehow it could help other people in a similar situation too.

Anyway! Onto the stuff that actually matters now.

I'm not particularly looking at something that explicitly states "play me I will reduce your anxiety levels", but something more subtle in the way it works.

My initial research will be looking into actions that are proven to reduce anxiety levels and then examining them to see how I could incorporate these into a game and/or mechanics. The list so far is as below, however I do feel like I've only just scratched the surface. I feel there maybe other, more abstract methods and actions that require a bit deeper thinking as they may be specific to the player/person in question.

• de-cluttering – tidying
• breathing exercises – slow and controlled – counting whilst breathing
• meditation
• distraction
• be artistic
• focusing on where the physical anxiety is and keep your energy there until it dissolves
• playing with sand
• making music
• yoga
• drawing things from your imagination
• relaxation – PMR progressive muscle relaxation, Dr Edmund Jacobson 1929
• visualisations – imagine a relaxing setting, colours, textures etc
• working through the worry – allowing time for the "worrying" thoughts  
• colouring books

I have also looked at a recent mobile game called, Flowy. This game is specifically designed and advertised as a tool to reduce anxiety and to aid in the reduction of panic attacks.

I'm going to continue to look into other games on the market (if there are any!) that do the same sort of thing.

An idea that Josh came up with was to look at real life methods (kite flying, jigsaws, fishing) and seeing if I could adapt those to form the beginnings of an idea.

Bye Bye Semester 2

You seemed to have taken a lifetime but you're done now! Full animation below - thank-you, Erdin!


Drop will be available for download sometime in 2016 :)

low-res

Super low res and with no sound at all, but here's the first 5 or so seconds of our animation :)