A different game experience
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Thank you to my mentor, Sai Siddartha Maram, Professor Magy Seif El-Nasr, UCSC, the Koret Foundation, the GUII Lab, and the Computational Media Department.
Can identified mechanics and narratives around religion be used as serious games to teach religion and around other vital topics?
Can identified mechanics and narratives around religion be used as serious games to teach religion and around other vital topics?
"Building a Religion inspired game using the design space, new mechanics and insights from understanding the projection and perception"
Stages of Development
Study
Study
Ethnographic study to identify Narrative Metaphors and Mechanics
Game Narrative
Game Narrative
In our early iterations, we had a "chosen one" character, Shloka, who would be the protagonist and the one the user would control. Eventually, we evolved the story so that the various Indian Deities would guide Shloka and teach her different things about Hinduism and climate change.
Mechanics
Mechanics
From our visual Ethnographic study, we identified 7 significant rituals that would be adaptable as mechanics.
Chanting, Breathing, Mudras, Holy Book Reading, Inscription, Musical Instruments, and Aarti (Light Worship).
We then have the player perform the mechanic, allowing them to help clean/fix a natural disaster. After the mechanic is performed, the player is presented with a mini-game or lecture to reinforce the knowledge they just learned, presented by the deity they invoked during the mechanic.
Level Design
Level Design
Each level follows a three-pillar structure for its stages.
The Knowledge stage is when we place a mentor (Deity) to provide knowledge about climate disasters and its consequences, or about the mechanic about to be performed.
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