The experience is abstracted through minigames representing either playful activities or chores, which get steadily more difficult as each family member disappears. The player then experiences some negative gameplay effects, inspired by researched trauma symptoms, which can only be mitigated by completing abstracted coping strategies. 

The purpose of the game was to generate empathy for survivors of neglect and destigmatise the subject of childhood trauma, as well as educating people about helpful coping strategies. If a full game were to be made from this concept, there would need to be extra structures in the game to facilitate this, including appropriate content warnings and accessible helplines to organisations like the NAPAC. I'd also utilise the idea of gradually revealing the context through the gameplay by steadily de-abstracting the aesthetics, similar to Brenda Romero's Train. 

Above and below are some diagrams I made to refine the design of the prototype. These plans were useful tools for ensuring the scope was manageable and for getting early feedback on the concept. 

This being the first mobile game I've worked on, I learned to apply my skills to a slightly different workflow, utilising Unity packages and regular builds for my phone to ensure everything worked correctly. Given more time, I would like to find a solution to the pervasive issue of differing aspect ratios, along with playtesting more with trauma survivors to get more informed opinions about the concept. 

Above are screenshots of the prototype coping strategy mechanic, based on Box Breathing. Because of the more serious subject matter, a lot more research went into the designs for this project, which ultimately improved the player experience, alongside the regular playtesting sessions. 

Given more time to polish this prototype, I'd focus on polishing the minigame mechanics to improve the feel of them, possibly adding animations or more detailed sprite to improve the usability too. To flesh out the idea, I could also implement more minigame concepts that would add extra variation to the gameplay. The UI is also very basic and wouldn't take much effort to improve with a more fitting font and custom sprites.