Development of an immersive narrative videogame with a mental health background

Abstract

Videogames are widely known for not only being an entertainment place but for also being capable of helping people in many different ways. This document presents the technical report of the Final Degree Project "Development of an immersive narrative videogame with a mental health background". The work consists in the development of a 3D videogame in Unity that immerses the players and help them avoid their circumstances, like anxiety or stress, focused on dealing with mental issues in a non-explicit way, while at the same time playing a videogame and telling an story. Furthermore, the game is not just a "therapeutic" game, but a fun game that anyone could play. The idea is to create an original, curious, and friendly appearance to make the ambience and atmosphere of the game even more unique. In order to meet this requirements, firstly there will be an exhaustive investigation about mental issues, specially anxiety, depression and ADHD (Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder). On the other hand, the art style will be toon-shaded [1] by using Unity shader programming. This will help the immersion of the player in the game’s world (making it similar to a tale), and for this purpose it is important to develop an interesting story. The game will be a third-person sandbox [42], kind of a little open world mainly set in an outside location (an island) where the main character has ended after a shipwreck. But after some time, it will be discovered that the island is not alone. The objectives will be to explore the place, find the islanders and talk with them to solve their problems, reunite elements... and explore the inside of the protagonist that must adapt to this new environment and confront his inner world before being ready to reach the end of the story. This character can have similar aspects with the player and the islanders, so the player can feel more identified.