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Thesis Project: Fitting Burdens
🤝Team of 8 core members
🥇 I was the game designer, project manager, art director & UI/UX designer
⏳2 months of production, 6 months of concept & iterations
Introduction
Empathy Through Experience
Fitting Burdens is a narrative 2D organization puzzle game that demonstrates some struggles and coping mechanisms of living and growing up in a Vietnamese household, inspired by experiences of my own and others’ from the same culture.
My intent was to drive empathy and emotional understanding through a narrative-driven game inspired by the theme of Asian intergenerational & family trauma with a simple core mechanic.
Research
Discussion
Research
I was born in Vietnam, during its recovery period from war - a time of rapid economical and social changes.
Growing up, I noticed a lot of gaps in understanding and communication between me and my family, mostly with the previous generations: my parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. I also noticed a pattern of behavior and response to childhood trauma caused by a toxic family environment common among people from my background.
Hiding & Compartmentalizing To Cope With Trauma
I posted anonymously on a Facebook group (subtle asian mental health) asking people about their coping mechanisms growing up in an Asian household and received almost 100 replies.
I then compiled the data to see which mechanisms were mentioned a lot and rounded them down to the ones in which I can turn into a game mechanic. From that, I developed my main gameplay mechanic.
Trauma-coping mechanisms
Compartmentalization
Separating emotions, thoughts, and memories into different mental compartments that are isolated from one another.
Hiding and Avoidance
avoiding reminders of the traumatic event or hiding one's emotions related to the trauma.
Sorting/Organization
Game?
The core mechanic is dragging an item into a designated area and organizing it so it would fit. The act of placing things in an area, sorting and organizing them has similarities to compartmentalization. Choosing to place items in a hidden location also is similar to hiding or avoidance mechanisms.
Interviews
Unstructured Interviews
I interviewed my mom, dad and some friends to ask about their lives and relationship with their families. My parents are Vietnamese and my friends are Chinese and Vietnamese. I've incorporated these stories in the game.
My mom was always compared to her siblings when she was younger, and was the least favorite child of my grandma due to her being a female. She was constantly criticized by my grandma every time she made a mistake.
My dad's biggest struggle growing up was being poor. He had to live in a community house and often snuck out to do side gigs and make money to pay tuition.
My friend wanted to pursue music as a career but faced a lot of backlash from her family as they wanted her to become a doctor. She went to med school, dropped out and pursued music anyway.
Constant criticism every time you make a mistake/can't fit an item
Hiding music award because family is unsupportive of music career
Analysis
Precedent Analysis
I read books, documents and watched videos to learn more about the topic of family and intergenerational trauma. Aside from that, I also played and analyzed other games to learn the way they convey narrative and themes through gameplay.
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I have documented some of the analysis in this Sheet. Here are a few ways I've conveyed meaning through gameplay.
Earlier level: The character is younger, less academic pressure, can bring toys to school, everything fits in the bag with extra space
Later level: The character grew up, more academic expectations, everything fits in the bag tightly, no space for fun and childhood memories
Earlier level: The character's family is happy in their home, there's space on the shelf for everything
Later level: The character moved to relative's house, the shelf does not have enough space for their things, their items are less prioritized and placed lower
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The character's attempt of nourishing the relationship with mom was unsuccessful
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The character placing broken items in the trash after argument with mom and getting insulted/yelled at
Development
Development
I designed the whole experience, led a team of 8, managed the project, and directed the art and music of the game. In this section I will show what I did for each stage and aspect of the game.
Iterations
Early Iterations
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Idea 1
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Game Genre: Walking simulator
Platform: PC -
Mechanic: walking, jump, call out, pick up/drop off item
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Aesthetic: Abstract fantasy world with influences of Vietnam 80s-90s interior design and now
Idea 2
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Game Description: autobiographical platformer game with the theme of family trauma & strained family relationship
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Mechanic: walk, jump, dodge, pick and drop items, and unlock more skills later on.
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See Figma for more level design details
Final Idea - Early Stage
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Game Description: narrative 2D organization puzzle game that demonstrates some struggles and coping mechanisms of living and growing up in a Vietnamese household
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Gameplay: The player drags items to an area and organizes them
Goal: Place enough items in the right place to move to the next level -
See Figma for mockups of first 7 levels
Narrative
Narrative Development
This game has 25 levels in total and is divided into 3 main stages: Happy Childhood, Troubling Teenage Years and Moving On. The narrative is told through the art, audio, gameplay and cutscenes in-between.
Happy Childhood:
Love and happy childhood memories
Troubling Teenage Years:
Neglect, suffocation and depression
Rebellion and individuality
Moving On: Healing and reconciliation
Different color schemes are used throughout the stages to better convey the mood and narrative. Each color scheme means a different thing, noted above. Each character is also associated with a different color.
To understand how the gameplay and narrative were designed fully, please see this Sheet under Story page and this Slide. I've included a snippet here.
Art Direction
Art Direction, Assets & Cutscenes
Art Direction
The game is set in the Vietnam late 90s-2000s period. The mood for most of the game is nostalgia and melancholy.
View the full Art Direction Document on Google Slides
Assets
Assets - Items & Backgrounds
I worked with 2 artists to create items and backgrounds for the game. I handed tasks to them on Item Instructions & Background Instructions. There are individual requests for each item e.g. description, color palette, reference, perspective, corrections, etc.
Cutscenes
Cutscenes
I also worked with 3 artists for the cutscenes of the game. I provided the initial sketch then handed them to my artists for sketch refinement and filling in primary colors. Then I rendered them in Meitu AI Art for instant shadows, highlights and details. Then I tweaked them in Photoshop and Procreate to get the final desired results and more uniformity. I also used this Sheet to instruct the artists.
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Audio & Music
Audio
I recorded my voice as narration for the game. Sometimes an audio of a character (the mom) speaking is triggered when the player places an item. The audio of the mom praising the main character can be heard in the Happy Childhood phase, and changes to demands, criticisms and insults in the Troubling Teenage Year phase, and finally stops and ends with apologies in the Moving On stage.
Happy Childhood - Praises
Troubling Teenage Year - Insults, Criticisms & Demands
Moving On - Apologies
Explanations and Narration
Audio
Music
The background music was made by my friends. I instructed them through this Trello. Each music piece fits with the mood of the corresponding stage/event in the game.
Happy Childhood - Nostalgia and Contentment
Troubling Teenage Years - Depression and Turbulence
Troubling Teenage Years - Drama & Dream
Music
Product
Impact
Impact
I had a lot of people playtesting my game and watched the full gameplay demo at the Parsons Pop-Up Exhibit and Screening & Performance event. A lot of people came to me to express how moved they are by my game.
Link to my symposium talk
Link to my exhibit site
"My parents were so against me pursuing my dream and I still did against all odds. I'm no longer in contact with them. Your game makes me feel understood." - Jia.
"Your use of music and audio in the game is incredible. It makes me feel things I never even experienced. I still remember the emotion it brings until now." - Harry.
Future Steps
I'm planning to submit this project to any suitable game or design competitions. I'd also fix and polish the game so that I can release it on Steam. Furthermore, I'm hoping to make the game mobile-compatible and release it on the App Store/Google Play.
Since I was on a huge production crunch to get this project in shape for submission, I sacrificed time for more user testing/playtests. I only had around 3 user testing sessions throughout the development process. I will recruit more people to try playing the game and get feedback for improvements in the next version.
If you've read until this point, you're a legend. I hugely appreciate anyone taking their time to look through my project. Thank you so much :)
Future