For my final artwork, I would like to create a pseudo-escape room, primarily inspired by the game Gone Home. Similar to Gone Home, I envision a highly narrative-based experience that follows the life and experiences of one elusive protagonist through personal artifacts. Ideally, this would be a room filled with artifacts (similar to an escape room) that each contribute to the story.
I want to use this game to focus on the experience of life and some of the messier elements we experience as humans, such as depression and mental health/illness. In this regard, I was inspired by my own room. Looking around my room, I feel there are a lot of elements that are quite revealing and tell a very interesting narrative about the person I am, and this is something I really want to gamify. I imagine that this experience would probably be highly auto-biographical, drawing on many elements of my own life and my own struggles through life.
Unlike an escape room, the goal of this game is not to escape— it is for the player to acquire a certain level of empathy and understanding by piecing together conclusions based on the artifacts in the room. Players would be able to unlock clues through examining artifacts (example artifacts: journals, a computer, props and items that inform the protagonist’s interests and hobbies, etc). I am also considering adding an element of mystery to the game, perhaps encouraging the player to come to an ultimate conclusion or to solve some sort of mystery.