ID: Ich, Du (und alle anderen)
Half a year after my bachelor's thesis game was presented at the bachelor's exhibition, it is now available as a download on this website.
The version is still largely the one that could be seen at the exhibition, with an additional, though very rough, English translation added.
Still, there are some bugs around. It might be best to understand the current state of the game as a tech demo: Most of the functionality is here, but it still lacks content and proper balancing. Play around – and tell me what you think.
Download
- ID: Me, You (and everybody else) – Mac OS X Intel, Revision 117
- ID: Me, You (and everybody else) – Windows, Revision 117
Known issues
- Some dialogue options lead astray or produce errors. If you encounter one, please let me know the last working option. Pressing ESC will allow you to interrupt the dialogue and start again.
- Moving around while carrying the moving box and looking at the floor will make you bump around – weird physics. Should have exchanged the box model with another one upon picking it up.
- Kicking the ball around might result in it dropping out of the level.
The complete list of all known issues can be found over here.
If you encounter bugs or have other suggestions, please get in touch with me. Thank you!
Given the fact that I've produced a game that is all about bullying as my bachelor's thesis, I'm now more aware of the topic. Even more so given the fact that the game in its current form is still more a proof of concept rather than a proper game. Since I plan to finish and release the game at some point, I keep an eye open for any developments and insights on the field.
It is therefore extremely interesting to stumble on a recent study by Alice E. Marwick and Danah Boyd called The Drama! Teen Conflict, Gossip, and Bullying in Networked Publics. The authors argue that teenagers are wary to call bullying what it is. Instead, they opt to call it "drama".
Using drama, the teenagers are able not to get pushed into the role of the victim, instead staying above the situation:
Dismissing a conflict that’s really hurting their feelings as drama lets teenagers demonstrate that they don’t care about such petty concerns. They can save face while feeling superior to those tormenting them by dismissing them as desperate for attention. Or, if they’re the instigators, the word drama lets teenagers feel that they’re participating in something innocuous or even funny, rather than having to admit that they’ve hurt someone’s feelings. Drama allows them to distance themselves from painful situations.
Obviously, this does not solve the underlying problem. Bullying still happens, just by another name. Feelings still get hurt, and this needs to be addressed. Yet, it is something that I will have to keep in mind when developing the story further.
Robert Yang kindly asked me to translate the article about my level design considerations for my bachelor's thesis game. I'm slightly afraid that he is going to be disappointed, since this is not so much a theoretical approach to architecture and level design in general, but rather my thoughts and motivations for creating the specific level architecture for my own game.
When starting to design the level, I considered the following points to be the main guiding lines:
Isolation
With the game being a serious game and a bachelor's project, I have neither the time (now) nor the money (in the future, when, hopefully, I'll be able to finish and publish the game) to create a large, open world.
