6. Alix & Jonah
Video game about interpersonal involvement
People are social beings by nature. We interact constantly, creating emotional bonds that help us to be happy: loving and being loved, caring and being cared for.
However, relationships are not always easy and sometimes there is an imbalance between what we can give and the involvement that is expected of us. Finding a middle ground is essential, since it defines the way in which we relate to the people around us and to ourselves. This dilemma is very present in our lives, as we have all felt bad at times when we tilted the balance too much to one of those sides.
For this reason, we present Alix and Jonah, an interactive playful installation that addresses the issue of interpersonal involvement through the story of two characters. With a simple look and dynamics, it invites players to reflect on empathy and the balance between caring for others and ourselves. Using the visual novel typology, the players have to make decisions that will condition the way in which their storyline evolves, to arrive at some reflections or others. When dealing with a topic that is close to everyone, the attitudes taken by each of the players and the conclusion drawn from them can easily be transferred to their real lives. The game thus acts as a mirror of the way of relating to those who interact with it, inviting introspection in order to make it more aware.
In this project I was envolved on the design process and also in charge of the illustrations for the game. If you want to take a better look to the illustrations, click here.
Note: This project started as an assignment for university, where we were only asked to deliver a demo version of the game. However, we decided to keep working on it with the aim to evolve it to a phone game. Alix y Jonah is still on an early stage, but we’ll do our best for it to flourish as son as we can.
Final project for my “Playful Interactive Installations” class
3rd year of ELISAVA’s Interaction Design degree, 2020
Work by Marta Pou de Avilés, Andie Puentes and Samanta Roman.
3rd year of ELISAVA’s Interaction Design degree, 2020
Work by Marta Pou de Avilés, Andie Puentes and Samanta Roman.