He Plays the Game

Artist Statement:

I chose the only obsession in my book, cancer. Cancer is a big part of my life. I've lost several family members to cancer and have many who are high risk. I spend most of my time thinking about cancer. How to help people with cancer. Wondering if I have cancer. If others I love will get cancer. Missing the people I'v already lost. It's the only thing I think about every day. 

I wanted to explore the theme of moving forward from loss in my game rather than centering the story around the disease itself. I have had a lot of guilt about leaving the people I love behind every day I live without them. In my jewish tradition, funerals are traditionally held three days after a death, meaning the main character's husband would have died about two days before. I thought it would be interesting to explore the immorality of moving on, especially so soon. I've always wondered if there is a true difference between moving forward and moving on which I tried to implement through the protagonist's doubt in her actions creeping through seemingly unprompted. 

In regards to game definition, I definitely chose to have a focus on narrativism. I wanted to make a story first, game second. I wanted all stories, regardless of choice, to have the same ending. I only wanted the story to change based on the journey you take to get there. Based on how you interact with the love interest, how far you decide to "move on", the player's feelings at the end could feel different. Different levels of guilt, regret, pride. I was inspired by the game Night in the Woods mentioned by Nat Mesnard in the Branching Infinity article where there are "key" points that always happen. In this case the key point is the ending. The character will always have to go home and face his son. There's nothing the player can do to change that. The same way I couldn't change a cancer diagnosis or death, no matter how hard I tried.