Zoopany |
2D & 3D RPG | Platform: PC | Engine: Unreal 5 | Team Size: 10 | Role: Art Director, 3D Artist, Researcher
A 2D-3D co-op narrative RPG aimed to inform players about toxicity in the workspace.
Created for the Serious Games Capstone class from May 2022 - March 2023.
A 2D-3D co-op narrative RPG aimed to inform players about toxicity in the workspace.
Created for the Serious Games Capstone class from May 2022 - March 2023.
|
Project Details: Zoopany is a narrative-driven, role-playing co-op game that places players into the perspective of an employee experiencing their first job at a small game development company. Navigate through social challenges and evaluate the best “next steps” for your character with your friends, family, or co-workers! As the chapter closes, the decisions your team made will improve or worsen the future of the game development company and its employees. Will your team be the one to lead Zoopany to a brighter future? My Contributions:
Zooployees: Jessica Wei, Mia King, Jarreau Ortega, Dennis Zabluda, Yuxiao Wang, Kendra Shu Collaborators: Brent Hopkins, Derusha Baskaran, Lance Mendoza, Chris Gayle Background:
The People Make Game’s video, Investigating Three Indie Superstars Accused of Emotional Abuse, brought our attention to news of abusive leaders in the game industry and toxic behaviors commonly found in the workplace. We determined that the problem is that it’s difficult to prevent, identify, and deal with the abuse from co-workers, especially when the abuser’s status is higher than the abused. Our solution is a game-based approach that can provide an engaging experience and improve the motivational aspect missing from current tedious training tools. Serious Game Objective:
One of the two primary objectives of the game is to bring awareness to the various kinds of abuse that are present within the game development industry, specifically gaslighting. A first-person perspective where players are able to drive the narrative and make choices themselves makes the experience more personal to the players. After experiencing each type of abuse first-hand, it would make it easier for players to remember that experience and remember the term associated with that. The second primary objective is to create empathy in our players by placing them in different perspectives and experiences in the game industry. Although the game could be played by one person, we strongly encourage players to play in teams to generate discussion. This discussion is incredibly valuable to the players when creating empathy because they will also be exposed to stories or experiences that their team members may have gone through. |