Hi M4uesviecr and Bricabrac
Thanks alot for posting your thoughts!
It's really nice to hear some feedback. And thanks for the kind words.
Dealing with this subject is really difficult. As you say, I have to tread carefully when making this game.
First of all it is important to underline that I respect psychiatry and people diagnosed with a mental illness.
Most "asylum" games are survival horror games that uses the subject as a theme or a setting.
My thought was to take the subject and turn it into gameplay as well.
And doing this in a respectful manner.
I think one of the ways to do this is to distance the game from the real world.
Though the game is inspired by stories and treatments from the history of psychiatry, the game is pure fiction.
It is set in a surreal parallel world, outside time and place.
Diagnoses, treatments and characters will all be fictive.
The game will not be historically correct in any way.
It is a game. A piece of entertainment that uses a serious subject to make the player reflect on ethics.
The intention is to make a game that focuses on the ethical dilemmas that occur when being in control over another person.
I do not have a solution to anything in the medical world or in politics concerning psychiatry.
This game will simply reflect on the difficult ethical dilemmas in that can occur in psychiatry.
As anyone else, I think psychiatry is really important, and I respect anyone working in this field.
I also intend to show the good side of psychiatry, so I understand how the trailer can be confusing.
The trailer IS meant to shock and make you feel a bit uneasy. It shows a playthrough that goes wrong.
I chose to show the dark side of the game in the trailer. As psychiatric history also has a dark side, I think it would be disrespectful to pretend nothing bad happened throughout history.
Instead of being subtle, I went all the way and showed the worst things possible (within my own boarders) to see what the reactions would be. This way I can turn the horrors down again - to a more fitting level. I will not turn it up from here.
I am actually planning on going in a much more subtle direction. But I needed to see how this would play out.
My gut feeling tells me that a more minimalistic, and lighter approach will fit this game better.
And the main concept will still be intact. I am convinced that players will go through the same emotions even if the darker things happen offscreen, in a much milder way, or.. perhaps only in letters.
This would make it much more elegant.
This first take on the game was an experiment and an important part of the research.
And a good way to start a conversation about the game. Such as this!
So by all means, share your ideas. Let's make this game together.
This is a complicated task. So help me make an interesting game about mental illness that deals with the subject in a respectful way.
Thanks a again for sharing your thoughts
Take care,
- Malte
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