Are you sure?
A serious game about emotional abuse and self-perception
Are you sure? is a 2D side-scrolling serious game that deals with the topic of emotional abuse in relationships. The game conveys the gradual change of a stressful relationship from the perspective of the person affected and invites you to question your own perceptions and boundaries.
An atmospheric environment, visual storytelling, and interactive elements illustrate how emotional stress can affect one's own experience. The focus is not on a direct explanation of the topic, but on the experience and reflection through the game environment.
Concept and development
The project was created as an independent prototype during my Game Art and Design studies in the course „Games as Art“. From the initial idea through game design, visual design and implementation to technical realization, Are You Sure? Completely developed by me. I only used foreign sets for music and 3D assets to save some time in the four-week project period.
The prototype was implemented using the Unreal Engine 5 and combines 2D and 3D gameplay with narrative elements. Of particular importance was the design of a typographic environment that reflects the emotional state of the player character and tells the story without spoken words.
Game Design and Art Direction
The player moves through a space that changes increasingly as the game progresses. The environment serves as a visual stylistic device to depict the development of the situation and the emotional strain on the main character. The typography becomes larger and denser. The color of the surroundings first becomes a cold blue and towards the end a oppressive red.
Besides designing the game mechanics, my focus was on:
- Implementation in Unreal Engine 5
- 2D Art & Visual Design
- Environment Design
- Narrative Design
- UI design
The goal of the project
With Are You Sure? I wanted to show how games can be used to make complex social issues tangible. As a serious game, the project combines interactive entertainment with emotional engagement and demonstrates the potential of games as a medium for education and reflection. Working with limitations should also be part of the task. These were „30 seconds“ and „emotion“. Therefore, the gameplay, if you run continuously, is approximately 30 seconds. The emotion the game is meant to evoke is insecurity, because it is the feeling that can also arise from emotional abuse.