The group decided to break the standard of adventure games , where one usually moves among ‘’ rooms ’’ and in doing so , solves the game ’ s puzzles . The agreement was that it would be interesting to focus only on one room and build the game around it . Not only would that feat be more achievable , but one could also put more effort into a single room ’ s conception and design . The group then connected the gameplay concept with our theme which the was felt conceptually close to Hikikomori .
Hikikomori is a Japanese term for a phenomenon that describes an increasing amount of Japanese youth ( mostly male ) withdrawing from society and shutting themselves into their rooms . The reason for this can be linked to a lot of different factors , mostly to those of social nature . Similar things also happen to a lesser extent in Western countries , but still there is an increasing amount of social reclusiveness . The group decided to research the reasons and mechanisms of this phenomenon and also , how the act of social withdrawal affects the mind of a person .
Story
The game ’ s story will focus on the player , who will be ‘’ thrown ’’ into this room with almost no pretext ( c . f . Martin Heidegger ’ s concept of Geworfenheit or Thrownness ). The player will slowly and gradually get to understand the world around , which will be achieved through the method of environmental storytelling . The player will see the world through the character ’ s eyes ( in first person ) and the main character will only be characterized by the room s / he resides in ( or was thrown into ). The state of the room will reflect the state of the character ’ s mind . The game will be set in a time of near fictional future , where shut-in behaviour will be made even more probable because of , say , universal income and technologies such as virtual reality . The room will feature four main walls and each of the three student game designers is tasked to design one of the three walls , while one wall is dedicated to feature the door ( the escape ). Each wall will contain interactive objects that will simultaneously serve to tell the story , but also act as puzzle elements for the gameplay . Each wall will tell something about the character . One wall will be dedicated to escapism , the other to the person ’ s fantasies and comfort and the third one will convey the reasons why the person is in such a state . When the game starts , the character will be looking at the ceiling and the player will choose which wall to look at and approach first .
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