SHERYL BOH
GAME DESIGNER
REMEMBER ME
3D Virtual-Reality Escape Game
In October 2017, I participated in the International Student Game Jam at Jilin Animation Institute. The competition lasted 48 hours, involving multicultural teams that were tasked with the theme of serious games.
My team, "Remember Us", developed the game from the design research we did on Alzheimer's disease to promote awareness. The player takes the role of a person who journeys from point A to B, and then has to retrace their steps while retrieving items required before ending the level.
MY ROLES:
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DESIGNER
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UI ARTIST
DUTIES:
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Concept Design
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Translations
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Documentation
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Topic Research
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UI/UX
Achievements and Challenges
Our project won the Gold award (first-prize) in the competition. We did not have the best aesthetics but because the judges deemed our game idea concept the best fitting for the theme they had given us on the first day, we were rewarded for it.
Having only 48 hours to complete a few levels of the game, my team stayed overnight at the school to continue working despite the freezing negative temperatures. Not only did we lack sleep, it was so cold that we ran out of warm packs in the middle of the night. The school gate was also closed after midnight so we couldn't return to the dorms to collect a set of clean clothes. When morning came, we had to go straight to the award ceremony before we could freshen up.
Because of team consisted of students from Singapore, China, and Korea, there was a language barrier. There were limited translators around to help and they spent more time with other teams with more Korean members. At that time, translator applications were not very accurate and it didn't really work out well with the workplace's bad internet connection. My team chose to speak mainly in Chinese since our team leader was more comfortable with it. However, for my Korean teammate, I had to act as a translator between him and the rest of the team. As a non-Korean speaker, I had to put a lot of patience to gesture actions and use simple English terms that my Korean teammate could understand. I had to also figure out what my Korean teammate's message before relaying back to the other members in Chinese.
One of the toughest things I had to face in this project was the user interface. I was more of a 3D artist that time and did not take UI classes like some of my other classmates. The target audience were largely made up of elderly people, which meant the user interface had to be simple, large, and not too bright. We did not have a focused art style as well, since our main goal was to present the game concept of promoting awareness on dementia and Alzheimer's disease. I kept the user interface as simple as possible to ensure nothing to distraction to the player and made sure to check for feedback from the rest of the team.
The best thing I gained from this experience were the friends I made through the challenges that we faced together. Our China teammates were great hosts and brought us out on a tour around the school neighborhood. Even though our time together was a short 2 days, we still kept in contact using WeChat. My China teammates also kept their promise of showing us the snow we didn't manage to catch then by uploading a video on our group chat.
There were milestone set by the host of the competition my team had to meet. For example, coming up with a team name to encourage team spirit. Or documenting research to be submitted. These were all timed tasks that were spontaneous but interesting to participate in. My team had a lot of fun laughing about our ideas and coming up the final submission materials.
This project further developed my interest in game design rather than only focusing on digital art. It was also my first game jam.
Our team leader was interviewed by local reporters and our game was featured in the news.
