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Alive,
A Life,
A Living
# Graphic design, illustration, ui/ux design, game development
Role
Creator
Developer-Designer
Graphic artist
Timeline
20 weeks
(Jan - Jun 2024)
Tools
Godot
Procreate
Figma
Alive, A Life, A Living is a 2D desktop game (↗) that explores work-life balance (and lack thereof), the importance of breaks, and being okay with just being.
This game was exhibited in Adam D. Kamil Gallery and Mandeville Center, UCSD as part of We’re Not Old Enough to Know What Dying Means, the 3-day ICAM 2024 senior showcase.
01. About
Overview
WORK-LIFE BALANCE AND LACK THEREOF.
Alive, A Life, A Living is a 2D desktop game that explores work-life balance (and lack thereof), the importance of breaks, and being okay with just being. Players follow the main character, U, as they tackle their biggest project to date. Under the stress of completing the project that will “make or break” the company’s future and their own, U puts their all into their job, with seemingly little regard for much else. While U toils away at their desk, players are encouraged to watch out for U’s energy, stress, hunger, bladder, hygiene, and social levels, all of which will decrease as U works. Here, the game tasks players with taking care of U by helping them make big decisions—whether or not to work more or eat, sleep, see friends, take a break, or anything but work—and convincing them to make the right ones, contrary to what U might think. Ultimately, Alive, A Life, A Living explores life as more than survival, more than making a living; it’s about choosing yourself, even when it doesn't feel “right.”
Why
REFLECTIONS, SELF-AWARENESS, AND POTENTIAL SHARED EXPERIENCES
There’s a certain irony about making a game about work-life balance when the creator doesn’t have any of that. For me, it’s taken some time to realize that it’s alright to not spend every waking moment busy. Concepts like self-care have only just started becoming practices, and it’s all too easy to slip back into the work-grind mindset. Creating Alive, A Life, A Living has given me time to reflect on my own work-life balance and relationship with work, as well as an opportunity to find the words to describe my experiences and share that with others. Through U, we see what it’s like to lose oneself to overwork and continue to justify it, despite the toll it has on the body. Inner conversations like “I can eat when I finish this one last thing” and behaviors like refusing to sleep due to work may feel familiar, if not too real. It’s easy to tell someone else to take a break. Not for ourselves.
02. Development
Ideation
INITIAL SKETCHES
The main character of the game is ‘U’, someone who works from home and doesn’t seem to do much outside of work. As such, the first focus was to quickly sketch out the character, their room, and the main scene that players would spend their time in. The above paper sketches depict a rather scruffy girl in a small room with a few extras: U scrounging around in their fridge, a very broad layout of the main scene and interface, and the format of a cutscene.
Iterating, iterating.
MAPS, LAYOUTS, AND GAME LOGIC
After quick paper sketches, I moved on to creating a more defined view of the main map (the home), the two gameplay modes (working and battle), and a storyboard for the game’s introduction on Procreate to serve as references when the visual style is decided and assets are made. A diagram outlining the general decision tree and gameplay was also created on FigJam to brainstorm a list of necessary mechanics.
MOVEMENT AND THE FIRST FORAY INTO GODOT
Using the sketches drawn in the previous stage, I drew a high-fidelity version in Procreate and imported it into Godot along with other interface components: the project completion bar, need icons and progress bars, and a sprite sheet of U walking up, right, left, and down. Since I had never used Godot before, my previous programming experiences in Java and Python, combined with online tutorials covering the engine and its language (GDScript), quickly came in clutch. The GIF above shows U, now able to walk around and explore the map.
BATTLES AND BREAKS
To convince U to take a break, the player must engage in a battle with U, picking the most effective arguments to shut down U’s. The above three sketches depict the layout and process of one such battle, while the following image shows the first draft, which heavily referenced the sketches and didn’t make it into the final iteration due to the perspective and the rightmost U’s line of sight not quite hitting U.
Final Stages
WE’RE NOT OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW WHAT DYING MEANS EXHIBITION
The exhibition version of Alive, A Life, A Living was complete with introduction cutscenes, the classic gameplay mode that allowed players to take care of U and send U to work, the battle mode which gave players an opportunity to convince U to take a break, various break cutscenes, 4 different endings and 4 early endings, tutorials, and a speed button. If you’d like to play for yourself, visit vyntri.itch.io/alive-a-life-a-living.
