Mental Exorcise

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My Thesis work is centered around the experiences of living with undiagnosed mental illnesses and the lens in which we view our own struggles. The state of one’s mental health affects every aspect of our lives, from the way we interact with others, to the world around us, and to ourselves. I’m interested in the methods I use to cope with my own existence and to blend into a neurotypical society. While oftentimes our perception of our own minds can skew increasingly negative, I explore a more complex relationship with ourselves in order to refocus the way in which we talk about and approach these topics.

Video games had always been an interest of mine since I was little and had been in effect a long-time coping mechanism and form of escapism for me. I was interested in games as coping mechanism then being used as a medium to then talk about coping mechanisms themselves creating an almost meta type relationship.

The game I’ve Created is entitled Mental Exorcize. A visual novel game. The game follows the player as they attempt to deal a mischievous spirit that is the personification of the players mental health symptoms. The player exists in these semi-realistic, painted spaces, however they and the people around them exist as digital avatars. Mental health can be incredibly isolating and can cause us to feel the same kind of disconnect with our surroundings and forcing us to project a false version of ourselves as avatars for others to perceive as our authentic selves do not align what is acceptable.

[If the game is not working in your current browser I recommend trying to play it on chrome]

Credits: Music from PlayOnLoop.com

Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 4.0