Triste
Triste (dree-steh) is a narrative-based platformer game. its design is based around the concept of loss and grief from the perspective of a Hispanic American.
This game focused a lot on personal introspection and investigation as the narrative's initial inspiration is based around the death of a friend.
This game is my first conscious step into the concept of serious games. can a game be developed to impart the worldview of someone else? and can that help inform players of alternate forms of coping?
The original exploration of this game centered on the question of what it means to grieve. upon looking for a target audience I came to the conclusion the grieving is specifically a cultural practice. to grief loss is different from culture to culture-specific touchstones being scared amongst peoples with specified traditions.
Codifying these concepts of mesoamerican grieving and intermingling it with what grieving feels like as an American from Texas. I came to this format for a game—the progression of one's lamentation through narrative.
The setting was that of the Mexican world of the dead, a part of Mexican folklore connected to the celebration of the Day of the dead. It is a border area for the dead where they exist as long as someone living can remember them and then die one last time once they are forgotten.
This idea of transitions and altered relationships is what lead to the construction of this game. What does it mean to feel the pain of loss? And how can that be codified into a mechanic?
The chart to the left shows exactly how the game's narrative informs the mechanics being utilized.
NPCs being the nonplayer characters that help progress the story.
Collision being associated with the need to activate specific triggers like text or checkpoints.