Game Diary: Loneliness
Developed By: Jordan Magnuson (Necessary Games) Platform: Flash (Web-Browser) Played: January 2016 Replayed: September 26, 2016 http://www.necessarygames.com/my-games/loneliness/flash
Explanation
Loneliness is an extremely simple game. I played it near its original release, and was reminded of it when I played Depression Quest. The game is from a top down perspective, and all you do is move (primarily towards the top of the screen). The player character is a small square, and other squares disperse any time you get close them. There are no puzzles or challenges to complete, and plays more like an interactive experience. The game ends once you reach the black void at the top of the screen.
Verbs
The only verb present in Loneliness is moving. You can move forward, backward, left and right, but you mostly just move forward.
Dynamics
Since the game throws the player in without much of an explanation, they may initially try avoiding the other squares, thinking they might hurt them.
Other players might move towards all of the squares, trying to find ones that they can befriend.
The further the player walks ahead, they may choose to just give up trying to find other squares to befriend, because they think none of them will stay.
It is entirely possible to finish the game by holding forward.
Additional Notes
There is a slow piano song playing, which adds to the emotion the player feels while playing the game.
The background progressively becomes more grey and cloudy, adding to the gloomy
feeling of the game.
Alongside the game’s music and visuals, the games mechanics, and the dynamics they evoke, all perfectly relay the theme of loneliness. Whether that be all of the squares rejecting you, trying to find anyone to befriend, or simply giving up because you feel it’s no longer worth it. However it is played, it fits the theme the creator was going for.
It was created for anyone who has ever felt lonely (specifically students that Magnuson taught in Korea), though I feel it works better to educate people who have not felt those emotions to better understand others. It makes one consider reaching out to the people around them who may be reaching out for anyone but can’t find anyone to care.
This Extra Credits video does a great job discussing the mechanics of this game as metaphor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QwcI4iQt2Y
Similar Games
Depression Quest
Design Ideas
I love how a game this small can hold such a powerful statement. Every single fiber of this game, from mechanics to visuals to music, revolves around the theme of loneliness. I would love to create a game like this, but centered around something like anxiety (which I have struggled with personally). Instead of the other people all walking away from you, getting close to them would cause some very unpleasant sensations on the screen. It could portray just one day in the life of someone who goes through such things. Nothing big or long, but every design choice in the game would work towards that theme.
