oasis

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oasis is a digital experience that provides an informative, meditative, experience about the 6 stages of grief using a 3D game platform as its medium.

A mother-like character will guide the player through 6 different environments, each representing the stages of grief introduced by psychiatrist Kübler-Ross.

Where can I play oasis?

oasis is available on the Dreams software on PS4. Once you have opened Dreams, search “oasis robin”. Enjoy!

Why did you create oasis?

Grief is an emotion that we all have felt to some degree, whether it be a loss of something you loved, or someone you loved.

I wanted to see how I can use design & technology to touch upon this topic, and provide a space where individuals can reflect and learn about the topic for those who seek it.

Video games can be engaging, but currently existing games are not as informative as papers & lectures.

This article talks about the varieties of grief experience.

Papers & lectures can be informative, but currently existing ones are not be as engaging for most people.

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Video games such as Gris only use the topic of grief as a thematic, storytelling element.

I wanted to see if combining information with a more engaging medium can create a new, valuable experience.

Full Gameplay

Oasis is not in a traditional videogame style where users are given objectives to solve.

More of a meditative & informative experience

My Creation Process

Research

Now that I have all of the information to include in the experience, I can proceed to think about how to create it.

The 6 stages of grief:

The stages are not experienced linearly.

One may experience a stage for longer, repeat stages, or skip them.

Grief applies to loss of things as well.

Losing a childhood home.

Losing a special piece of jewelry.

Losing a job.

“It’s not a map, but it provides some scaffolding for this unknown world.”

- Kubler-Ross

Deciding on where to build this project

I chose to develop my project on dreams because I had a limited timeframe and I wanted to prioritize creating a complete piece. I’d like to create the experience on unity to make it more accessible one day.

User Experience Flowchart

User experience flowchart: a simplified overview of the experience.

Mood board

Overall look & feel of the experience.

Words that describe the overall look & feel: calming, meditative, gentle, supportive, reliable, contemplative, immersive, beautiful, elegant, mysterious.

Denial

Anger

Bargaining

Acceptance

Depression

Meaning

1st Person Perspective or 3rd Person Perspective?

An unexpectedly complex issue I was presented with was whether to use 1st person or 3rd person perspective.

I gathered feedback from game developers, professors, and classmates and created a list of pro’s and con’s.

I ultimately decided on the 3rd scenario to make the experience as simple as possible for the players.

Music Design & Production

First, I studied how other videogame music was designed.

I was very excited to discover that the structure of the music for Journey actually assisted greatly in creating such an impactful experience. I realized that they added a new instrumental tune to the already existing tune each time the player does a correct action in order to create heightening excitement and signify progression. I also learned that the soundtracks loop at around 60 seconds, which helped me decide how long I needed my soundtracks to be.

Then, I commissioned Azhar Rahadian to create a soundtrack for each of the six stages. After a few tweaks here and there, the tracks were complete. Luckily I was able to receive funding from Parsons.