Game log 2

Game Concept: Games for Culture

Game Title: Know your neighbor(?)

Team Name: Your neighbor

Team Members and Their Roles:

Gamemaster: Nicoline

Storyteller: Nicoline

Artist: Astrid

Designer: Alma

Crafter: Alma

Game Description

The game description is a key part of your game page, so take the time to craft it carefully. Include information that clearly communicates your game's cultural concept and features. Write a few sentences for each of the following points, and be creative:

• Which cultural values and cultural/societal theme are part of your game?

Our game is based on passed down knowingly or unknowingly prejudice, which creates a gap in the society, therefore our game focuses on quality between ethnic Danes and people with other ethnic backgrounds.

• How does your game communicate these cultural values/theme?

It communicates by challenging our cultural prejudices and what we think belongs in different cultural homes - Many things we associate with certain cultures are actually found in more homes than we think. Maybe we’re not so different after all?

• What interactions, stories and emotions do you want players to experience? Does the player take anything away from the game?

We hope this game will challenge the player's prejudice in an interactive/somewhat of a playful way - so instead of punishing for “wrong” answers the game encourages reflection on the players choices and how the world isn’t black/white.We hope this game will encourage dialog in the sense that the players will reflect on how we understand culture and identity. Hopefully this game will help the players identify and challenge their prejudices in a non-judgemental way. We will focus on creating a simple game with a strong message. 

• How will your game create a ‘cultural gameworld’ and ‘empowering gameplay’?

We decided to have these focuses:  EU-value: equality, gametype: puzzle/sandbox, cultural heritage: cultural stories, cultural/societal theme: social inclusion/exclusion

We want the player to click around on the things they don’t think belong in the home to raise awareness of the prejudice they have towards other cultures and the tendency to have a them and us perspective on life

Look at all you have produced during the “Experience phase” and from each

cultural game jam role reflect on (also using images or other documentation

methods to illustrate the process and results):

Reflect on how, in your different roles, you are including your chosen values, cultural heritage, game type and cultural/societal theme as core elements in your game's aesthetics, story, design, and interaction. Consider how these elements are being used in ways that are meaningful, surprising, or innovative.

• We decided to have these focuses:  EU-value: equality, gametype: puzzle/sandbox, cultural heritage: cultural stories, cultural/societal theme: social inclusion/exclusion
• The gamemaster made sure to take pictures of our different methods: taking pictures of our post-it’s, when we concept converged, our sketches and so on. They made sure to document every step and keep the process going by suggesting when to move to another method to keep the workflow going.
• The storyteller focused on how the cultural heritage was being projected through the game and how the story should evolve to make the player understand our message and story. Do we want to broadcast the message as a shock effect? Or should it evolve during the game?
• The artist focused on how the apartment visually should look to make it apparent that a person from another culture lives there, but still with the focus that we do not want to reinforce stereotypes, but make the player aware of their prejudice. The inspiration of the apartment comes from the artwork “Dawn hours in the neighbour’s house”. 
• The designer worked close together with both the crafter and the storyteller to create the desired interaction between the player and the game. We want the player to click around on the things they don’t think belong in the home. 
• The crafter focused on how the game interaction should work in reality. We wanted there to be a response every time the player clicked on an item in the apartment in the game, to make the player think about their choice. This way the player would constantly be questioned about cultural heritage and their prejudice regarding foreigners. 

After presenting to the Expert Council, summarise your overall game concept that integrates your chosen values, cultural heritage, game type, and cultural/societal theme.

In our game you are presented with an apartment that belongs to a danish family, here you get a message that says “You have to choose five objects that don’t belong in this apartment”. Everytime you click on any of the objects in his apartment, you hear/read a message that says “Why would this not belong in Mustafa's apartment?”. After choosing five items, you are presented with a final message “All of these things could belong in Mustafa's apartment. Be aware of your prejudice”. 

Our focus for cultural heritage is the prejudice we pass down to our children, knowingly or unknowingly - it is therefore intangible. 

Our chosen value is equality, because no matter what your background is you belong, and should have equal rights in the community.

• What new experiences or interactions are you trying to achieve? Why is your game unique and significant in terms of culture, gameplay, and empowered participation?

We have never encountered a game like this before. Even though we have “forced” you to choose items that don’t belong, we use the power of the game to make you perhaps realise your prejudice. Even though the game isn’t necessarily fun, it hopefully will make you think. 

• Explain what sets your gameplay and player experience apart from other games and include brief reflections from the team members on their roles as culture-makers and their approach to creating a game for culture.

This game challenges the player's prejudice in an interactive/somewhat of a playful way - so instead of punishing for “wrong” answers the game encourages reflection on the players choices and how the world isn’t black/white. We hope this game will encourage dialog in the sense that the players will reflect on how we understand culture and identity. 

• Identify key areas of focus for the next phase in creating a compelling game for culture. Provide short reflections from the team members on how they plan to advance the game concept through working in their role and with cultural heritage, EU values, and cultural/societal theme.

The game supports the idea of how cultural heritage doesn’t belong to one specific group of people, but how it can be shared across society. Hopefully this game will help the players identify and challenge their prejudices in a non-judgemental way. 

We will focus on creating a simple game with a strong message. 

• Include visual/written documentation from the Play phase and your methods, as well as of Expert Council Presentation & Feedback Capture Grid Play

• Concept convergence

<-- The idea we went with

Culture + Value + Game collage:

We collected pictures to create different apartments based on stereotypes. 

We were inspired by Pipilotti Rists “Dawn Hours in the Neighbour’s House”. We liked the concept of imagining what is going on behind closed doors, and the fact you don’t necessarily know your neighbor. We incorporated this in our game, by “forcing” the player to make assumptions about a fictional neighbor. This perhaps shows their prejudice, and hopefully makes them aware in the future.

6-8-5 Game Sketching:

Council Capture Card:

Storyboard: