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Depression in games [The Darkest Emptiness]

Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2023 2:30 pm
by Hallestein
Hello, randomness from the Internet.

The existence of this forum has been revealed to me for a long time. qish did it. Now you know who to blame for the growth of the new shitposting. /kiwif

Well, I'm developing a game. qish has generously allowed the use of his archive tracks, which are phenomenally combined with the visual and narrative that is presented in the game. I can't imagine what kind of music would be better than these tracks.

The game is being developed on fuel from cheap beer and ready-made noodles, and I've been trying to bring this to an end for a year and a half. At the moment, there are 25 1920/1080 illustrations in the game, which I drew with a single-pixel brush. I wanted to create an effect like in paint, but it turned out something new.

The Darkest Emptiness is about inner emptiness and the feeling that life is meaningless and full of pain. I started developing it when I dropped out of the second university (and I have three incomplete educations in total, lmao). The game is about the fact that a person can be depressed, even if he has everything for a seemingly comfortable life.

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The main character lives in his apartment, he has clothes, food, clean water, a computer, living and loving relatives. But he's about to commit suicide. Why?

He doesn't really fully understand that something is wrong with him, but he is trying to figure it out. People in Russia are used to thinking that depression does not exist. That this is a disease invented by lazy people to justify idleness.

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I want to show that depression can look like this. That a person does not have to be poor or sick. I also want to show that this is an ugly, vile disease that should not be romanticized once again. How many cute girls have you seen with problems in their heads? There are millions of them. This image is popular and it is being bought. Everyone wants to help such a girl, because she is so sweet and unhappy. My hero is deliberately a male. I want to avoid inappropriate beauty and interrupt the desire to romanticize my hero. Why don't we romanticize diseases of the gastrointestinal tract? Depression is the same disease.

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In addition, people in Russia are afraid to go to psychiatrists. In part, this is a justified fear. But to a greater extent it is inspired by stereotypes from the last century. I want to show what kind of thought cycle a person goes through before deciding to ask for medical help. I want to show that everyone may ask for help.

In conclusion, I will reveal some figures: there are 6 diverse endings in the game, and it will take up to 3 hours for the entire passage. It will cost 1.99 USD

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Steam page.

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Lol, have you really read to the end? xD

Re: Depression in games [The Darkest Emptiness]

Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2023 2:23 pm
by player1
Wishlisted it, though I'm not quite sure what to expect from another spin on "muh depression" the indie game!
Though there are major factors that makes me genuinely interested in this game. First, I really dig the artstyle of the novel. Really love the whole pencil feeling, cuz it's one of the artistic items that I would associate with depression.
Second, the most important one is that the whole post actually relevant to me. As I once was (or still is?) a person who "has everything (at least it seems like this) he wants but still wants to die" and being that kind of person, who doesn't want to go to psychiatrist, what can offer your project is actually intriguing.
It's way interesting to see depression of a ruskie manly man, rather than some shit from West where it is not frowned upon as much as it is in Russia and actually not that hard to get help. "Ohhh look at me I'm sooo depressed I'm sooo tragic" /fuckoff
I wonder if it will be a tragic sob story about sui side, or maybe a story with a happi ending... Or maybe just a neutral one with no real closure, as some may find salvation from this curse, or meet long awaited damnation, but who knows what awaits next. /suicide101

Re: Depression in games [The Darkest Emptiness]

Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2023 4:49 am
by Deep
You can cure yourself by questioning world around you. But it also might drive you up the wall.
You might not like the answers you'll get, but it's I think it's better to live with clear mind rather than delusional one.

Re: Depression in games [The Darkest Emptiness]

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2024 4:40 am
by sudaca
happy people dream of despair
do not know what true emptiness is
posers pieces of shit die in a fire