Shoal
Game Design Concept | Alzheimer's disease
I imagined consciousness and memory carried by a fish shoal, and Alzheimer in the shape of a thief or a blackhole that gradually erodes and consumes the shoal.
First Half:
Design document: interaction mechanics, settings, concept art
Second Half
additional documentation: 3D model, research, design process
Research & Design
I conducted research on Alzheimer syndromes and interviewed family members of 8 Alzheimer’s patients and a young woman with working memory and cognitive impairment. Based on the research, I conceptualized a game that reflects an Alzheimer patient's consciousness using unconventional mechanics and visual metaphors and created a design document in the form of an illustration book.
Shoal, Consciousness
Consciousness and fish shoals share a common characteristic: they are both complex systems that exhibit patterns and emergence. Comprised of vast numbers of simple units (neurons for consciousness, fish for shoals) adhering to fundamental rules, they give rise to intricate behaviors and structures, the wondrous threshold between chaos and order.
Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer is way more complicated than people thought. Beyond memory loss, it entails cognitive impairment, persistent hallucinations, and loss of bodily control, etc. In very short time it could bring the patient’s mind away from the original world and into another space.