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UNICORNELIA

alt.ctlr.gdc award nominee 2018

PlayNYC 2018

Indiecade 2018

Makerfaire 2018

ROLE

Game design & development

Narrative design 

Hardware development

Unicornelia is a "unicorn simulator" game where players embody the life of a sparkle statistician trying to balance her mental health and daily responsibilities. 

At the time of Unicornelia's conception, another team member and I were struggling with our mental health and the project served as a form of creative therapy. Unicornelia toured all over the country, and as a team we were extremely moved to see players of all ages connect with the common struggles of maintaining daily mental well being.

TEAM

Jane Mitchell - game design, fabrication, hardware, and art

Maddy Siriouthay - narrative design & graphics

Dylan Negri - game design, hardware, fabrication

PRESS

Gameplay

Players have two actions they can make:

1. 'complete' tasks they think are positive by inserting their horn into the corresponding hole

2. 'ignore' tasks by tapping their corresponding feelies button. 

Tasks are sorted into 4 areas of Unicornelia's life: Work, friends & family, love, and self care

At the end of the experience, players are presented with an arbitrary life analysis of what area's they focused on.  

gamePlay.jpg

Construction

The body of Unicornelia was constructed using a beach tent and fabricated with white plush felt.

The interior of the tent was lined with a children's puzzle mat and covered with fabric. 

tent.jpg
buttons.jpg

Interior 'feelies' were constructed using mega arcade buttons, filled with plush stuffing, and accessorized with googley eyes.

The monitor was outfitted with a custom frame and interface complete with removable conductive cartridges. 

Players operated the interface with their horn (aka plastic champagne flute embellished with hot glue and sparkles). A button click was registered when the circuit was completed and the elastic fabric on the front of the cartridge made contact with the copper backing on the back of the cartridge.

cameraView.jpg

Unicorn horns of fame 

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