A game to help combat depression

[KitKat]

Hi guys,

I have no idea where this kind of thing should go in the forum so I just put it in the off-topic section. So, I'm a game design student, on again off again artist, general creative person and social activist-type. Through one of my courses I have come across the opportunity to potentially do some good by working with social workers and create a game around depression and motivation for young adults. Most probably I'll be working by myself and I can't code more than the mere basics so what I'm aiming toward is very simple mechanics and perhaps making it card-based rather than digital. Not with the goal to educate like Quinn's Depression Quest but more like a simplified version of Chore Wars, trying to add positive feedback and companionship to basic everyday tasks.

It's all in a very early planning stage and I have gathered some resources to get started but I know that the Nerdlove community has a lot of creative, savvy and intelligent people and if you have any suggestions for working with this kind of project, resources to point towards, general suggestions, volunteering to give the game a try when it's ready for beta, or even "this seems like a good idea" or "this seems like a terrible idea because..." it would all be a huge help.

[Enail]

Hey, this sounds really cool! It seems too broad for me to really have any thought or suggestions atm, but I will definitely look forward to hearing more!

[KitKat]

Yes! What I'm mostly looking for now is input along the lines of "Hey I've heard about a similar project *link*" that will help me to perhaps catch resources or sources of inspiration that won't turn up through regular google-fu.

[Enail]

I'm guessing you've probably seen SuperBetter?

[Hirundo Bos]

My first thought would be some sort of mechanic that played on automatic thought patterns, the kind of patterns that cognitive therapy is supposed to change... where one learns to reinterpet negative events in a less negative light... because a great deal of automatic learning goes on in games anyway. But I don't know if that's the kind of thing you're looking for?

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