Studio 2 - Folio 2

Abstract: As the gaps between private and public, information and misinformation are blurred, we find ourselves more than ever learning about our world through corruptible channels on addictive computers that we carry around like oxygen tanks.

April is a visual-novel style game stylised as an opinion-gathering examination for Australian teenagers, which attempts to take advantage of this scenario in order to collect a most valuable resource: data. The game presents you with a friend with whom you discuss the events of a war breaking out, which is fed to you on your in-game smartphone. After gaining your trust, the companion asks increasingly personal questions: which party you want to vote for, whether you are interested in joining the military, and importantly, whether you believe the news about the fictional war outbreak- they are testing their propaganda on the player. With this information they can create a profile on the player, and use it however they like. I believe that by making an exaggerated version of this process I can shine a light on these practices that we engage in everyday and encourage players to think twice about the answers they give online and who is asking the questions.

April was made using Unity and Photoshop and the final game will be released on the iOS App Store.It was made in the style of other indie-visual-novels such as those made by Angela He; a style which would appeal to teenagers.

Run-through video: https://vimeo.com/630689636/d4c39fb2be

1-minute-to-explain video: https://vimeo.com/634966094/3eb2c5dcf2

Actual Game for Mac (play at roughly 1920x1080) : https://we.tl/t-sIhdrHtW3p

Website*: https://aprilharryhughes.myportfolio.com/

* Eventually I want April to be up on the iOS store for Apple products (available free-of-charge) and to do that you need to have a website with a Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions etc. There is also some promotional images on the site. I am currently waiting to be accepted into the Apple Developer Program. There is an issue with my payment that they are not allowed to explain to me, but they tell me I will be accepted shortly.