Loraine
The Hook:
Help Loraine find a way out... before its too late!
The Premise:
Loraine lived a simple life, she was an excellent mother, wife and caregiver. Until her life was changed forever. Loraine fell into depression and no longer cared for her family’s needs. Her husband admitted her into an insane asylum, and divorced her. Honestly, Loraine didn’t belong in the asylum, she wasn’t what you would call insane. But in the early 40s to 70s women could be placed in asylums for things as simple as PMS symptoms or headaches etc. While living in the asylum, Loraine had over 126 shock treatments. Due to those harsh treatment Loraine eventually believed she was crazy, and she became a part of the asylum. She never left the asylum after she was admitted. Sadly, she died in the asylum all alone.
How to Play:
Help Loraine find a way out.
Use the MOUSE to look around.
To move around use the ARROW KEYS.
Based off the True Story:
Of course, for making the game Loraine, I stretched the truth a little. The game is based on a true story, NOT a true story.
To quickly and swiftly introduce Loraine’s life I created a visual montage. It all starts in 1970, then images of her neighborhood, and house is shown. The next clip is a staircase with family pictures on the wall. Then an image of a kitchen, (as the family caregiver she spent a lot of her time in the kitchen). Next an image of her husband sitting on the couch, with family pictures on the wall. The last image is Loraine standing with a framed picture of her and her husband. This montage is important because this shows how everything is normal, before the transformation moment occurs (aka the turning point: the divorce).
This game happens to take place in an asylum that feels like a huge maze. The point the game is for the player to play as Loraine and escape the asylum before the time runs out. The player feels as if they are in a grungy place, due to the way the asylum looks. Its kind of dark, foggy almost dream-like (more nightmare-like maybe).
As the player runs around looking for a way-out Loraine tells her story, and has flashbacks of her past. These flashbacks are of familiar places that were shown in the first video montage- although now everything is changed and looks different. The staircase of family pictures is now ruined, broken and vandalized. The living room where her husband sat on the couch, is now destroyed, vandalized and torn to pieces. The last flashback is like the image of Loraine standing with the framed picture of her and her husband; but now her picture is snapped in two, and is slowly fading into divorce pictures. With seconds left of trying to find a way out of the asylum the player is informed of why Loraine is in the asylum in the first place: she drove insane from her divorce. There is no hope left and Loraine dies in the asylum all alone.
With the help of the video montage and flashbacks the player gets to experience the story visually. The way in which all the images shown are familiar yet altered slightly heightens the players experience. The video montage foreshadows the flashbacks, once the player recognizes the image, and sees the change, they question what’s going on here.
With the help of the sound, I created an experience for the player. With the sound effects, and music I created a creepy asylum atmosphere. And with Loraine’s choppy narration that happens throughout the maze, I helped explain more of the story to the player. I believe Loraine’s narration adds more character to herself. The player sees the images of her family, but connects more to it when the player hears her talk about her life and kids. With Loraine’s narration the player can draw more emotion. The narration creates more of a tone for the story. There is one point that Loraine sounds crazy, she sounds sad, she just wants to go home. Without Loraine’s narration I think some of the translation would get lost.
I constructed the game in a way where the player has only one play through. Once they reach the game over screen, they can’t just restart the game. They can read through the true story, or credits. Then they can exit the game and restart the application if they wish to play again. This might be frustrating to some players, but I wanted to create it this way because restarting a game with a start over button is just too simple. Loraine is dead, the game is over, so to bring her back you must restart the entire application.
My story is set up in a structure where Loraine’s life is shown, and something happens to where it all changes. The game starts in an unknown location. The player feels like they can change her life now, if they can find a way to escape; but they never find a way out, and Loraine’s life will always remain the same. In a way there is no resolution: Loraine wanted to escape the asylum, and she does so by death. Perhaps it is not the escape the player was hoping for, so the ending may upset the player or make them feel in unusual ways; but that’s the point. I just wanted to create a game that has twists and evokes different feelings.
Created by:
Amanda Ball
December 2017
University of Florida, Digital Worlds Institute - DIG3443
