Can a game offer insights into the politics of affect and how it relates to socioeconomic inequality, even if it is built on a fictional premise and a sci-fi world? This is the core exploration for Solace State, a visual novel that aims to engage its players with emotional, human stories about political unease and discontentment, as common citizens try to navigate through embedded structures of power. The talk will focus on game design and writing considerations that highlights community-building and social identity-formation, which also encapsulate feelings of fear, hope, disorientation, belonging, and shame in shared cultural expressions and mythologies.
About the presenter
Tanya Kan is a game and interactive media designer. She specializes in creating narrative-driven experiences, centering on personal, human stories that explore sociopolitical challenges. With a background in political science, cinema studies, and 3D game arts, she intertwines these passions to experiment with ludic narrative forms. She had first built her experience in illustration and creating interactive product displays in UDK, Unreal 4 and 3DS Max. Her current solo game project, Solace State, is a sci-fi visual novel about a young woman's coming-of-age journey in a city undergoing division and dissent.