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This one is for devs and gamers.
But first some background story.

My girlfriend is special. Not just generically lovey mush mush special. She is 1 in 100 more accurately 1 in 10000. She was born with a rare Congenital Heart Defect {CHD}. Called Truncus Arteriosus or TA for sake of brevity. TA's main thing is the two main arteries going into the heart are fused together and never seperated at birth. It's bad news. There is no cure for this kind of thing. Simply repairs that happen over the course of life.

So here is me. Desperately trying to find a way to get the word about this and the 40 other types of CHD out there in the world. I thought. "What if I make a game..." Not based around the medical jargon but on a level people could understand. I spent the better part of the last six years attending appointments with her and still don't get it. What I do get is her Emotional state. How her CHD causes her to think and feel.

So here is the pitch.

The game is about a girl who is diagnosed at birth with a CHD. She is now in her 20's and has to undergo an open heart surgery to repair the defect. The day comes. She goes under but when she wakes up she find herself in a final fantasy style environment. This new world has a darkness cast over it. She is unknowingly the hero of this world and she has to face off with multiple bosses of varied degrees of evil.

Then after beating these bosses she really wakes up from the surgery. Waking up to the realization that the world she saved was herself. And all the bosses were manifestations of her own internal feelings. Depression, anxiety, hopelessness, Denise, desire and so on.

I would sell this game with the caveat that 2/3 of all profits get split between the Adult Congenital Heart Association and Project Heart. As those are the two main organizations that deal heavily with creating standards of care and raising awareness for CHD survivors.

Thoughts?

Note: I am still learning game dev. This is an eventual goal for me.

Comments
  • 18
    it sounds ok, and doable if you keep in mind one thing: you don't marginalize how scared people can get. you should get as much input from your girlfriend as possible, and it would be good to ask even more people about it with the condition.

    keep in mind, these people went through life and death scares and thoughts.
  • 7
    RPG kind of game? Perhaps something with similar game play to Firewatch? Or Life is strange? Can you name something similar to the game you want to create?
  • 2
    @mt3o I love story based RPGs so most likely sticking to either a Castlevania side scrolling RPG or like I mentioned Final Fantasy I suppose given the scope of FF's genres... It's a Bad example.
  • 6
    Shut up and take my money!
  • 3
    @calmyourtities I already told her I would need a ton of help with this from her she actually seemed excited. So to me that is a major victory. (she ain't keen on games.)
  • 2
    @Kyngo not yet. Maybe if I run some kind of crowd source after I get. Working demo.

    Right now it's very much so concept but I really appreciate that.
  • 4
    At it's core I want the game to get across two main messages.

    1.) Awareness of this disease
    2.) That the people effected by it are incredibly strong

    The story is supposed to reflect hope and that one can go from being in the pits to rising above.

    However I have heard stories of these people undergoing repairs doing really well for about a week then taking a turn for the worst and dying soon after.
  • 7
    That sounds like a great idea! I would love to see this project come true.

    It reminded me a bit of the short comic "Heart for sale" / "The heartsmith".
    Source: https://m.imgur.com/gallery/b4LYK
  • 2
    @codemonkeyalx gotta say I feel related to that story, as my girlfriend suffers a degenerative disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA for short). I'd be really happy to buy that game, I really mean it.
  • 6
    @Jilano the heartsmith pulled right at my feels. I will forever love that comic.
  • 3
    @Kyngo I don't tear up often but thank you. I mean it.
  • 3
    That sounds awesome. I would definitely buy it.
  • 3
    Count me interested, I'd love to support something like this
  • 2
    You have my attention sire. Your concept is very well placed and your intentions is really noble
  • 1
    I really appreciate all the attention this is getting and the compliments. I figured posting this here instead of FB was a better way to go and so far has not let me down.
  • 2
    @kgbemployee

    As it sits. I'm nowhere near able to work on this unless I do it through RPG Maker. However I am in the early stages learning unity 2d. I'll learn 3D after. So maybe a Team Up at some point. Would be epic. It's always good to know other devs because so far the unity learning community / ecosystem has been amazing.
  • 1
    @sergiolarosa89 thank you kindly. I try to be.
  • 2
    @EmberQuill @RememberMe
    Thank you both for that. I will likely work on a prototype after I get the skills required to do this properly. Then crowd source the rest of the game. I will also send the prototype out to the ACHA and Project Heart so they know I'm serious.

    @caramelCase Sire? Thank you. As much as I would love to be a king or even a royal knight I'm a mere commoner with a royal idea is all. Though I often play rogues in D&D and every RPG / MMO I can make them in.
  • 1
    @DevTea plus plussed me o.O sweet!
  • 1
    Alright for everyone interested in keeping up with me and this rather interesting journey. I'm starting at next to maybe 5 on a scale of 100. This game is an end goal for me.

    Have a discord link. https://discord.gg/wgfSznQ

    I'm not going to say I'm working on this now but I would be open to getting suggestions.

    Hopefully I'll see you all over there. Since I know DevRant is not the best for building a sustainable community. But it sure as hell can start one!
  • 2
    @DevTea it's safe to say... Senpai noticed me.
  • 0
    Welp. Wonder who lucky 100 is gonna be for my ++ meter.
  • 2
    This reminds me of that one father who lost his son to cancer. It's a very sad and touching game called That, Dragon Cancer.

    Take a look at it, maybe it'll inspire you and give you ideas.
  • 1
    @joshcantcode oh yeah I watched Markiplier play it I think.
  • 0
    Why don't you email Jeff Vogel about this? You could make an Avernum style game out of this. Jeff is a successful indie game developer of RPGs and a great storyteller, I'm sure you'd get some good input from him.
  • 1
    @cst1992 any idea how to reach him?
  • 1
    @codemonkeyalx Twitter is one way (@spiderwebsoft). spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com email is another. He's an indie developer, so there's a good chance he'd read a mail on that id.
  • 2
    Making a mobile app game would raise more awareness. I reckon.
  • 0
    @ammadfa not a bad idea.
  • 1
    I need it.
  • 1
    @RandomJavaDev 16 days later and this is still getting attention. I love it. I'm a little further along in my studies. Mostly just making clones of games to learn mechanics and stuff.
  • 0
    It's because the idea is great, It's attractive.
  • 1
    I'm just mega shocked. I suppose I should post my discord link at some point. For people who want to keep actively up with my going ons.
  • 1
    I suggest that you do so if there are enough people interested.
  • 1
    Yeah it's up there in the comments and on another rant.
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