Memento

This was my final project for VISA 382: "Advanced Practice in Media Arts" class that was then displayed in an exhibition at UBCO.

Life experiences are filled with distinct moments of great joy or tragedy, and sometimes a strange middle ground: bittersweet. These melancholic yet joyful experiences that, when recalled, prompt questions whether we perceive them as ultimately positive or negative. My game, Memento, seeks to evoke that strange dilemma.

Memento has the player explore a vast and overwhelmingly beautiful world, but yet simple. Filled with distant mountain ranges, a bustling forest, and strange buildings left behind with no living creatures yet perfectly preserved. The abandoned civilization and nearby forest all lie bare for the player to admire, but what role does the player have in all of it? They seemingly can interact with the different objects and make them disappear.

The player’s great power within this world grants them the choice to destroy it all to see what awaits them, if anything at all. While the player always has the choice to leave the world to flourish in its current state, a strange thrill and intrigue arises to see what if it were all gone. Finally, if the player chooses to erase everything, what will they remember? The death that has occurred or the life that once was there.

Memento Mori or Vita?