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So, I'm working on a video game design concept, dealing with the problems of an immigrant family and how they will try to blend in the society. The universe is a fictional universe.

I was wondering what game systems/mechanics/genres are suitable for such a concept? How can I use the mechanics in a sense that will be coherent with the narrative that I'm trying to tell?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ What is the narrative you are trying to tell? \$\endgroup\$
    – Philipp
    Oct 4, 2015 at 14:56
  • \$\begingroup\$ Maybe look at Papers, Please for inspiration. \$\endgroup\$
    – MooseBoys
    Oct 6, 2015 at 19:46

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There's a genre that most of developers forget about, and it's the visual novel/text adventures.

In that games, you simply select where do you want to go. In the places, you can speak with people. In the conversations, the player can choose between some options. The decisions of the player will change the story. It's like the modern version of "choose-your-own-path" books. Visual novel is a good way to focus a game in which the most important thing is the story.

Although the original, pure basic visual novel only have text, dialogues and choices, you can add different elements to make it original. For example, the Phoenix Wright series are visual novels, but only one choice is the correct, and it contains investigation scenes. Also, Hotel Dusk offer the possibility to walk around in a 3D space - however, the story depends on your decisions, and it's a game focused in dialogues and text. If you want examples, there are lots of visual novels (usually with manga-style drawing) on the Internet, which you can download and play for free.

I think that style could fit well for educational purposes. Players could walk around (in 2D or 3D) and have to speak with people and make decisions -and see what are the consequencies of their choices.

In any case, if you decide to make a pure visual novel, without players moving freely in a world or some strange gamplay, another advantage is that there're specific engines to make visual novels (for example, Ren'Py). That kind of game is really easy to code using that engines, because you can focus on writing your story rather than programming textboxes, decisions, transitions and other technicals elements.

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The question of "what genre" is a bit odd, as the answer is whatever speaks to you, as the designer. There are genres that might be less appropriate, (like FPSs) and genres that might be more so (like simulations), but the field is still wide open.

However, there are still considerations when wanting to drive an experience through game design, especially one so untouched as cultural assimilation. What's important here is to dissect the process and finding which parts of cultural assimilation are trade-offs, compromises, or other kinds of "interesting decisions" an immigrant must make.

The most obvious of these, of course, is the straightforward "The more you assimilate, the less you adhere, identify with, and even remember the home culture." Assimilation allows for support systems, relationships, a sense of familiarity, comfort, and security. Traditions and old cultural ties are a source of identity. Any game mechanics should, mechanically, contrast the need for relationships, jobs, social support, local services, and a sense of belonging with the sense of personal identity and need to stay connected to the old.

I can't, obviously, give any specific details, because there is no definitive mechanic (for this or any other concept). This is where the designer comes in and determines how to best serve the contrast of social and financial security with personal identity. But the important note is that the contrast and the balance of those two are where you'll find the mechanics telling the experience of cultural assimilation.

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