It began with a post on Reddit, talking about mental health and the direction his life had gone as a result of his conditions. Shane Brandon had spilled his heart out online and something special had emerged. Other Redditors had shared his very experiences and even worse circumstances. Debate about how mental health is treated in both America and Canada then followed and slowly a community formed. All because of this one post, a community of programmers, web developers, and other individuals who struggle with Schizophrenia, Anxiety, Personality Disorders, Depression, etc. – all came together and, in some respect, formed a support system.
With this experience Shane had the idea to create a game where mental health is a core factor of the gameplay. Shane had aspired to program for one of his greatest loves, tracing back to his childhood: games. With Triggered, he’s hoping those coping with these issues will give it a shot and see that it reflects their very experiences. Triggered captures just what it’s like to deal with it daily.
Triggered is designed to be a platformer game where the main character has endured some sort of trauma that has spiraled his mental health out of control. Every time a stressful puzzle or complication arises during gameplay, he is triggered by it. Thus, transforming into someone completely different, equipped with a new set of abilities, and increasingly difficult to manage. The game works around teaching the player emotional grounding and coping methods to handle these triggers so they can progress.
Shane is trying to get funding for Triggered through IndieGoGo so he can survive for a year to get the game completed, aiming for only $12,000 CAD. So far, around $850 has been raised for the campaign that is expected to end June 9th.
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