Design media arts student hopes to better represent mental health in new video game

June 29, 2020

Fourth-year design media arts student Emily Teng said she created the narrative video game, “Little By Little By Little,” in response to the overall lack of mental health representation in media. In-game topics focus on depression, anxiety, complicated relationships and how all they intersect with everyday life. (Anna Syed/Daily Bruin)

"Emily Teng hopes that “Little By Little By Little,” she can get her audience through each day with empathy and compassion.

While a majority of the country has been social distancing for the better part of three months, mental health has only been a small part of the global conversation on the effects of quarantine. Fourth-year design media arts student Emily Teng said she recognized the overall lack of mental health representation in media and responded by creating “Little By Little By Little” – a narrative video game focused on psychological well-being for her senior capstone project.

“I think it’s so important to represent mental health in media because there’s a huge power in someone being able to see that and feel less alone,” Teng said.

The slice-of-life game follows college student Charlie who is fixated on finding the anonymous artist behind the sheep graffiti all over a fictional town in Oregon. Teng said the main motivation of the game is to uncover the narrative by walking around and interacting with other characters, thereby learning their stories. Charlie’s obsession with the mysterious art serves as a distraction from his declining mental health with in-game topics focusing on depression, anxiety, complicated relationships and how all these struggles intersect with everyday life, Teng said.

Prior to this project, Teng said she had never developed a video game on her own or even coded on C-Sharp – the primary coding language for the game engine she uses. She admitted there was a steep learning curve going from artist to engineer but made quick progress after familiarizing herself with the computer language and receiving assistance from professors."— Jane Nguyen, Jun. 29, 2020

This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the Daily Bruin website.

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