Designing a video game for grieving children.
Comfort Zone Camp (CZC) is a nonprofit 501(c)3 bereavement organization that transforms the lives of children who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling, primary caregiver, or significant person.
Their programs are free of charge and include trust-building activities and age-based support groups that break the emotional isolation grief often brings. Comfort Zone’s programs are offered to children ages 7-17, young adult for 18-25-year-olds, and separate parent and guardian programs.
CZC has helped 20,000 over 22 years. This is a huge amount of kids but sadly, just a small percentage of the total in need.
There are also limited opportunities for connection after camp as the bereaved children enter back into situations that are often traumatic and isolating. The COVID-19 pandemic forced CZC to turn virtual with "Comfort Zone at Home", but this option reached less than 20 kids last year.
Hosted on the Roblox platform, the Bubble is a multi-player grief game. Players get to virtually attend camp, meet friends, and level up through exclusive pins.
Many of the elements of the game mirror the in-person experiences kids would have at a CZC weekend camp. The name of the game is derived from a term used often at CZC. Kids are invited to enter into "the bubble" of camp - a place of safety and community set apart from the stressors of the outside world. The Roblox game is intended to be a similar haven.
Below is a gallery of snapshots of game screens to give a sense of the virtual world.
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Some of the key game interactions are included below. Scroll down to the extended play section for full videos of a user playing the game.
Title
The title introduces players to the camping style of the game. Players are prompted to start playing or click for more info about the game and CZC.
Onboarding
During onboarding, players are introduced to the basic game UI. The sidebar on the right includes a game map, pin collection, daily schedule, journal, and inventory.
Map
At any point, players can pull up the game map to see other areas to explore and find where activities are taking place.
Schedule Notifications
In-game notifications give players suggestions for what to do next and shepherd players to specific areas to gather in the game.
RPC Healing Circle Leaders
RPCs placed strategically throughout help guide players in processing their grief by asking questions prompting reflection.
Achievement Pins
Pins encourage players to level up in their gameplay and incentivize therapeutic activities.
Title
The title introduces players to the camping style of the game. Players are prompted to start playing or click for more info about the game and CZC.
Onboarding
During onboarding, players are introduced to the basic game UI. The sidebar on the right includes a game map, pin collection, daily schedule, journal, and inventory.
Map
At any point, players can pull up the game map to see other areas to explore and find where activities are taking place.
Schedule Notifications
In-game notifications give players suggestions for what to do next and shepherd players to specific areas to gather in the game.
RPC Healing Circle Leaders
RPCs placed strategically throughout help guide players in processing their grief by asking questions prompting reflection.
Achievement Pins
Pins encourage players to level up in their gameplay and incentivize therapeutic activities.
Turn sound on to be fully immersed.
Game Intro
The sound acts as an additional character in the game, providing cues, atmosphere, and tone.
With such a sensitive subject matter, vulnerable audience, and resource-conscious brand, I had to be highly thoughtful about all of my design choices. The end result needed to be safe, feasible, and widely accessible.
I arrived at the idea of a game because research showed that 91% of kids aged 2-17 play video games. There are also a few games already on the market that deal with the subject of grief (ex: Apart of Me, Gris), so I saw that the idea was viable.
I chose Roblox because of the reach, cost, and safety. Half of all children aged 9-12 in the USA play Roblox every week. Roblox is a free game creation platform, providing a very low barrier to entry. And Roblox has in-game moderators, providing a baseline layer of safety for all players. It also has the option to host on a password-protected private server.
I utilized the artifacts below to start to understand how users would find the game, what to prioritize in designing for the user, how to feasibly make the game, and the business logic justifying the idea.
I began this project with the full intention of creating a playable game but ended up really struggling with the coding aspect (this is my first game after all). I built the 3D world in the Roblox platform, designed the UI in Figma, and then put it all together in After Effects.
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