Date of Award
Winter 3-11-2025
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
School
School of Design
First Advisor
Allen Turner
Second Advisor
Jes Klass
Third Advisor
Richard Wetzel
Abstract
In The Light, a first-person adventure mystery video game, seeks to explore the process of grief and its effect on memory through experimental level design and game mechanics. Through atmospheric, experiential storytelling and a soundscape derived from my own home videos, I aim to guide the player through my own personal experience of learning to grieve the truth behind traumatic memories with the goal of supporting those who have been through similar struggles in life. Additionally, I aim to experiment with the idea of games as a space for memorialization; my project attempts to utilize the video game artifact as a potential space for a digital gravesite, and accomplishes this by interweaving personal home-video-clips-turned-audio into the game’s auditory landscape, tying the game narrative to a soundscape driven by audio and voices from lost loved ones.
Recommended Citation
Sarkissian, Z, "In the light" (2025). College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations. 66.
https://via.library.depaul.edu/cdm_etd/66