For the game I am making for my Digital Games class, I am taking references from personal experiences and historical events and using queer theory and performance theory to think through my design challenges.
In 2001, a gang of men with baseball balls and a pool cue killed Aaron Webster in an area of Stanely Park in Vancouver frequented by gay men. Since then, numerous mysterious deaths and missing persons have occurred in Stanely Park. Most recently an international student went missing and was last seen around the Stanley Park's side of the Lion's Gate Bridge. I am not claiming that these are all people who went to Stanley Park for cruising, but I am interested in the park as a site because its beauty and popularity exists in parallel with its seedier underbelly.
Cruising is mostly seen as a bygone practice by most gay men today, or it is often related to an older generation. Today there are apps and websites that help gay men connect with each other and we don't need to seek intimacy and connections in these old ways anymore. I believe that there is something really queer and radical about cruising. It is an alternative form of knowledge building and community-making practice, one that is based on bodies, performance and sexualities.
At this stage my game is more of a mood board. I am working first from a world creation and level design perspective by modelling my level after parts of Stanley Park. Then I would like to start fleshing out the story line and narrative and after implementing the mechanics. I want the game to have different end goals and ways of playing for different players. It is at once a kind of RPG and an adventure/exploration game, the central story line is about violence, sex, love and deviancy. The mood I want to go for is dark and edgy, lots of purples, reds and blues, a sexy moody version of the typical Pacific Northwest landscape.
Inspiration and References:
Here are some references images (all taken by me):
Playing around in Unity:
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