Eden Island - A 2.5D Video Game by Sus Studios

Eden Island is a 2.5D top-down visual narrative adventure where the player takes the role of a journalist named Rowan who is tasked with writing an article on Eden Island - supposedly the most sustainable place on earth. Explore Eden Island, perform tasks for villagers, and drive the story's direction through choice-based dialogue. Learn about the importance of social sustainability and its direct impact on the island's ecosystem. Will your interaction with the islanders provide the juicy story your boss seeks? Or will you instead help the island achieve its mission of sustainability?

Demo Reel:

Developers:

Olivia Moriarty - Game and Narrative Designer

  • A game designer and producer with a focus in user experiences/immersive

Mary Gerik - Producer, Publishing Producer, and Programmer

  • Producer and game designer with a focus in video game production

Lindsey Powell - 2D Artist and Documenter

  • A mixed media content creator, interested in telling stories through her art

Damien Hernandez - 3D Modeler

  • A 3d modeler, with a focus in 3D Environment Art

Oscar Kitmanyen - Audio Engineer

  • Music producer for various genres

Project Description

Eden Island is a video game that is both educational and lively, where the player will feel truly connected to the story and characters. By creating an engaging narrative with detailed villagers, we hope to inform the audience of social sustainability and cultivate empathy pertaining to these topics. 

Eden Island has been developed using Unity 3D, and utilizes a unique 2.5D top-down perspective, with 2D characters and interactables, paired with a 3D environment world. We have developed two fully written characters, each representing different sub-topic(s) of sustainability: Fast Fashion and Deforestation/Industrialization. However, in future versions of the game we plan to expand gameplay to take place over a week with seven unique characters. On the surface level, each character appears to be a successful embodiment of their goal (i.e., fast fashion owns a secondhand boutique). However, as the story progresses and the player engages with the villagers, they'll discover that not everything is as perfect as it seems (i.e., fast fashion wants to bulk order designer clothes from a massive company with poor working conditions). When a player is faced with a choice, the best option won’t be clear - they will need to rely on their instinct to determine the most optimal course of action. For game development, we created a demo showcasing the first full day of the journalist’s stay on the island. Players will experience the intro sequence with the mayor villager, the fashion villager scenario, and one dream-state sequence. 

A key character is introduced in the dream sequence. This character, later revealed to be an elderly woman referred to as Mother Nature, will attempt to guide the player to make the right choices, and will allude to the underlying issues the island has faced, due to the villagers losing their true connection to what it means to be sustainable. Mother Nature will also act as a narrator for sections of the game.

Whether the player receives the good or bad ending, they will see how their decisions impact not only an individual character, but also the whole island and its community. Social sustainability is not an easy feat to achieve - it will take the whole village to raise awareness.

Process

As a team of five, we combined our specialties to create an interactive, narrative-driven video game where the player learns about sustainability through player interactions and empathy. 

View our process in detail here.

What's Next?

Eden Island has plans for the future! Our original vision was not just a full day of gameplay, but a fully-fledged seven day long adventure that the player can embark on. Each day, the player will meet a new villager that represents an aspect of sustainability. Through dialogue and other in-game interactions, the player has a direct impact on the fate of the island. After all, a sustainable future is only possible with the efforts of a community. But beware of your job back home... Empathy always comes first, right? 

Research

In order to write about characters that represent sustainability, we researched a variety of topics. See resources below for each character!

We hope to expand our research in the future for the characters in our next developments.

Jamie, the Boutique Owner - Fast Fashion

Otis, the Mayor - Deforestation/Industrialization

More information

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