About the Project
Date:
January 2013
Location:
Cambridge, MA
Team:
Eduardo Marisca
Don Mitchell
Organ Trail was a game prototype built along with Don Mitchell for the 2013 Global Game Jam, where the prompt for design was the sound of a heartbeat.
The game is designed to convey the anxieties of being an organ recipient, as well as the complexity of the organ donation system: specifically, how the whole system is built on a system of fragile public trust, and how events in the world can sway public opinion in life-changing ways for many people.
The game’s design offers little in terms of agency for the player: the only actions one can take only exert an indirect influence over the system by trying to grow the donor pool altogether. Direct action, while possible, carries extremely high risk: one may be able to purchase an organ in the black market, for example, but the transplant carries a high risk and the additional possibility of being discovered and limiting the donor pool because of the breach of trust.
Don worked on the Python backend for the game, and I worked on the frontend using Bootstrap and we both worked on the concept and the game design.
