Institute of Art Design + Technology Dún Laoghaire
Ireland’s campus for the Creative Industries
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Eoin Barry 

BSc [Hons] Creative Computing

I have a passion for game design, game development, programming and application development.

'Mana' is the name of the game I created for my fourth year project. This game is a peaceful and sensory adventure where the player is exploring islands in search of magical shrines. The trees, rocks, and shrines are all randomly generated so the player feels like they are exploring something new and untouched. Only rocks and trees can be procedural generated on grass, while shrines can spawn on grass or sand.
Here is a screencast showing the menus and gameplay of Mana. With the volume on, you can hear the ambient sounds, wind, and footsteps which change depending on the surface that the player is stepping on. Mana was designed to be a sensory experience, so the sounds and visuals had to be pleasing and stimulating. Mana's HUD is very minimalist to immerse the player.
The player can interact with the shrines which makes their runes glow with a magical blue light. When all four shrines have been activated on an island, the player can return to the boat where they spawn to sail to the next level.
Project Description

Mana is the name of the game created for this project, and it is a game devoid of enemies, threats, competitive or addicting gameplay loops, and malicious practices such as microtransactions. This game was created to benefit from the positive effects video games can have on mental health that has been shown in studies.


Can video games be used as a tool to benefit mental health?

My thesis was inspired by various studies which concluded that video games can have positive effects on mental health. I set out to design, create and test a video game that I made for this project to see if players showed any improvements to their mood or mental state. The data from the results of the testing trended towards supporting the studies showing video games can have positive effects on mental health.

Creative Computing
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