Thaís Alvarenga is a...
creative technologist
developer
XR-AI researcher
Road to Acceptance is a gamified VR experience designed to raise awareness of the five stages of grief—Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance—through a fantasy narrative.
Players embody Eldevu, a bereaved husband who has destroyed the world in his grief and must restore it, symbolizing the act of accepting grief.
The level design reflects the nonlinear nature of grief by allowing players to choose artifacts that unlock mini-games that engage the user in embodied interactions that thematically reinforce the stages of grief. Each mini-game features specific tasks explained through character musings (voiceovers) about what they are emotionally experiencing at each stage.
The game leverages Virtual Reality Perspective Taking (VRPT) in a fantasy narrative to foster connection and understanding between the user and the story by allowing players to step into the character’s emotional journey.
An extended abstract on Road to Acceptance was published in the proceedings of the 2024 DiGRA Conference, where it was commended for the level design, use of fantasy to explore grief, and as a potential avenue for socio-emotional learning and mental health research.
Role: Programmer, Level Designer, Technical Artist.
Technologies: Unity, Shapr3D, Oculus Quest 2, DaVinci Resolve
Team: Thaís Alvarenga, Amina Kobenova, Ons Taktak