Congzhou "Nicky" Du

Game Designer | Narrative Designer | Artist
Congzhou (Nicky) Du is a BFA Game Design student. Specialized in Level Design and Narrative Design, he is on his way to become an All-Around Game Designer.

From 2019 to 2022, Nicky worked on various game titles in both U.S. and China, from Unity to Unreal Engine, from different indie games to AAA title. He enjoyed every second of it, and is currently looking for every opportunity to become a better Game Designer in the industry.

Being an optimistic futurist, Nicky believes that games will be incorporated into every aspect of our lives, and will have the power to drive our world to be a better place.

Website: www.nickydu.net
Congzhou (Nicky) Du is a BFA Game Design student. Specialized in Level Design and Narrative Design, he is on his way to become an All-Around Game Designer.

From 2019 to 2022, Nicky worked on various game titles in both U.S. and China, from Unity to Unreal Engine, from different indie games to AAA title. He enjoyed every second of it, and is currently looking for every opportunity to become a better Game Designer in the industry.

Being an optimistic futurist, Nicky believes that games will be incorporated into every aspect of our lives, and will have the power to drive our world to be a better place.

Website: www.nickydu.net
Thesis Faculty
Melanie CreanErnesto KlarBen NorskovXin XinCharles HuangOr Zubalsky

Solarpunk Academy

Project Website
Solarpunk Academy

A spiritual journey
to where the sun still sheds its light on.

Solarpunk Academy is a Visual Novel game about mental health, superpowers and a new way of life.
The game is about being an amateur mental health therapist in a school of superhuman teenagers in the year 2041. Through interactive storytelling and strategic conversations, the player will uncover each character’s traumatic memories, and help the patients overcome their fear.

Let’s Build a Solarpunk Oasis in This Increasingly Depressing World.

What is Solarpunk?
Solarpunk is the best outcome for the future; Almost the opposite of cyberpunk. It is a literary genre and art movement that envisions how the future might look if humanity succeeded in solving most problems regarding sustainability, economic system, and social structure.
Great concept, but our world is straying further from it every single day. Instead of putting in effort for better life quality, Trillion-dollar industries are finessing people of our own. Mental health problems show up more and more frequently among the younger generations. Locked away from nature, many of us have become machines under capitalism and consumerism, forgetting what it truly means to be a human.

In-game screenshot of River’s apartment in Montrose city.
In-game screenshot of Solarpunk Academy’s rooftop garden.

Helping Superhuman Characters Overcome Trauma and Fear.

Every character in the game holds a supernatural power, after surviving a worldwide radioactive leakage years ago. Years later, they were assembled in Solarpunk Academy by Principal Jagger in the hope of making a change in the dystopian world.
Because of these superpowers and their family backgrounds, all four of them hide an extremely traumatic backstory that they don’t wish to tell. The player’s mission is to utilize strategies in conversations to uncover the truth under their disguises and hopefully help them overcome their traumas.

Unique Exposure Therapy That Combines Science and Fiction.

Upon learning a bit of clinical psychology myself, I understood that one way of dealing with traumas is to encourage the patient to recall their experiences and face them with courage. After writing a review about TF-CBT (Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), I realized that this method also could be applied to young adults instead of children and teens only.
And that’s how I got inspired to design Solarpunk Academy’s in-game therapy mechanics. By combining science-proven methods (Exposure Therapy, TF-CBT, Laddering Techniques) with fictional elements (Hypnotization, Mind Flow, Foresight), I created an engaging and challenging new routine of “mental therapy.”

River’s office, where the player will give characters therapy.
The player has to balance patients’ emotions, while also encouraging them to narrate their traumatic experiences.
Play Solarpunk Academy (Beta Test) on Itch.io!

Professors

Semester 1 (Prototypes)
Melanie Crean
Ernesto Klar
Ben Norskov

Semester 2 (Production)
Charles Huang
Xin Xin
Or Zubalsky

Credit

Nicky Du
Level Designer
Screenwriter
Programmer
Graphic & UI Designer
Pixel Artist / Pixel Animator
Composer / Sound Fx

Holly Shen
Clinical Psychology Consultant

Ozge Pazar
General Psychology Consultant

Dedicated to

Weimei Chen
1938 – 2022
Inspiration for grandma Evelyn‘s character design.
A devoted educator.
The best grandma ever.