Work & Play
A game about balancing one’s real life responsibilities and their escapist fantasies – Work & Play is a Desktop Simulator Visual Novel about escapism as a coping mechanism through fictional worlds. Based off of my own experiences, it touches on topics of work-life balance, surviving within capitalism, and struggling with self worth.
This game takes place within a desktop style interface where the player’s “core mechanic”, or something that sums up their actions, is “choice”. More specifically, the choice of how to “spend their time”, by advancing time through certain game interactions that can be limited to specific time blocks, and can also open certain narrative paths and endings.
The player starts the game off with an introduction to a high fantasy styled narrative portion, meant to act as in a “game within a game”, known as “FataMirage”. Here they start learning about the story of this world before being interrupted by an incoming message from their boss. Their boss rather rudely dumps extra work onto the player, under the guise of “someone should have already told you about this”. The player completes the file through a typing game before being met with another message from their boss assigning more work and a message from their friend excited to chat about the new FataMirage update.
From this point on, the player makes choices regarding how their time is spent. They can either take time to complete the documents being sent to them, and receive more upon completion in a never ending cycle, or take some time to get further in the narrative of FataMirage, unlocking more bits to the story. Each choice eats up some of the in-game time, and when the day comes to a close, the player will be given different endings based on these choices.
Each space that the player can interact with has their own way of contributing to the narrative. Through working, the player learns more about the company that the player character works for, a shady corporation that seems to be struggling, participating in dubious business practices to stay afloat. Through FataMirage, the player learns more about the player character, as they are faced with scenarios that reflect their struggles, desires, and fears.
The work environment is harsh and thankless, while the fantasy world is more patient and benevolent. While both worlds allow for mistakes and consequences, the work’s reaction to it is accusatory and condemning, while the fantasy world helps the player through coming to terms with the consequences in a healthy way.
I wanted for this game to be both a depiction of my experiences and a love letter to fictional worlds, as well as others who seek catharsis in them. As someone who struggled a lot with mental health growing up, the coping mechanism of escapism was truly a life saver. Real life could be intimidating and unpredictable, so I found solace in games. These spaces in which I had much more control and freedom than I would in reality, gave me opportunities to grow, explore, and come to understand myself in environments that were forgiving and of little consequence.