[Asylumjam] Various positions open for "Refuge"

[Morhighan]

Hi there! This year I am hoping to participate in AsylumJam, which is happening from Oct 31 to November 2 starting at 7pm CET.
About asylumjam:

Returning for a second year, Asylum Jam is a 48 hour long game jam where game developers are challenged to make a horror game and explore the genre without negative mental health or medical stereotypes.

The premise I have for my story is:
"Refuge"
Patients who are beyond help recieve experimental therapy through computer terminals in order to try to make them functional once more. The practice is extreme but praised as highly ethical. It is a prospect that provides many with hope. It is called the Refuge.
The Refuge is a VR system that allows patients to go to places and fantasies of comfort.
Several terminals with separate patients are used at any one time, and while they are physically separated, they often are on the same server in the facility.
All goes well until until one patient has an episode while going through acute therapy--a process that puts the patient through light triggers in order to get them to respond positively (or at all) in order to get past their traumas. The patient is removed from the Refuge program.
When a sudden blackout sends the facility into chaos, the doctors realize that eight patients have not woken from their terminals. Furthermore, they realize that another patient has barricaded themself in a treatment room by jamming the computer system into the door. They can only watch from the window in horror as the patient integrates themself forcefully with the main control machine in order to take hold of the therapy sessions of each of the eight other patients. Their ultimate goal is to warp the sessions.
Can the doctors save the patients from the impending madness forced upon them, or will the patients succumb, trapped and alone in a Virtual Reality they cannot escape from?

The patients, which will have one focus chapter in the game:
Patient 1 - Traumatized by Death
Patient 2 - Pathological Liar
Patient 3 - Someone who lost their children and went mad with grief
Patient 4 - Believes they are capable of Psychic Powers, including prophecy
Patient 5 - A patient with two split personalities, often has paranoid delusions
Patient 6 - A victim of sexual assault
Patient 7 - A vengeance-bent murderer
Patient 8 - A suicidal person
Patient 0 - Horrific God Complex with and murderous intent

For this project I currently am recruiting:
Sprite Artist
BG Artist
Musician
Sound Effect Artist
Assistant Writer(s)

I am also willing to use free resources, but would prefer not to.

[breadslam]

I might be able to fill an assistant writing or editing position, considering how the dates fit exactly in when I'm free from editing/writing duties at work.

If you'd like, I could provide a short writing sample or edit a small piece for you so we can determine if there's a style mismatch or not. My hard drive is brimming with experiments and mini stories, a few of which are horror themed. I'll be able to send you a list of summaries via private message to pick and choose from.

Edit: On the subject of possible sprite artists, lovebby has a thread offering free sprites. I'm not sure if he/she is still open for such services, but it might be worth sending them a message if you like their style.

[Auro-Cyanide]

Hi there

While I don't want to dissuade your idea so close to the beginning of the jam, I think you might have misunderstood the concept of the jam. The principle idea is to create a horror story without stigmatizing mental illness.

From the outline:

"1.) You should not use asylums, psychiatric institutes, medical professionals or violent/antipathic/’insane’ patients as settings or triggers.

This jam is to show that you can still create a great horror experience without using inaccurate stereotypes of those who suffer from mental illness, or the institutions that support them in diagnosis and recovery."

Perhaps you would like to rethink the structure a bit?

[PyTom]

For what it's worth, there's an abandoned asylum a mile or so from here. The interiors are locked, but if people need me to take some photo exteriors, I can do that.

[Morhighan]

Ah. I misunderstood. I was hoping to portray them all in a positive light. Ah well.

I have to back out of this project for this particular weekend though, as there's a family emergency. Thanks for understanding, go ahead and remove this thread for the meantime.