Overview:
"VA Game" is an interactive narrative designed to simulate the challenges faced by military veterans as they transition back to civilian life. The game aims to educate players about the complexities of obtaining military veteran services, highlighting the bureaucratic obstacles and personal decisions veterans must navigate.
Objective: Players assume the role of a returning veteran with a limited budget and must manage their time and resources to secure housing, healthcare, mental health support, and other benefits. The goal is to successfully reintegrate into civilian life while navigating the various departments of the U.S. Veterans Affairs (VA) office.
Play the game here: Can You Make it in the VA?
Gameplay Highlights:
- Initial Setup:
- Players start with $4750, representing their final military paycheck and savings.
- The first major decision involves choosing between living with parents or renting an apartment, each with unique challenges and benefits.
- Navigating the VA:
- Players must visit different VA departments to obtain necessary benefits:
- Physical Health: Re-evaluation of medical conditions and decisions on seeking further medical opinions.
- Mental Health: Choices regarding the acceptance of treatment for PTSD and other mental health issues.
- Disability and Benefit Claims: Managing paperwork and disputing disability ratings if necessary.
- Work and Education: Deciding between seeking employment or furthering education, each with its own set of challenges.
- Social Integration: Balancing personal and social life, including joining veteran clubs or managing relationships with family and friends.
- Consequences and Outcomes:
- Each decision affects the time available to secure benefits and impacts the player's financial and emotional well-being.
- Players face realistic scenarios such as misdiagnosed medical conditions, long wait times, and the struggle of finding stable employment.
Design Philosophy: The game was designed to be educational and immersive, using realistic scenarios and statistics to provide players with an authentic experience of a veteran's journey through the VA system. The interactive narrative encourages empathy and understanding of the veteran's plight, while also serving as a tool for veterans to better understand the processes they might face.
Key Features:
- Choice-Based Gameplay: Players make critical decisions that influence the game's outcome, reflecting the real-life impact of such choices on veterans.
- Educational Content: The game incorporates real statistics and information about the VA system, providing players with valuable knowledge about veteran benefits.
- Emotional Engagement: The narrative is crafted to engage players emotionally, helping them connect with the veteran's experience.
Project Impact: The "VA Game" was developed as part of a broader initiative to raise awareness about the challenges faced by returning veterans. It serves as both an educational tool and a call to action for improving the efficiency and accessibility of veteran services.
Post-Production Development: After the game was produced for News21, I used the design as a model to create a no-code game design system, enabling others to develop similar learning games without programming skills. Although this software is no longer maintained, I recently rebuilt the game using Adobe Captivate. The rebuilt game can be played here.