Cerebrum
A downloadable game
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Cerebrum is a short concept game which explores the idea of mental deterioration illnesses (schizophrenia, dementia).
This game was not made by a mental health professional and was made purely with personal documentation on the subject.
Status | Prototype |
Rating | Rated 4.1 out of 5 stars (8 total ratings) |
Author | Sewbak |
Tags | 3D, Atmospheric, First-Person, Horror, Low-poly, Mental Health, Narrative, Retro, Short, Unity |
Download
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Click download now to get access to the following files:
Cerebrum x86.rar 24 MB
Cerebrum x64.rar 26 MB
Development log
- Cerebrum posted.Feb 01, 2022
Comments
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Indeed!
This game was good. I Love that small things started to change around the environment at first . It would've been easy to miss things. It wasn't really jumpscare scary but still had a pretty creepy environment . Great job
Thank you!
Me parece una gran idea cuando un juego entra en el concepto de los problemas psicológicos y lentamente adentrarse más en su locura. Me gustó mucho como en cada repetición las cosas iban cambiando lenta y sutilmente. Me habría gustado un poco más de historia y de trasfondo.
Thanks for playing, if Google translate doesn't suck then I think I understand what you mean :))
hahaha I just used google translator it as well to check and yes, it means exactly the same hahaha, keep the good games coming!
I spent most of the game trying to keep the memories of what was correct together. It was funny how even obvious things, like the window, were so easy to miss and took multiple views till I caught it.
It was funny how even obvious things, like the window, were so easy to miss and took multiple views till I caught it.
Definitely! Even in our best state, our minds are so limited.
You should see a video on hyperthymesia, very interesting
Thanks for playing :)
I just want to say good job to the dev despite not being a mental health professional. This kind of hits hard for me since I witnessed a loved slowly succumbing to dementia. Especially when the character is constantly waking up which is something that was a common.
Anyways thanks for the game dev.
I personally never experienced such a thing, I can't really imagine how it would be like, but I hope you managed to handle it
Thanks for playing
Thanks for playing! How did you manage to get it in that resolution :0? The game was not made for it haha
I think my pc is the problem ;)
It was a good experience. good job for making this game dev!
This was incredibly well done, and the slow burn of the story building up was done incredibly well. It's a horror that we all know to well, and it's a future that always come to be. My grandmother and a lot of my family had dementia, so this was particularly terrifying to me.
My only criticism, is that at times it is not well known how to move forward as the player. I understood overtime, that you had to visit everything like a routine, which honestly fits better for the story you are telling with mental deterioration. But making it a bit clearer for the player might help elevate it more. As a personal bias, I wish it was a 1920 x 1080 aspect ratio. But that's just being nitpicky.
Overall great game, and I look forward to your future projects. Kudos truly.
Thanks for playing! Also I'm sorry to hear you had to deal with that :(.
I agree that I should've made the routine clearer, definitely got it wrong there
I think the 800x600 resolution gave it a more old-school look and that's what I was going for, but I see how it could be kinda annoying since today we are pretty much surrounded by 16:9
oh again the 16x9 is more a bit pick than an actual criticism. I also picked up on the routine, and more than anything it gives it a bit of trial and error.
Overall I really did enjoy it, and had a great time with something that overall is terrifying material. I think you it a great service, and did a great job with it. Definitely will recommend this to others and linked this on my page so my viewers can try it out. Got great marks from my end :).
This was really good, I liked how the horror slowly build up, very neat, good work :)
Thank you!
This game made me anxious to a T. Not the "oh God, is there a monster around the corner" kind of anxious, but the too-well-known "my life is falling to shambles and I'm powerless to stop it" kind of anxious. Few games have ever accomplished that for me. You really drove home your point. Awesome job! :)
I'm glad I was able to! :)
Good game, want to play!
This was a very unique and interesting game. Great work!
Thank you for playing! :)
This game took me on an emotional journey in a difficult way. I've had relations with neurodegenerative diseases, and seeing this from the inside felt very relatable. I believe that you conveyed what you meant to convey, and did it well. Even though I don't feel happy right now, I admire the creation and I think I understand what you were trying to say with this. Well done.
Gave it a half-comedic, half-understandable-have-a-great-day Lets Play
Thanks for playing! I'm sorry to hear about your grandparents :(.
Eh its alright. I didn't get along with my grandpa who had Alzheimer's and dementia so its all fine on my end. Still, I definitely feel though for those who were close with said-family who lost them in that way.
Cool game, smooth gameplay and creepy. I'm losing my mind at the end. Good game!
Thank you! :)
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VERY COOL GAME DEV
Thank you!
oh dang ! this game was nice !!! i kinda had my own weird conspiracy theory on the story cuz i didnt read what this game was about so you can scratch that from my vid :D apart from that i hope you enjoy my commentary and trash jokes :D
Thank you so much for playing! Really enjoyed the commentary xD, I should've made it a little more obvious about what you're supposed to do and maybe a bit less annoying haha. (although it technically saves you actual power to turn the kitchen light off since your GPU doesn't render it anymore :))))
The theme is indeed pretty hard to understand without reading the description, and the knife at the end is pretty hard to see.
hah i see what you did there :D and i totally missed the knife :D
Show post...
glitch creepy
Thank your for playing! :)))
Discomforting, surreal and daunting experience, yet, I still had 1 major issue with the game, concerning the theme of mental illness itself.
Now, was this the closest experience to the mentioned theme compare to many other indie games, which are trying to have more of a shock value? Yes. This game did not use cheap jump scares, it did not mention the problem with words and "notes" rather showcased it brilliantly via interactions and visuals. For instance - the year when the picture is taken with the family changes from 2018 to 2017, then back to 2018, after a while becoming truly mind bending for the player itself. Same goes with the shirt color of the woman and child - it deteriorates as the player progresses forwards.
Not mentioning things that can be observed simply by most of the players - like window doors closing and disappearing, the color of the light switches from blue to white, the pillow disappearance, the classic art work being changed and etc. All of the above masterfully showed the concept of player, who might question the reality and feel the struggle of the character.
The sound design, which mainly consisted of just static ambience was executed astonishingly, as the music was out of place for this type of horror experience, rather the player's thoughts and curiosity guided the game's protagonist.
I can be talking about this game all day, as during the playtime and after the playtime, instantly I was not able to get out of the world, which developers have created and this just goes beyond applause and giving the game top spot on the horror game's list - it's just superlative in every way. The level of quality and immersive environment just took me away, really far and I just came back and realized what the game truly was about.
Now, I wanted to add a minor concern about the game's theme as it uses to showcase mental illness and I am not fan of that at all, but, once again, this game did it justice and did not butcher or make it out as cheesy and fun.
Can't wait to see more from you, developer(s) and just simply thank you for making this.
Thank you so much for playing my game :), I'm very glad you liked it and that it was able to produce the emotion that I was going for.
I loved the humorous commentary you had in your video, keep the jokes up and it'll do wonders for your channel! Also, your interpretation of this game is on point :). (maybe without the part where your wife drugs you lmao,
actually, if I make that canon I'd have an excuse for why the water magically reappears in the glass.)Speaking of commentary, your thorough feedback really helps me understand what I did right and what I did wrong :), it really means a lot to me.
I'd like to know why you are not a fan of video games exploring this sort of mental illnesses. Is it too controversial? I thought about that too but then I scratched that idea, as presenting it in an artistic way would hopefully overpower its controversial nature.
Thank you so much for making this game. It's been more than 12 hours and I am still confused and fascinated by your work to be honest. This is something, that should not be overlooked as a short indie game, rather a true surreal experience, which affected me a lot. I have no criticism about the game, not because I loved it, but because it was a decent, actually playable and unsettling experience, once again, the immersion is the key to success for any game, no matter what genre.
Well, I have a prejudice towards games that tackle mental illness, primarily because I am a RN (registered nurse) in real life and I do YT and game development as a hobby. Shortly speaking, I've seen real patients, who I took care of and most of the horror games, which include themes of dementia or schizophrenia mostly have a shock value, rather than meaningful gameplay. It's upsetting, because people are tackling ideas, which they can't grasp themselves or even comprehend to the slightest. That's fortunately not your case, as you treated the project as an experience and you were trying to questions one's mind (in this case players) by focusing on simple yet disturbing moments.
Generally speaking, this type of horror, should be done correctly and be not scary, but unsettling, questionable, mind bending and a bit ambiguous. You managed everything on the highest level. Can't wait to see what stories you can offer in the future. Cheers!
And yes, this is true art, this game is a work of true artist.
I'm very glad you feel that way about the game :), a surreal experience is what I've been trying to achieve.
Ahh, I see now, it must be pretty hard to be a nurse, I think that personally I couldn't work as a nurse, the emotional weight would be too much, even if I don't see traumatizing things with my eyes, the cases themselves are tragic.
I'm glad you think I was able to make it somewhat realistic and true to the real conditions. I tried to make the visual hallucinations realistic too but as this is a virtual game it's above my skill level so I just made them look like computer glitches instead.
I will try exploring different concepts in the future, thank you very much for the support! :)
I loved this game WOW
Thank you for playing! I hope the game was able to scare you a little! :)