Designing loneliness: how games can make solitude meaningful
Q1In my indie games, I deliberately design for loneliness — not as a negative experience to overcome, but as a meaningful emotional space. Journey's multiplayer is brilliant precisely because you're mostly alone in a vast world, and the brief encounters with other players feel profound because of that loneliness. I want to understand this design principle more deeply.
Q2That contrast idea is key. I'm making a game where the player is in a procedurally generated city where everyone is a stranger. You can observe people's routines, leave anonymous notes, and occasionally share a brief, wordless encounter. The goal is to explore the specific loneliness of being alone in a crowd — and the small moments of connection that punctuate it.