name reservation project (nrp)

https://dramaramad.itch.io/name-reservation-project-nrp

Year:

2022

Skills/ Tools

Unity, Game, Playful

This project was in collaboration with Smitha Rao Aluri, completed as a requirement for Narrative and Dynamic Systems Course. The concept combines Vedic birth chart systems followed over centuries and a speculative dystopian future. It is also intended as a commentary on how faith systems are trusted (sometimes blindly) by people without putting a lot of thought into how they are derived. They look at it from only the surface level whereas others choose not to believe in these systems at all.

Concept

The birth chart systems of Vedic Astrology that are very commonly used in India are derived from numerology as well as planetary positions and arranged in the form of a ‘kundli’ or ‘jatakam’. These are used to determine and/or predict how the life of the person will be, their traits, career, relationships and so on. But, what we found the most interesting about this system is how it has been used for generations to determine the name of a child when they are born. Based on these charts, the interpreter suggests a syllable that the name of the child should start with. We decided to take this theme and create our own name generator.

Birth Chart Examples

In traditional birth charts, 12 houses (segments) show the ascendant (person’s zodiac sign) and positions of 9 grahas or planets, just as they would have been present at the time of birth as seen from the place of birth. Each of these 12 houses correspond to different aspects of a person’s life. The zodiacs are also numbered 1-12 and depending on the ascendant, the remaining are placed either clockwise or counterclockwise, depending on the region.

Playtest 1

For the first playtest round, we created paper cards to map out the birth chart and used tracery to show the possible output of the character traits. The peer feedback stated that it was not easy to grasp the concept or the story through that. It needed a narrative and more context regarding why the name was being generated.

Playtest 2

We considered different narratives like the user is naming their future offspring or the user was seeing what their own alternative name could have been and so on. Testers also wanted more details regarding the name, its meaning and the traits behind the planets arranged.

Final Concept

The idea is that in a dystopian future, due to overpopulation, there are no unique names to call the children. There is a need for everyone to reserve names for their future offspring, and hence register any child. These names will be generated by forming a birth chart based on the parents’ chosen zodiac for their child, reiterating that their child must be planned in this speculative world.