Times Like These
Times Like These is a Slow Gaming video game that aims to explore and reflect on themes such as happiness, stability, and the search for a greater existential purpose, all framed through the philosophical lens of absurdism. The project received an honorable mention from the University of Antioquia.
Tools
Unity3D 🔹 URP 🔹 Unity Shader Graph 🔹 MagicaVoxel 🔹 Blender
Role
Lead Developer 🔹 3D Artist 🔹 Mechanics and Level Designer
The Gameplay
Times Like These is an alpha first-person exploration game set in an open world. Its design revolves around absurdism and the idea of pursuing an unattainable purpose.
The player navigates a vast environment, guided by an orb of light that symbolizes the meaning of life. Although never reached, this goal drives the discovery of three main mechanics, each integrated as a playable metaphor:
Magic, representing passion, allows interaction with world elements but is limited in use.
The Super Collector, representing responsibility, enables gathering essential resources to progress, at the cost of slowing the game’s flow.
The Advanced Movement Device, symbolizing perseverance, allows exploration of dangerous and distant areas but may require extensive trial and error.
Each tool was designed not only to expand gameplay but also to reinforce the game’s central theme: the impossibility of achieving an absolute purpose. On a technical level, these mechanics are progressively unlocked through chests scattered around the world, and their functionality is managed using Unity’s New Input System, which allows key combinations to be reused depending on context and player progress.
Although still in alpha, Times Like These functions as a playable experiment to explore philosophical ideas through system design, avoiding direct use of text or dialogue.
