Empty Bottles


DATE: March 2020

TEAM

  • Yang Cao - design, engineering, writing

ABOUT THE GAME

Summary

This short horror game is about a mother—a drunk and a child abuser—trapped in a loop inside her own house after her child’s suicide. Each loop brings her to remember all the things she has done to the child, her own sufferings and drinking problem, etc.

Narrative Style

The story has 4 loops; each is set in the same house but in a different time period.

  • 1st loop: when the child was born

  • 2nd loop: when the child was five years old

  • 3rd loop: when the child was a teenager

  • 4th loop: When the child died

The story is told through sticky notes lying around the house, speaking to the mother by a few characters, including the child, the biological father, the mother’s mother, etc.

Purpose

The game is designed to question and explore topics related to birth, such as antinatalism and abortion. It’s asking questions such as :

  • Can giving birth be a sin, because the life one gives birth to did not have the right to decide its own fate?

  • How different are murder, abortion, and giving birth, when all three include the actor deciding someone else’s fate?

  • Is life always better than death or non-existence? What is the answer based on, moral? Social norm? Utilitarianism?

  • How much the parent(s) should be responsible when the child suffers?

Gameplay Video

Content warning: occasional jump scares

Credits and Resources:

Female crying: https://freesound.org/people/drotzruhn/sounds/405204/

Female scream: https://freesound.org/people/XfiXy8/sounds/467283/

Baby crying: https://freesound.org/people/gumballworld/sounds/398552/

Door SFX:

  • https://freesound.org/people/vate/sounds/268126/

  • https://freesound.org/people/InspectorJ/sounds/431117/

  • https://freesound.org/people/bennstir/sounds/80928/

  • https://freesound.org/people/TheBuilder15/sounds/367052/

Start page gulping SFX: https://freesound.org/people/Q.K./sounds/56271/