Homeless Simulator

Inspiration

This game is inspired by the lived experiences of many unhoused individuals living in Los Angeles. This interactive storytelling game follows a day in the life of Michelle Washington, a black trans woman who has lost the support of her family, and has been driven out of her hometown by anti-homeless legislation. The goal of this program is to raise awareness of the difficulties faced by unhoused people, and increase empathy for this marginalized group.

What it does

The game takes the user through a storyline, where they have the option to choose between two actions, which will result in different consequences, and change the amount of money in the protagonist’s wallet. A fully built version of this game would utilize ad revenue to donate to organizations that support unhoused individuals.

How we built it

We knew initially that we wanted to create a game of some kind, in order to raise awareness of homeless experiences. This game was built using the React library. Most of our group members were new to this technology, so we attended the React workshop offered by QWER Hacks for extra support. We made page components that hold card and button components. We used session storage to store a coin variable, and have it persist across pages.

Challenges we ran into

We did not begin the program with a solid program structure, making adjustments difficult further down the line. Due to unfamiliarity with React, we struggled with implementing the coin value system, because we needed the value to be accessible on every page.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are satisfied with the design of the UI and the storyline, and that we were able to create a finished product.

What we learned

Those of us unfamiliar with React were able to gain some experience in that area. One member had not previously used Git, and became more familiar with front end development.

What's next for Homeless Simulator

Next, we can implement monetization and an ad revenue system so the game can potentially raise funds for organizations that support the unhoused. In the future, we could develop a fully fleshed out storyline with many more routes, capable of demonstrating more of the many struggles faced by the unhoused community.