Brain Invaders

Overview

Brian Invaders is an arcade style game inspired by the 1978 classic Space Invaders. For this game jam, we have implemented some concepts from cognitive behavioral therapy to help the player reframe negative thoughts into positive ones.

You are the commander of the Brain Ship. And the protagonist, who is in a state of mental anguish, needs your help! It feels like everything in their life is in ruins: their health is terrible, their relationships are falling apart, and their grades are slipping. As a result, their mind has become rampant with negative thoughts.

As these bad thoughts emerge in the protagonist’s mind, you must operate the Brain Ship to eliminate any of the ‘enemy’ negative words. If the player is successful, the resulting sentence will be a positive one. For example, the sentence “I will never be good enough” transforms to “I will be good enough”. Eventually, as you help the player to generate more positive thoughts, the realms of their life which once troubled them (health, sleep, relationships, school) will slowly begin to improve.  

The game implements this jam’s theme of “ruin” through the backstory and overarching narrative. Since the protagonist feels like their life is in ruins, it is your job to help them reframe their thoughts and rebuild their self-esteem. In terms of social impact, we hope that this game can be a framework for people with anxiety, depression, and other mental health struggles to improve their well-being.

Commands

For the introductions screen (when there is text on screen providing backstory) press the spacebar to see the next line. During gameplay, use the right and left keys, or the A and D keys to move the spaceship. Use the spacebar to shoot the ‘enemy’ negative words.