Project

A dystopian narrative game questioning the aging double standard, artificial beauty ideals and their impact on identity and self-acceptance.

Type

Narrative Video Game

Year

2025

Client

Politecnico di Milano

Location

Milan, Italy

Source Bound is a dystopian narrative video game set in a society where appearance determines social value. Following Isla Mercer's journey and observing the system through different roles, players confront a world that turns aesthetic standards into tools of control.

The story focuses on the aging double standard: time and visible signs of age are judged differently according to gender. Dialogues, dossiers, assessments and ethical choices encourage reflection on how these norms affect identity, self-worth and self-acceptance.

The project combines branching storytelling, character and scene design, diegetic interfaces and decision-based gameplay. Its dystopian visual language contrasts the perfection promoted by the elite with the truths concealed by the system.

Created for the Interactive Transmedia Narratives for New Media course at Politecnico di Milano, Source Bound was developed as an Unreal Engine experience and evaluated through user testing sessions.

Within the team, I worked on game development, character design and narrative design, helping translate the project's themes into characters, scenes and interactive choices.

I contributed to the branching narrative structure, UX/UI flows and prototype implementation in Unreal Engine, while also supporting coordination across design, development and testing.

Contributors

Yuwei Li·Eleonora Palma·Yiming Bao·Shinde Mansi Rajesh·Mera Joel·Kharadze Elene

My roles

Game Developer·Character Designer·Narrative Designer

Skills

Character Design·Scene Design·Project Management·Unreal Engine·Narrative Design·UX/UI Design