My thesis project “Blind Date” is an interactive story with game elements in the format of a phone-based website. It features a 28-year-old single Chinese womanâ€s struggles with enormous pressure to get married early. It is a reflection and critique of the conventions surrounding marriage in contemporary Chinese society.

https://xiranisabear.com/blind-date

Description

“Blind Date” is a storytelling project that talks about marriage in the format of a web-based interactive story. A user plays the role of a 28-year old Chinese single woman who is being pressured by her friends and family to get married.
There are three chapters in this game. The first chapter features the protagonistâ€s conversation with her best friend, Lorna, about the wedding of her younger friend, Cici. Along with the conversation, Lorna encourages the protagonist to date someone and warns her about the danger of becoming a leftover woman. In chapter two, the protagonist has a WeChat talk with her mother. Marriage is brought up in this conversation. And the resistance from the protagonist to get married angers her mother and leads to a fight between them. The protagonist compromises in the end and agrees to go on blind dates with several different men. That introduces the third chapter of the game.
In the first two chapters of the game, the user will be clicking through different buttons and graphics to follow the story. In the third chapter, the user will make some decisions before she goes on blind dates and the choices she makes will effectively change the ending of the whole story.
The user will be able to feel the increasing level of pressure the protagonist feels as the story goes on and hopefully he or she can take some insights away after experiencing this story.

Classes

Thesis

Thesis Presentation Video