For What It’s Worth
Zhaorong Zeng
Advisor: Yuliya Parshina-Kottas
Success isn’t just about work or money. It might be about how we spend our time, make choices, and live with the consequences in our live journey.
Project Description
"For What It’s Worth — it’s a narrative storytelling video game with psychological theory that turns personal uncertainty into a playable journey through time, risk, and meaning." In other words, this is a game that needs to explore the logic of completing the game within a limited time, and reflect on the true meaning of life.
Technical Details
1. Game Journey Map
"Just like life, this game is a journey through five major stages — each representing a critical turning point. Our story begins at the Time Bank, where the main character, born with almost no time left, must fight to gather enough to survive and ascend to the next level.
2. Storytelling References - In Time
This game was inspired by one of my favorite movie —In Time. In that world, every second is currency — time equals money, power, and life itself. The main character, born at the bottom of society, runs each day just to survive.
3.Background Storyboard
In this story, the main character is born into the lowest class — where time is the only currency. Every meal, every bus ride, costs time — and when it runs out, life ends. After watching his mother die in front of him because she ran out of time, he begins his fight to escape the bottom. Then my game is beginning.
4.Dramatic Mechanism
Unlike the movie’s hopeful ending, my game reflects the harsher truth: not every journey ends well. Players face three possible outcomes — success, failure, or being trapped in a loop. With every uncertain choice, risk builds — and sometimes, frustration is part of the game and life experience.
5.From Ideas to Reality: My Creative Toolkit
Beyond the story, I also built a structured workflow to develop the game. I used Notion to organize my Game Design Document, Figma for user flow brainstorming, and Unreal Engine 5 for the final production.
6.Conclusion
In conclusion，A life is not built by chance — it is shaped by every second we dare to spend. My This game reminds everyone that every second matters — and every choice, no matter how small, shapes the life we live.