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Game Stills
Inspiration
As our team was getting to know each other we realized we each had non-linear paths that led us to participating in this Hackathon. It became clear that our twists and turns had brought us closer to our passions. We thought, wow, “failing” gets a bad reputation, but actually it had taught us so much, and we wished we had done it more often.
The problem with fearing failure is that it’s stifling. It limits people from trying new things and taking risks, while promoting an unrealistic notion of perfection. Worse, people attribute it to their self-worth, and it’s incredibly isolating. Meanwhile, at its core, “failure” is simply unmet expectations.
Failure, oh failure, so feared by all, but let’s choose to celebrate, when we take a fall. For in every stumble and every mistake, we learn and grow, and our hearts begin to awake.
Welcome to FAILTOPIA, where failures are celebrated!
We know that behind every success is a string of failures, and this is the place to showcase them.
By shifting the culture of failure through reflection, co-creation, and collaboration, students can see that their failure is essential in finding their way through the trees. A new generation of risk-takers is born.
A 2019 Harvard Business School research paper published in the American Psychological Association indicated that revealing your failures can mitigate feelings of malicious envy in observers. In 2016, Princeton University professor Johannes Haushofer posted a “CV of failures” on his professional website in an effort to prevent people from attributing their failures to themselves solely, because in reality it’s usually due to the fact that systems fail us, “the world is stochastic, applications are crapshoots, and selection committees and referees have bad days.” His “CV of failures” was praised widely.
Furthermore, students with strong and rewarding social ties at school are less likely to drop out of school and never return (Lee and Burkam, 2003), and less likely to engage in substance abuse and truancy (Schulenberg et al., 1994). Researchers also find that an absence of a feeling of connectedness at school is an antecedent of depression among adolescents. Indeed, one in three students who enroll in higher education drop out, according to a New York Times 2019 article. The statistic is even higher for BIPOC students. However, structured supports, such as mentorship and mental health services, significantly help BIPOC college students retention, according to a 2021 InsightNews article.
What it does
Failtopia is an immersive multiplayer community building experience where University students navigating a transition into college life can listen, share, and grow from their failures. By creating an environment that explores the complex types of failures throughout one’s life, students are invited to listen to each other’s stories, record their own, and watch them transform into beautiful mushrooms. As they navigate deeper into the forest, we hope to open their eyes to the fact that: We all fail; We can learn from not only our own failures, but each others failures; We can explore and question the systems that fail us: within our family, different sources of privilege and our places within socio-economic systems.
At the start, players are located in a forest of failures called Failtopia. While wandering around the forest, players find mushrooms with tin can telephones.They can use the tin can telephones to listen to failure stories or record a personal failure story. Afterwards, the tin can telephone can be planted and grown into a new mushroom, representing personal growth and enhancing the forest with more mushrooms. Players also receive a failure trophy whenever they share a story. In the middle of the scene, a small hill with a bonfire is located where players can gather and celebrate their failures together. The main function is to highlight that everyone is struggling with failures and that by eroding its stigma and embracing the lessons learned from failures, we can learn from each other and connect and grow, together.
Our main user group is University students who are struggling. The experience would ideally be added to the mental health services at schools and counseling programs, fostering community building amongst students.
We envision Failtopia to allow University students to connect in a way they never have before, allowing them to become vulnerable and reduce harmful competitive practices. Slowly but surely, the culture surrounding failure will shift for the better. Imagine if someone complimented you on your failures at that age in your life. What risks would you have taken, what dreams would you have pursued?
How we built it
We decided that we want to build a VR Game, since it is the best form for our concept. We assembled the Game in Unity using Blender and C# and made use of Foundry to integrate a multiplayer option. We added tin can telephones that the players can interact with in order to listen to failure stories and add their own.
Challenges we ran into
Identifying the audience and the impact we want to make was vague in the beginning, as well as how to foster community building through the specific interactions in experience. We also initially wanted to incorporate Dolby spatial audio, but after hours of learning their SDK tools and struggling to integrate the program, we had to make the difficult decision to move on to the next best alternative, which was Unity spatial audio. Another challenge we faced was to integrate realistic physics for the ropes of the tin can telephones.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We managed to create a complete functional prototype in multiplayer mode and define a clear audience for the project. We were thrilled to create something that works to transform the negative connotations failures are associated with into positive ones and promote community building for an impressionable age group. We assembled a great, balanced team with different skill sets and worked together in a unified manner, respectfully supporting each other’s needs and ideas.
What we learned
Improved workflow for multiplayer by using Foundry;
Implementation of realistic physics for ropes;
Managing expectations and compromise.
What's next for Failtopia
In Failtopia’s next iteration, we’d love to conduct user testing with University students in order to create a more customized experience as well as collect more failure stories. This will facilitate the platform’s ability to build a strong community and support network to embrace failure.
We also hope to engage universities as partners and convince them that our experience should be included to improve the mental health of students.
Incorporating Dolby’s superior spatial audio would also be a priority, as well as improving visuals and features such as the planting of tin can telephones/failure stories and growing mushrooms, as well as failure trophies, dark to light elements and forest-enhancing qualities such as fireflies.
A second iteration would also include additional disabilities-inclusive features. We also want to incorporate a user end review process such as allowing users to edit their audio recordings. Lastly, we would bottom out data privacy features.
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