Companion

Faith Shields created her thesis game titled Companion set in the fantasy world Mirizel which focuses on interactivity between characters and third person, role-playing users. Shields has been conceptualizing Companion since high school and developed the game with tools she learned in her courses in the Game Development major. With deep interests in history and cultural impact, Shields created a penal colony inspired by Imperial British colonies in Australia.

Her goal with the high fantasy, magical world of Mirizel is to positively impact users’ real-life social experiences and teach users empathy with the help of characters in the game. “The basis of my thesis is creating this game that is fun to play, goes into all of the wonderful benefits of a video game in terms of choice and playability, and also focuses on creating a really personal relationship with players so that, hopefully, they go out into the world more empathetic than they started,” Shields said.