Details

Clone College: Addressing Socio-Economic Disparities with Procedural Rhetoric in a Serious Game

Year: 2026

Term: Winter

Student Name: Nicholas Ralph

Supervisor: Edward Melcer

Abstract: Clone College is a serious game about how students of lower socio-economic statuses are disproportionately impacted by financial and academic stress. In my report I document portions of the game’s design process, in addition to the technical implementation. My goal with the game’s design was to abstract the real-life experiences of students into metaphorical mechanics that the player can interact with. This allows them to experience a rough approximation of what the same term may look like from the contrasting perspectives of two students of differing socio-economic statuses. My goal with the technical implementation was to implement a scalable, modular system, allowing me to expand upon it later without worrying about performance or technical debt.