Description:

Created for Cause Jam and developed through Jampack, That Price To Pay is a short game
that tells an emotional story aligned with the cause’s purpose. The game was created in roughly
a week. We joined the jam even though half of the time had already passed, but we decided to
stick with it until the end. We could have chosen another jam to attend, but we knew nothing
was more important to us than the meaningful purpose behind this one.
Cause Jam and the Jampack Program are hosted by Games For Love, a non-profit organization
with a mission to help children in hospitals. That’s why That Price to Pay also tells a story
inspired by the same theme, with its main character being a young patient. This game carries a
heavy topic – a child in his final days of life. While writing the story, we often wondered if the
concept was too controversial. But we decided to continue with it, because the story’s message
felt important.
In this game, we don’t aim at the children as the target players, but any adult in this world. We
want to show people the perspective from the mind of a young child, how they might perceive
something as sensitive as death. Are they afraid of it? What would they do if they knew it might
come soon? And do they even understand what it means? We tried to explore those questions
through a fictional boy named Joey – a six-year-old patient visited by Angel, a symbolic figure
representing how he imagines death based on what he’s heard from others. The game features
nine conversations between Joey and Angel, along with ten small jigsaw puzzles that all form a
meaning.
After the jam, we were invited to the Jampack Incubator Program, which gave us the opportunity
to improve the game further. During the incubator, we learned valuable advice that could help
the game have better experience, from fixing technical issues to improving UIs and adding story
content. Our mentors helped us see the game from a player’s perspective, something we hadn’t
fully grasped as developers. Their guidance keeps us to be on track with the timeline of the
development. Being part of Jampack means our story doesn’t just reach players – it also
supports real-world change. We hope our game could tell people more about the little ones that
are in-needed. And to let them know that, we adults are here to listen.