CHANGE: A Homeless Survival Experience

About This Game

CHANGE is an emotional homeless survival experience set in a randomly generated city with rogue-like elements. Explore, survive, earn perks, find items and kindness to develop your character and escape to a new life.

With hundreds of perks, items, events and more, this serious game comes with a large amount of depth that opens up the more you play, and changes based on how you play.

20% of Delve Interactive’s profits from this game will be donated to charities focused on the issue of homelessness.

This is a hate letter to the growing indifference in the world. When members of the development team almost fell into homelessness some years ago, it inspired us to create something that gives a voice to the forgotten and the vulnerable. We take the subject very seriously and portray it as such.

After over 7 years of research and hard work, 100s of updates and fan support, we bring you our tale of survival and isolation.

• Choose from 5 different characters each with their own background stories and maladies, then create your own story
• Find companions and find kindness. Build a reputation or even friendships with various characters including the other homeless and the police
• Build your inventory with food, survival tools, clothing and more… as well as unlocking new items for your next playthrough as you progress

  

• Spend a night in police stations, parks or shelters, spend time at bars, visit the clinic, study in the library, recycle scrap and more as you discover new areas and buildings
• Learn about the lives of the homeless and everything they go through to survive, with every part of the truth having been heavily researched by the developers.

  I spent a long time talking to people on the streets and those who’ve experienced sleeping rough to listen to their stories, many of which are included in the game as “night events”. This game was made with the vision of getting homelessness and it’s difficulties across through a game that’s engaging and empathetic.

  We also spent time delving into and cross referencing a ton of literature on homelessness provided publicly by various charity, journalistic and government institutions.

• Experience a beautifully composed emotional soundtrack

  
  

  Manage your hunger, hygiene, happiness, crime levels, street reputation, study levels and other stats as you try to survive and escape the homeless life. But you can only do so much in one day… what will you do?

  Will you spend the day begging, depending on the kindness of others?

  Will you find shelter in the night?

  Perhaps you’re moved out of the area by the police for loitering. Unable to find shelter, you end up on the streets at night, and you meet a dog. Is it a stray? Could it be a friend? All your actions affect your happiness in some way, and it’s up to you to manage your stats accordingly. You could turn to drink, but risk addiction. You could hope for a fortunate event, or make some progress towards your survival.

  But you will have to choose. It could all be over if a bad event occurs in the dangerous night streets. Especially during winter.

  Every game is different, and with each playthrough comes more ways to explore CHANGE.

  If you became homeless… what would you do?

  

  PLANS

  Our goal with this project is to raise awareness on the issue of homelessness, as well as raise money for it. We have done a ton of research for this project and while our wish is to portray the reality of homelessness, various aspects of sleeping rough have been abstracted for the sake of gameplay.

  So far, we’ve raised over £7000 for the charities CRISIS, The Clocktower Sanctuary and Shelter.

  Join us in the community section to discuss the game with the team! We’re always listening and awaiting your feedback.

Reviews

“With this rich, emotional overlay, coupled with some deep, appealing mechanics, CHANGE is an enthralling survival experience from start to finish.”
New Game Network

“Change is a gritty, hand-crafted, labor of love that transcends its simple, pixilated aesthetic. It asks questions of the player which will hopefully be pondered at some point during playthroughs. I know I did.”
CyberPowerPC

“PREVIEW: …the game says a bit more, a bit more deeply, about being homeless. And it starts to sink in, the bleak reality, even though the graphics are pixelated and even though it is, inescapably, a game experience.”
Eurogamer