Nowadays it seems that board games are more fashioned towards children with bright colors and happy go lucky characters it seems like there’s no escape from this kiddy parade. With game such as Candy Land and video games like Minecraft, the game industry has focused more on children and in the process distanced themselves from more darker games  Now there is an answer to this solution called Psychosis, which is the condition when you can not differentiate between reality and fantasy, this new game borders on that feeling and uses the same name.

In the game you play as mentally disturbed children who are between the ages of 5-9, who are running from monsters that lurk in the Insane Asylum/ Orphanages halls at night. Each character has a mental disorder which works like a class, which gives them different abilities, advantages, and disadvantages. The monsters they run from are called Phobias whose abilities are based off of real phobias.The best part about this game is that is was made by two Alisal alumni, Nathaniel Dalerio and Michael Porras.

Dalerio and Porras graduated in the class of 2015 and currently attending UCI and Hartnell College. Porras and Dalerio were both involved in I.S.S.A.C., a club that would travel to L.A to go to Wondercon. While there, they spent a lot of time playing prototype board games. Porras said, “It got us thinking, what possible ideas we could we come up with. If anyone can create a board game then why can’t we? Right?” This idea developed into Psychosis their first game. Working on a project with your friend could be a challenge for anyone but Porras said “Nate and I have always been very close, we have this friend  telepathy where we know what each of us is thinking.” Dalerio added, “ We see eye to eye and that’s  the best part, our ideas just click. Add this vision to the talent brought by JJ and it’s a dangerous trio.”

Jose Julio Garcia, Alisal’s wrestling coach and advisor for Club I.S.S.A.C.,  is also a part of the Dalerio and Porras team. “Garcia who is the art director of this project will be designing the board itself as well as taking lead on editing images and as well as the website we hope to launch soon,” said Dalerio. Garcia said, “I’m very proud. But it’s more on the I.S.S.A.C. front by exposing them to Wondercon. Proof that we aren’t just going for the cool stuff but going to be a part of it.”

The actual game play will use d6, a die with 6 sides. When the game starts there are no traps and no dark rooms, as you progress there are more traps and dark rooms. Towards the end you’ll have to think 2 or 3 moves ahead and predict everyone else’s move.

Each character is a personification of a mental disorder. The art they use is from Max Rambaldi, who also writes for a board game review company. So far they have two charactes, Lanora Harris who suffers from Clinical Lycanthropy which gives her the delusion that she can, has, or is a non-human animal. Another character is Bonnie/Bunny. Bonnie suffers from the positive symptoms of Schizophrenia, which affects how a person feels, thinks, and behaves. Bunny is her delusion and as long as they are together, Bunny keeps her safe from the world, but what does Bunny want?  They also recently released a Phobia, Automatonophobia, which is the fear of anything falsely representing a sentient being.

These characters are the stepping stones for the game. They plan on having six characters and six phobias and plan on one or two extra kickstarter exclusives when they launch. The other characters will be released on the duo’s instagram page, @serioussidepreojects, and they have been releasing images and descriptions of characters and phobias.

Although this game puts a twist on disorders, Dalerio said, “Psychological disorders are highly stigmatized all around the world, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that we don’t really understand them. The game is not meant to jump on that train, instead we are trying to do the opposite. We hope to combat the stigma surrounding psychological disorders through the game. It’s a dark game, and the fiction Michael is writing for it is hard to read sometimes. It really makes you uneasy, and therefore makes you think, makes you empathize, all in a comparative and fun environment. On top of that, everything in the game is based on something in actual psychology.” Dalerio is doubling in Psychology and Social Behavior, as well as in Business Administration. The characters disorders all come from research Dalerio has done on abnormal psychology. He also plans to bring the game to the professor of psychology at Irvine, but is waiting until the game is more polished.

While the game is still in early stages they hope to release it this summer. To get the word out, the creators plan on starting a kickstarter then from there taking it to conventions and running demos as well as trying to get Youtubers to play it on their channels. If you want to keep up with the development follow @serioussideprojects on instagram.