The Newcomer

Hello, my name is Darren Xu. As an immigrant and foreigner in the United States, I wanted to create a game to help newcomers coming to America feel more comfortable and knowledgeable when they arrive. 

As a result, I created The Newcomer, a 3D game designed to help players experience American culture, language, and just a general understanding of America. I hope this game will help outsiders feel more welcome and ready to take on their new environment, armed with their newfound expertise. 

The basic premise of this game is that you are literally a newly arrived-citizen in the United States. You will spawn in one of many possible locations, which is determined based on the location of what previous country you are coming from, in an American landscape. The areas are themed roughly based on reality, such as the snowy regions of Vermont, or the dry deserts of Arizona. Although obviously not made to scale or exact detail, the game tries to replicate possible environments all around America, whether it is North West or South East. In these areas are multiple activities that the player can enjoy. This includes hunting for local animals or gathering state-specific fruits. Some fun ways that this can be done is through fishing, shooting, or buying and selling. 

In addition to small activities such as the ones aforementioned, the areas contain important and big cities in America, such as Hollywood or New York. To add on, there are also important landmarks such as Mount Rushmore or Statue of Liberty. In these landmarks and cities, the player can find bigger and more exciting mini-games to play. For instance, exploring Hollywood in a platformer game. The completion of these mini-games will reward the user with a piece of the American flag which they need in order to present the whole flag to the President of America, which signifies the end of the game. Throughout the player’s journey, they will be exploring and immersing themselves in the States while picking up important cultural facets and learning the English language as they progress. I hope that the end of the game will also boost the confidence of the player and create success in their experience in a new place.