Dawn to the Light
Raising mental health awareness through gameplay
The Client
Contact is a youth arts organisation based in Manchester, dedicated to empowering young people aged 13–30. Their work focuses on nurturing creativity, confidence, and self expression, helping young people transform ideas into meaningful creative outcomes.
Game Logo
The Project
Dawn to the Light was developed as an interactive game designed to explore mental health challenges faced by teenagers. The core aim was to use gameplay as a reflective tool, encouraging empathy, awareness, and conversation around issues that are often difficult to articulate.
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Rather than presenting mental health as a didactic subject, the project focused on immersive storytelling and player choice, allowing users to engage with complex emotional themes through interaction and narrative.
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What We Did
We designed and developed the game using the Unity 3D game engine, creating a PC compatible experience playable with a standard controller.
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To bring the game to life, we assembled a small multidisciplinary team, including 3D modellers, a character artist, a 2D artist, and a Unity programmer. Together, we created stylised environments, interactive dialogue systems, and narrative driven gameplay moments that supported the project’s sensitive themes.
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This project reflects our wider studio practice at AVimmerse, where we combine game design, immersive storytelling, and collaborative production to create meaningful interactive experiences.
Dawn to the Light Classroom
Dawn to the Light Head Master Speech Mini Game
The End Result
Dawn to the Light was successfully completed and showcased at a Contact theatre event, where it was presented inside an arcade cabinet, allowing audiences to experience the game in a public exhibition setting.
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The project demonstrated how games can be used as a meaningful medium for social impact, combining accessible mechanics with thoughtful storytelling to engage young audiences.
Watch the video below for highlights from the game.
