It Comes in Waves

A game prototype about being an essential worker during a global pandemic

This prototype began as a way to explore how class intersected with the COVID-19 pandemic. It explores how many employees in the health sector are deemed "essential workers," despite continuing to live in precarity. What does it mean to fear for your health and safety when going to work, especially when without it, you can't earn a living?

You will play as Beattie, a care assistant working during the pandemic. As an agency-based contracted worker Beattie works at two facilities - Innis House (a long term care institution) and Meadowvale (a retirement home). The game takes place during the first stage of the pandemic, in early to mid 2020.

UPDATE: Some browsers (particularly Chrome and Safari) are having intermittent issues loading the images for the game. The images seem to load best in Firefox and Brave, but we are working on identifying the cause of this issue and will update the game to fix it as quickly as we can. Thanks for your patience!

Released January 24, 2022

Read more about the development process for the game

Production Team

Mia Consalvo - Executive Producer 

 Michael Iantorno - Narrative Designer 

 Lyne Dwyer - Programmer 

 Tamyres Lucas - Lead Artist 

 Courtney Blamey - Game Designer

Playtesters

Scott DeJong 

 Katy Huang 

 Tamyres Lucas 

 Andrew Moger 

 Ryan Scheiding 

 Caleb Solomon 

 Jocelyn Wagner

CONTENT NOTE: This game is designed for a wide audience, and so does not contain any profanity or explicit language.  The subject matter may remind players of the early   days of the pandemic when we were all frightened by the unknown, but it does not contain any graphic events or images.