New Realities: Design – Arts – Technology

Your dear auntie Patty has been admitted to a mental asylum. You are determined to get her out. With a fake certificate, you apply at the sanatorium St. Anity for a position as a doctor.

«Sanatorium» is a digital card game where you test, diagnose and treat patients. Its scenario is a grim fictionalised version of the 1920s where the borders between modern psychiatric treatment and pseudo-science have not yet been drawn.

You open patient files and sort their symptoms in a chart, determine the diagnosis and order treatments. At the end of the day, your work will be reviewed. If you screw up too often your scheme might get discovered. Also, help the institute to keep the budget balanced. You might want to keep wealthier patients longer to get more money out of them to buy more treatments and tests at the card shop.

A commentary on the topics of psycho-normativity and the history of psychiatry.

Designer:
Sebastian Riedi

Cooperation partners:
Cédric Schlegel, Bachelor Komposition (Bachelor Musik - Komposition und Musiktheorie - Komposition für Film, Theater und Medien), Zurich University of the Arts

Year:
2020

Subject Area:
BA Game Design, ZHdK

Type:
Digital Card Game

Country:
Switzerland

Website:
sebastianriedi.ch
zeitglas.com