How to accurately portray an emotional break down?

[KadoDragon]

I have a character who goes through a downhill spiral of depression. He starts out fine but as the days go on he becomes increasingly depressed over the loss of his girlfriend which he blames himself for. When it comes to this kind of thing I can always accurately portray the depression part since I'm no stranger to intense depression myself. But I've never gone through an emotional break down nor seen one in real life. I've only seen hollywood depictions and I don't know how accurate they would be. It also doesn't help that it is in a 2D engine and I have zero spriting ability.

Does anyone have any tips on how I can accurately portray an intense emotional breakdown? I'm as far as on the floor balling his eyes out. But that's it... :/

Any help would be appreciated and thanks in advance! 

EDIT

I should also add that his depression worsens due to the fact that he constantly sees things that reminds him of his loss and sees his girlfriend everywhere as if she were a ghost popping into and out of reality, I don't know if that would help, but it's just small details that I thought I should add.

 

[cabfe]

That's really difficult and it depends a lot of on the character's personality and environment. People don't react the same way to similar events.

I'm having quite a similar subject in my game as an innocent man is forced to kill and cope with it.

In your case, it looks like this is a profound breakdown if he starts seeing things. I can give you a few ideas, though they may be too extreme for your case:

- You can try giving the character a dream sequence which gradually becomes a nightmare.

- Or a nightmare only, without the 'good' dream part.

- Touchy subject, but you may try setting a suicide attempt.

- Have the character go see a psychologist and talk about this loss. This can allow for flashbacks and personal interpretations of events.

- Make the character blow a fuse in a public place, maybe after a few drinks in a bar.

- Give him a drug/alcohol addiction, to help him "forget".

 

[Julien Brightside]

You could tint the screen darker as time passes.

Like, a bit subtle, but it would be noticeable after a while.

 

[Archeia]

For emotional breakdowns, it does depend but some can go:


1.) They get so depressed they sleep more, don't enjoy what they used to. The opposite can happen too, unable to sleep.


2.) They start snapping at everyone and are more prone to getting offended and untrusting.


3.) They start picking into fights with their friends or random strangers since they just give no f*cks.


4.) Some develop drinking habits/vices, some on the other hand become suicidal.


5.) Some go crazy, bothers Ex and push themselves to them, furthering offending the girl and get themselves into deeper problems.


For #5 you can ignore that since it seems that the girl died? Then 5 stages of grief should be a good basis.


Most of the time those can be long terms like unable to become independent and find themselves projecting the person they love on other people. The other thing that could happens is they consciously hinder any development for any close person they are with since they're stuck in a rut. Which could lead them losing everyone.

 

[Diretooth]

This would be a bit tricky to do with an RM game, but if you are able to do it in an animated cutscene, that makes it perhaps the more profound.

Anyway, I would generally have the character sit on the ground and just stare at the wall with a haunted, blank expression. Nothing screams wrongness more than someone doing nothing, feeling nothing, when they should be raging or cursing.

Sometimes, it's the subtle things like that that are more powerful than someone breaking things.

Now, chances are you don't have the time or patience for animating a cutscene. I would have the character engage in some sort of activity where an antagonist would question the character's motives and motivation, trivializing their pain, whatever. I would, after this encounter, have the character eventually just collapse against a wall and stare at an adjacent one while a tint screen command darkens the screen to black. Adding a phrase like 'I want to die...' could add to it, but sometimes silence can achieve the effect. IF you have a different character elsewhere, you could use that as a cliffhanger moment to make the player question what happened.

 

[SLEEP]

• Watch people have emotional breakdowns, there are documented cases,
• Study people who've had emotional breakdowns, of course in a more empathetic way than the word "study" implies.
• Look for blogs run by people who've had emotional breakdowns, and see if they're open to questions about it. Remember to be exceedingly tactful if you are going to do this

part 2 putting it in rpg maker

• 2D sprites display big, obvious emotions. Subtlety is hard. The subtle details are the ones which give texture to these events. You need to be subtle in ways and obvious in others. There is a fine balance to strike in a medium geared towards obviousness.
• There are few videogames which deal with these topics in a way i'd recommend using as advice for how to deal with them. Watch animation made for adults instead, as a reference on how exactly to convert these emotions to an unsubtle medium.
• Some people like to make videogames about their problems. Wouldn't be surprised if there's an indie game somebody made about their own story with an emotional breakdown, but i cant name one so go google-ing.

 

[Gigglemoo]

Most of the breakdowns I've seen have been similar to what Archeia described (not all at once ofc). A lot of lashing out, destructive behaviour, impulsive behaviour, crying themselves to sleep, avoiding things...


I think it'd be quite difficult to pull off without seeing it yourself. You could try focusing on the effects of his breakdown. What happens with other characters when they see him afterwards, how does he treat them and how do they treat him? If he's actually seeing things and thinking he's seeing his dead girlfriend like a ghost that would be a much more severe mental problem than an emotional breakdown. People don't go that far. I suggest doing some research into signs of developing schizophrenia (and other mental disorders that can have believable delusions) if you really want to go that far.


Remember to make sure the end result is still fun for your players. Not many people would enjoy playing through the emo stuff (Some would!). Everyone can appreciate a good story & character development if it's wrapped around other gameplay elements.

 

[mlogan]

Opening my self up here - I've dealt with this to some degree. I went through a couple of periods in the past decade of intense stress and anxiety. I still deal with it some but not on such an extreme level (thank goodness). A lot of Archeia said is true of my issues.

Starts with depression and inability to sleep. Then, because of being so tired, the anger comes out, lashing out at my family. The next step for me would be crying - not just crying, but sobbing, sometimes ending up on the kitchen floor crying. (Not sure why the kitchen floor, but it seems to be my place, lol. And yes, I have to laugh about it.) Again, this usually happens because the stress/anxiety has caused lack of sleep.

The two times it got real bad were full on panic attack/emotional break down type things. I serously thought I was going to have to be put into a mental hospital. Both types were pretty similar and pretty stereotypical reactions - rapid heartbeat, difficulty breathing, hysterical sobbing mixed with screaming, and yes, even pulling my hair. It was pretty frightening for both me and my husband. And a wake up call both times that things needed to change.

Since the last one, I've learned a lot better to recognize signs and "put the flames out" so to speak before it gets too bad. But anyway, there you go, from someone who's been there. Sigh.

 

[KadoDragon]

These are good. I should also mention that the story takes place in the future on a laboratory space station orbiting Saturn's moon Titan. Some things such as seeing a psychologist just can't happen there. A councilor maybe. This game is a lot about character interaction and horror as things on the space station become more and more crazy. People eventually start dying and creatures are found roaming the station. These creatures and the story behind them are more just catalysts to kick start the real problem which is the main character and his inability to cope with his past which also become linked to the back story.

That's really difficult and it depends a lot of on the character's personality and environment. People don't react the same way to similar events.

I'm having quite a similar subject in my game as an innocent man is forced to kill and cope with it.

In your case, it looks like this is a profound breakdown if he starts seeing things. I can give you a few ideas, though they may be too extreme for your case:

- You can try giving the character a dream sequence which gradually becomes a nightmare.

- Or a nightmare only, without the 'good' dream part.

- Touchy subject, but you may try setting a suicide attempt.

- Have the character go see a psychologist and talk about this loss. This can allow for flashbacks and personal interpretations of events.

- Make the character blow a fuse in a public place, maybe after a few drinks in a bar.

- Give him a drug/alcohol addiction, to help him "forget".

I don't usually like dream sequences but it might fit in here. I had thought about a suicide attempt and it would be so easy in space. I have it so that it pretty much becomes cabin fever for a lot of the workers on the space station including the main character, so a blown fuse is a very viable option. Drug addiction would also be very viable since... Well... Laboratory space station. There a drugs every, both conventional and non-conventional drugs or chemicals.

For emotional breakdowns, it does depend but some can go:

1.) They get so depressed they sleep more, don't enjoy what they used to. The opposite can happen too, unable to sleep.
2.) They start snapping at everyone and are more prone to getting offended and untrusting.
3.) They start picking into fights with their friends or random strangers since they just give no f*cks.
4.) Some develop drinking habits/vices, some on the other hand become suicidal.
5.) Some go crazy, bothers Ex and push themselves to them, furthering offending the girl and get themselves into deeper problems.

For #5 you can ignore that since it seems that the girl died? Then 5 stages of grief should be a good basis.
Most of the time those can be long terms like unable to become independent and find themselves projecting the person they love on other people. The other thing that could happens is they consciously hinder any development for any close person they are with since they're stuck in a rut. Which could lead them losing everyone.

These are good. I could have my main character start having long nights and then sleeping in through the morning and being late for his work. Which in turn can lead to questions being asked then being overly defensive against the questions. Lashing out at co-workers even the boss (Who is a total D'bag to begin with) Becoming un-trusting is a very big part of my story.

This would be a bit tricky to do with an RM game, but if you are able to do it in an animated cutscene, that makes it perhaps the more profound.

Anyway, I would generally have the character sit on the ground and just stare at the wall with a haunted, blank expression. Nothing screams wrongness more than someone doing nothing, feeling nothing, when they should be raging or cursing.

Sometimes, it's the subtle things like that that are more powerful than someone breaking things.

Now, chances are you don't have the time or patience for animating a cutscene. I would have the character engage in some sort of activity where an antagonist would question the character's motives and motivation, trivializing their pain, whatever. I would, after this encounter, have the character eventually just collapse against a wall and stare at an adjacent one while a tint screen command darkens the screen to black. Adding a phrase like 'I want to die...' could add to it, but sometimes silence can achieve the effect. IF you have a different character elsewhere, you could use that as a cliffhanger moment to make the player question what happened.

How could I forget the blank stare of horror. Personal history problems mixed with weird creatures roaming around in an area that you cannot exactly just walk away from could easily and quickly lead to one of these. But I don't know if this would come before or after the emotional breakdown. If it's before, it could be like the calm before the **** storm. If it's after, it could depict the completely broken man deal.

Most of the breakdowns I've seen have been similar to what Archeia described (not all at once ofc). A lot of lashing out, destructive behaviour, impulsive behaviour, crying themselves to sleep, avoiding things...

I think it'd be quite difficult to pull off without seeing it yourself. You could try focusing on the effects of his breakdown. What happens with other characters when they see him afterwards, how does he treat them and how do they treat him? If he's actually seeing things and thinking he's seeing his dead girlfriend like a ghost that would be a much more severe mental problem than an emotional breakdown. People don't go that far. I suggest doing some research into signs of developing schizophrenia (and other mental disorders that can have believable delusions) if you really want to go that far.

Remember to make sure the end result is still fun for your players. Not many people would enjoy playing through the emo stuff (Some would!). Everyone can appreciate a good story & character development if it's wrapped around other gameplay elements.

This game will be VERY story driven. There will be some slugging through emo stuff but not all the way through. There is some mystery to the story with why there are these weird creatures around and what they have to do with the main character. So that mystery element will pull away the player from the emo stuff when it gets too heavy. The delusions and apparitions aren't exactly a schizophrenia thing in the general sense. It's more of a foreign element invading on the main characters anxiety and troubles.

Opening my self up here - I've dealt with this to some degree. I went through a couple of periods in the past decade of intense stress and anxiety. I still deal with it some but not on such an extreme level (thank goodness). A lot of Archeia said is true of my issues.

Starts with depression and inability to sleep. Then, because of being so tired, the anger comes out, lashing out at my family. The next step for me would be crying - not just crying, but sobbing, sometimes ending up on the kitchen floor crying. (Not sure why the kitchen floor, but it seems to be my place, lol. And yes, I have to laugh about it.) Again, this usually happens because the stress/anxiety has caused lack of sleep.

The two times it got real bad were full on panic attack/emotional break down type things. I serously thought I was going to have to be put into a mental hospital. Both types were pretty similar and pretty stereotypical reactions - rapid heartbeat, difficulty breathing, hysterical sobbing mixed with screaming, and yes, even pulling my hair. It was pretty frightening for both me and my husband. And a wake up call both times that things needed to change.

Since the last one, I've learned a lot better to recognize signs and "put the flames out" so to speak before it gets too bad. But anyway, there you go, from someone who's been there. Sigh.

Nothing wrong with laughing about your own problems. I do it myself. I've done the kitchen floor thing myself. And I've laughed about it thinking I was making myself go through a cliche. The knowledge of needing help could be an element in the story for my character, but knowing what environment he's in he knows he can't get help and that become more frustrating and depressing. I hope you can get through your problems. I feel bad for you. I haven't gotten that bad but I can share some of those experiences with you. I wish the best for you and your husband.

 

[Archeia]

Another thing I'd like to add, eating disorders can develop. It depends on the person but sometimes, when someone is too cowardly to physically harm themselves, they could eat themselves to death. (Eating too much and when something hits, eats more)

 

[Candacis]

I think, it is very difficult to portray something like that in a game. I just want to offer an example how it was done in an Anime (Neon Genesis Evangelion), so how one could show this via visuals. This is very artistic and abstract, but I found it very convincing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ0doO3VFjc

Obvious Spoiler for Neon Genesis Evangelion.

I think, you could show, for instance, his dead girlfriend or other disturbing appearances. It doesn't really have to be marked as an halluzination, maybe it is just the stuff that the character is currently thinking about. Her shadow could just follow him around, like a dragging thought, memory that he can't shake.

 

[KadoDragon]

I think, it is very difficult to portray something like that in a game. I just want to offer an example how it was done in an Anime (Neon Genesis Evangelion), so how one could show this via visuals. This is very artistic and abstract, but I found it very convincing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ0doO3VFjc

Obvious Spoiler for Neon Genesis Evangelion.

I think, you could show, for instance, his dead girlfriend or other disturbing appearances. It doesn't really have to be marked as an halluzination, maybe it is just the stuff that the character is currently thinking about. Her shadow could just follow him around, like a dragging thought, memory that he can't shake.

That was actually very helpful! The abstractness of it is not really in my taste, but it helped me think about what dialogue could be used during a break down. I did however like the part where she got dragged away by the crowd of cloaked people that turned into the red pattern background. That was very convincing and I like the idea of the flashbacks flickering by all inverted. I may use that.

 

[Aceri]

Another thing I'd like to add, eating disorders can develop. It depends on the person but sometimes, when someone is too cowardly to physically harm themselves, they could eat themselves to death. (Eating too much and when something hits, eats more)

Well, as someone who actually went through heavy depression(so much so that it screwed my brain up now I'm terrified of germs and people), I wouldn't call it "cowardly" as that seems rather offensive. You get yourself in deep and see if you can pull that trigger.

It really doesn't have anything to do with cowardliness or not, it's how the deep parts of your brain fight against your urge to hurt yourself. If there is absolutely no doubt in your mind and every fiber of your being is convinced that death is the only way, then you can kill yourself, but if there's a shred of doubt in your mind, like a "Oh maybe tomorrow will be better?" or something like it was in my case, it is literally like someone takes your arm and holds it back, keeping you from doing something.

That's how it felt for me anyways. I was planning on doing it, but it felt like something kept stopping me every time I tried, like my muscles would lock up and be like, "Nuh-uh, no way buddy." so I said screw it and went to bed. When I woke up I was still in a really bad place, but I just remembered how stupid and pathetic I thought suicide was and the thought has never since occurred to me.

Though the way, besides all that, that I went through my depression was I spent ALL of my time in bed. I would sleep 20 hours a day. Wake up every couple hours, have a cig, a drink of water and go back to bed, eat just enough to not die. I did that for like 8 months, went from 325lbs to 190lbs in that time period. When I finally came out of the worst of it, I noticed I had developed "issues".

Like becoming terrified of people, deathly afraid of getting sick so much that I have to take certain precautions and pre-steps before I can go out anywhere, as well as post-steps when I get back.(A shower and fresh clothes.) Also, because I had been laying in bed for so damn long, I lost feeling in my legs. The numbness is only skin deep, so I can still walk, feel my muscles, cramps ect., just everything that touches my legs now either goes unnoticed or feels extremely dull.

Getting RPG Maker VX Ace actually helped me a lot, as weird as it is to say. When I finally got to the point where I could move around and function around the house, I picked up this program and it became a major boon to my "recovery" if you want to call it that. It gave me something to focus on, something for my mind to always be occupied by, got me thinking, imagining, and got me back into fiction writing. I think even the first time I laughed after that was reading something on these forums. Was browsing before setting up an account, saw a really stupid reply to a post and couldn't help myself.

But yeah that's how depression effected me. I don't know if any of this insight helps you or not in your quest for a more realistic game experience.

EDIT:

Oh, it's a question about breakdowns, not depression. Man I feel stupid now. >>

I had a breakdown once, came in the form of a MASSIVE panic attack. Thought everyone and everything was out to get me.

 

[kerbonklin]

Learn from television shows and JRPGs. They're everywheeeeeere.

Like the usual generic loud name-screaming done by the main character upon someone's death. (Followed by repetitive "GOD DAMNIT! NO! *sob sob* Why....?!")

 

[Archeia]

Well, as someone who actually went through heavy depression(so much so that it screwed my brain up now I'm terrified of germs and people), I wouldn't call it "cowardly" as that seems rather offensive. You get yourself in deep and see if you can pull that trigger.

EDIT:

Oh, it's a question about breakdowns, not depression. Man I feel stupid now. >>

I had a breakdown once, came in the form of a MASSIVE panic attack. Thought everyone and everything was out to get me.

Yeah I was wondering why it was about depression when we were talking about breakdowns. By cowardly I mean that there are some who wants to pull the trigger but they don't want it to be something devastating for their loved ones or something painful should they themselves fail. So, which one is easier to take in, someone dies because it looked "natural" or a suicide? Well granted, I probably used the wrong word there, I should've used "hesitant."

yesIwentthere.

 

[Aceri]

Well regardless people have to make decisions they have to live and die with. Some people actually do think that tomorrow just isn't worth seeing, but usually those are the silent types who don't really talk about their issues. People who whine about it just want attention and a pat on the back.

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

One of my favorite emotional breakdowns is Azula's after she loses the battle (and her throne) to Zuko.. in Avatar, the last airbender.

It's very out of her character, but the spiral leading to it was amazing. If he tore out chinks of his hair/clothing that might be a plus. What are his traits? Acting completely and shickingly out of character may not only make for a good breakdown, it may also grab your players by the heartstrings too, especially if he's not a crier (untill that point of course.)

 

[Aceri]

At the same time the breakdown has to be believable for that character. Like you can't have a typically soft spoken, gentle caring character break out in maniacal super villain laughter and go on a puppy slaughtering spree, ya'know?

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

At the same time the breakdown has to be believable for that character. Like you can't have a typically soft spoken, gentle caring character break out in maniacal super villain laughter and go on a puppy slaughtering spree, ya'know?

Very solid point!!!

Perhaps, the character could be one who has it all together... 99 percent of the time... and once in a great, great while, he COMPLETELY falls apart and unravels at the seams... just... not so crazy he'd kill puppies ;-:

 

[Aceri]

I think Cloud in Final Fantasy VII is a good example of having a major breakdown. How he like completely just became a shell of his former self once he found out he was a clone of Sephiroth(I would say spoilers but it's been over 10 years, if you haven't played it by now you probably wont hehe). That revelation hit him so hard for a chunk of the game he just became this babbling drooling idiot in a wheelchair.

I think a good type of breakdown would be something akin to one of the last anime style games I played, Agarest: Generations of War. Being as how this is a little iffy on the spoilers side of things, I'll put the following inside of a spoiler so just know if you open it you've been warned.

Spoiler

In Agarest: Generations of War one of the children you play as is Thoma. Although he never experiences a breakdown I think his character path could of supported one. Basically he is kind of like a Vash the Stampede type of character mixed with that perverted monk from Inyuyasha. He knows what his fate is and it bothers him. He constantly worries about his friends, but he hides all of his "negative" feelings behind a guise of laughter, jokes, womanizing and so on. I think a character like that could support a breakdown pretty well.