The Never-Ending Battle

The Never-Ending Battle

By Jason Ang

The Never-Ending Battle is a Twine game that is intended to raise awareness of physical disability in children and the mental and social struggles that come with it. As a sufferer of Ankylosing Spondylitis since childhood, Jason Ang developed this game based on his personal experience. Ankylosing Spondylitis is a genetically-influenced autoimmune disease that attacks one’s own joints and ligaments, affecting the individual’s mobility. The nature of this disease is recurring, and although one’s healthy lifestyle (sleep, diet, exercise) and maintenance of physical and mental well-being may prevent recurrences, one can never expect when the pain will emerge. 

The idea behind the game is to put the player in the shoes of a boy who battles with this disease and expose them to the daily discouraging thoughts, tough choices, challenges, and frustrations that the boy experiences. Indeed, the developer chose to use a boy as the character because according to Arthritis Foundation, children account for 10-20% of all cases of Ankylosing Spondylitis, and the disease is two to three times more prevalent in boys than girls. To achieve the purpose of the game, the developer strongly adopted the mechanics of Depression Quest, another Twine-like game that puts the player in a position of an individual who struggles with clinical depression. Like Depression Quest, The Never-Ending Battle uses the second-person perspective to encourage the players to identify with the character. Both games also require the player to make decisions based on the circumstances that they explore through the passages, and these choices affect the outcome of the story. 

The Never-Ending Battle is divided into three levels that explore the particular struggles that the character experiences during childhood, teenage years, and adolescence respectively. Each level conveys one short narrative in a non-linear manner and encourages the player to replay it and make a different decision that will give them a different outcome. Though the player does not have to play these levels sequentially, it allows them to see how the character develops socially, physically, and emotionally as he grows up.