This Too Shall Pass

Visual Novel Game – 2025

Annika de Witte

Artist’s Statement

This Too Shall Pass was my thesis project for New Media. I was the creator, editor, storywriter, and lead programmer of the visual novel game.

1 in 2 youth struggle with their mental health alone in Canada (Bell Let’s Talk)

As long as I can remember, I have been scared of everything. I would throw up every year on the first day of school and my parents insisted I was “just shy”, but I knew it was more than that. When I was 15, I was officially diagnosed with social and generalized anxiety disorder. I’m 23 now and have come to realize how differently my brain works from others. I was curious to see if I could show what it feels like to live a day in my body. And thus, This Too Shall Pass was born.

This visual novel gives a taste of how it feels when anxiety is at its worst, such as during a panic attack or a harmful hyperfixation. Conversely, it shows how to calm down from an anxiety attack by teaching relaxation skills that help soothe one’s mind from the spiral of thoughts and worry. As you play through the story, anxiety attacks get triggered by specific elements and situations, and your goal is to use coping mechanisms and breathing techniques to bring yourself back to a calm state.

With an immersive experience such as this, those who don’t or couldn’t understand what social anxiety feels like will get the chance to. Players can gain more sensitivity for those who struggle with their mental health and gain tools to deal with any anxiety they might experience in their lives. Everyone experiences some anxiety, either from social situations, separation, phobias, or various other stimuli, and there isn’t enough entertaining artistic media that deal with it out there. This Too Shall Pass is a lighthearted way to consume tough topics and gain a better, more empathetic understanding of mental health.

Timeline

Sep. 2024 – I began conceptualizing my thesis project. My idea was to create a short simulation or interactive story that shows what it feels like to live with anxiety, specifically social anxiety.

I wanted to completely immerse the user with headphones, a screen displaying an interactive choose-your-own-path story, and a physical structure to sit inside, adding to the solitary experience. I originally planned on creating a virtual environment with sounds, voices, and music to build the immersion into an anxiety-affected mind. I also knew I wanted to show how it feels to calm down from an anxiety attack, with calming music and sounds that help soothe one’s mind from the spiral of anxious thoughts. I imagined players could use coping mechanisms and breathing techniques to bring themselves back to a calm state.

Project Pyramid

The baseline experience I wanted the audience to have is an empathetic understanding and perspective of social anxiety. Even if people are aware of social anxiety, they might not empathize with it or understand why it is a struggle to live with, something I hoped to change with this project. I wanted to focus mainly on the living with anxiety theme rather than the diagnosis itself, since that is a very small part of a lived experience.
Research and Planning

Researched mental health information focusing on social anxiety, coping mechanisms and therapy techniques to understand how to ease an anxious mind and body.

During this research period, I quickly realized that Unreal Engine and Twine were not the best options for me, so I began looking into Ren’Py. I wrote out the story while thinking about aesthetics and presentation. I created, sourced and organized all art, content, and graphics needed for the game.

Inspiration

Kind of Coping by Maureen “Marzi” Wilson
Adventures with Anxiety by Nicky Case

Project Mood Board
Mock-ups and Prototyping

Worked on prototyping, design, and development of the story.

Twine, Unreal Engine, and Unity were all too code-heavy, so I pivoted to visual novel maker Ren’Py. I diverged from a virtual environment to focus on the story and the interactivity that draws the audience in. I focused on that with the Canva mock-up of my story, which I used as a guideline.

Canva Mock-Up

Click on either side of the window below to navigate through the story.
Design and Development
Time to get to work! I wrote a game design document for my visual novel game, including all the necessary information and specifications.

Feel free to check out that document here. I taught myself Ren’Py using their online documentation, YouTube tutorials, and Reddit, but it took a lot of trial and error. Here are some helpful links I used:
I found most of my assets, audio, and GUI through Itch.io, Pixabay, Pexels, and Canva, but nearly everything was edited by me with Procreate, Canva, or Photoshop. All assets and original sources are listed in the credits of my game on my Itch.io page.

Example Assets

Original Asset

Edited Asset – Anxiety

Edited Asset – Picking

Edited Asset – Upset

Original Asset

Edited Asset – Angry Bee

Background 1 – Room

Background 2 – Bathroom
Challenges and Solutions
This project had many challenges and unexpected problems.
- My laptop crashed and shut down while working in Unity, so I couldn’t use it for a week and had to order a new gaming laptop with Windows, which I’m unfamiliar with.
- Working with the tools I had, I created a mock-up of my new idea in Canva, discussed it with my advisor, received good feedback and gave new life to my project. I switched to Ren’Py for an easier process with less coding, but I had to teach myself how to use both Windows and Ren’Py, so the process wasn’t exactly easy.
- The story was good, but it didn’t meet my original vision, so I integrated assets and learned coding techniques to upgrade it.
- I ran out of time to build a tangible setup or installation for the audience, so I used a simple curtain and headphones with some stress toys to make the viewer feel comfortable, but isolated.
- I wanted to use a projector to display it on a wall, but then it loses its immersive quality. Thus, I changed the interface to a touch-screen tablet and featured a QR code, which users could scan and find their own quiet place to play the game.
Final Product and Presentation
After a practice studio presentation in December, I realized what worked and what didn’t, and implemented them into my game throughout the second half of the year. By April 2025, I had added all the finishing touches and coding for the final showcase.

Some of the improvements made after my first presentation:
- Improved the overall aesthetic and presentation, focusing on isolation (a comfy chair and headphones with stress toys nearby)
- Made it more interactive and immersive, and less static by adding a minigame, music, highlighting the characters, and adjusting SFX
- Implemented an anonymous forum at the end – Google Form
- Added calming music to the breathing exercise
- Added an inactivity timer for showcase purposes
- Hid the GUI menu at the bottom of the screen
Installation Setup
1. Set up a table in front of a TV display with a comfortable chair
2. Plug in any laptop to the TV monitor with an HDMI cable
3. Go to https://adwxyz22.itch.io/this-too-shall-pass on the laptop and click “Run Visual Novel”
4. Wait for it to load and press full screen (bottom right corner)
5. Set up a wired or wireless mouse and headphones, attach/connect to laptop, NOT the TV
6. Keep the laptop open at all times, but hidden if possible
7. In the case of a long exhibition, a charger should be plugged into the laptop, and the screen saver and sleep settings should be changed to “Never” for inactivity
Audience Instructions

Simple point-and-click game with a few choices. The game provides all instructions and keyboard shortcuts in “Help”.

Support Materials

Full Runthrough

Trailer – This Too Shall Pass
- Installation Set Up
- Artist Statement
Artist’s Talk and Showcase

I also did an artist’s talk on my game with my fellow thesis classmates, and we presented our projects at the 2025 New Media Student Exhibition, Metamorphosis.

Click below to navigate through my artist talk presentation:

It was my first time displaying my art in a formal setting such as a gallery, and it was an incredibly exciting and fulfilling opportunity. See the website for the showcase here.
Credits