The main inspiration for my project are the GIFs that are made to be anxiety relieving. From my own experience with anxiety and panic attacks, I wanted to create a game that actually keeps the user engaged, because sometimes in those moments of intense stress and emotion, it’s hard to stay grounded.
I didn’t want to just create breathing exercises like the GIFs. So, I researched more grounding methods. The website I used is Medical News Today.
The other methods the website suggested that stuck out to me were the 5-4-3-2-1 method, the repetition of mantras, and muscle relaxation exercises. Personally, I have been advised to use the 5-4-3-2-1 method, but it’s never worked on me because I find it difficult to keep myself engaged, so turning it into a game so the goal of progression is there would be helpful for me and potentially other users. The goal of progressing in a game is also helpful with mantra repetition. I, and hopefully other people, find it uneasy to repeat positive affirmations about ourselves, so needing to verbally say the mantras to progress in the game would be helpful once again.
This is the website I’m going to use for a list of mantras.
https://www.healthline.com/health/mind-body/mantras-for-anxiety
A very general inspiration are those artistic websites, they are very single-purposed and show nothing besides the work itself. They’re usually aesthetic and calming. These are some examples: