Pomegranates

Pomegranates, created over a school year for NYU Game Center Graduate thesis is a game that memorializes the Palestinians lives lost since October 7th, 2024. We memorialize through our 3D modeling and narrative design. We were originally inspired by the Twitter page Martyrs of Gaza, which describes and memorializes Palestinians who have been killed since October 7th by giving us glimpses of their lives and who they were. We expanded on these posts and created stories about their lives and personalities that focused on their hopes and dreams rather than their tragedies. 

Another big focus for this project was bringing destroyed landmarks back to life through digital archiving through 3D modeling. Many of these landmarks have very few images so we compiled as many as we could and recreated them in this digital space for players to explore. 

Ultimately, Pomegranates is for teaching audiences about the current events that Palestine is facing and we want to emphasize the importance the past has for moving us toward the future. 

Playtime: 15 min.

Concept, Art, Sound Design: Yasmine Batniji (Gabbah Baya)

Coding, Level Design, Narrative Design: Juanjo Hernandez

Technical Help and Partial Modeling: Lee McGirr

Final Song: Bassel Al-Rahim

Advisor: Mitu Khandaker

and thank you to everyone else who helped us on this journey.

Trailer