‘Let’s Be Well’ is a video game I designed to de-stigmatize mental illness.
I developed it using the Roblox game engine, ‘Roblox Studio’ when I was 11 years old.
When I was 2 years old, my father was overcome by a mental illness (Depression and Anxiety) and died by way of suicide. My younger brother was just 2 weeks old. This was really hard on our family, so my mom taught me and my brother how to express our hard feelings through play.
My game tells the story about a character named Bob set in an obstacle course I programmed. As Bob (and the players) make their way through the obi, facts I researched about depression come up and help him (and everyone) learn about his mental illness. Grey blocks start turning to colour as he learns more about his illness and to show that he is starting to feel better.
“I want kids and youth to know that it’s okay to talk about their feelings and mental health.
It’s okay to ask your parents or other professionals for support when you need it.”
— LuKE
I am grateful to everyone who helped me along my journey to creating ‘Let’s Be Well’ and to be honoured at The Game Awards as Facebook’s Global Gaming Citizen making games for good.
In order of who I met and who helped me along the development, I want to thank my mom who supported and encouraged me, my little brother who tested the game and who is epic, my extended family. Thank you to my teachers, Chris Mak, Brian Hetherman, Craig and Marc Kielburger, Leysa Cerswell Kielburger, David Baszucki and the team at Roblox, Lisanne Pajot, James Swirsky at Blinkworks, Ray Friesen, Geoff Keighley, Leo Olebe and the team at Facebook. Thank you to The Canadian Mental Health Association and Dr. Barton Goldsmith.