Monuments To Guilt
A downloadable exhibition for Windows
Take a first-person wander through Monuments to Guilt, a short exhibition exploring exclusionary design. Acquaint yourself with the core principles of this harmful practice, re-evaluate the objects you see every day and let guilt sit with you, for just a little while.
If you are finding the game isn't running well (it requires a relatively good computer) or are uncomfortable with video game controls, you can explore the interactive website version here.
If this speaks to you in any way, consider donating to your local charity for the unhoused. Here's one of mine. https://womenscentre.org.uk/
-louis
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Controls
- WASD __ walk
- Mouse __ look
- Rclick __ zoom
- Esc __ pause/quit
Alternatively, you can use Left click to accelerate, allowing you to just use the mouse to play - if that's easier for you.
Download
Install instructions
To play; you just need to extract the files and open the .exe file.
Development log
- Website Version & Optimisation20 days ago
Comments
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Absolutely excellent!! I really appreciate this both as an exhibit and as a piece of media. Love the details put into the museum space (the little "no sitting/sleeping" sign was a lovely touch) and the exhibit itself was really something else. Bravo!!!
Stunning- excited for the eventual website version
Done!
https://monuments-to-guilt.louisthings.com/
Breathtaking. I understand why ultrawide support might not be considered, but it would be appreciated.
i'll put it on the list of 'maybe one days'.
Thanks for taking the time to check it out
Any chance for a VR release?
That'd be neat! I'm working on getting it running on cheaper hardware at the min tho.
This is really amazing and well done, incredible detail on the benches and just a really well laid out museum walkthrough and theme. Loved it. It's amazing to think this only covers the benches and how many more types of exclusionary design there are.
Thanks for the kind words and for spending the time.
I can't run Unreal 5 :(
Looks interesting, even though I can't open it i'll rate if 5 stars from the screenshots alone.
Sorry about that! I'm working on a website version to make the info as accesible as possible, though I recognise that's not quite as tempting! Thanks for your time.
I remember when I first saw a bench with such a disconnector on the seats and thought how his doesn't make sense and mades sitting uncomfortable if you are not super slim all while not really looking that much better. Only years later I realized what these designs main purpose were. Cruelty is the point.
Great virtual museum.
Yea, It's wild how easy it is to just accept these things as they are, or shrug them off as just the product of incompetent designers.
Thanks for checking it out.
I keep coming back to the bench at the very start of the museum. It somehow seems archaic by comparison in this space and yet it still feels the most inviting. Perhaps this bench welcomes us properly because it looks comfortable enough to sit or lay on, or perhaps it is precisely because it is not roped off or dangling out of reach like the other benches. Regardless, subtleties like this bench and the words written on the walls "do not touch", "No sitting or sleeping" in an exhibition of objects which were originally designed for those very purposes, made for a truly insightful experience.
This was a phenomenal exploration of hostile design! It's amazing how far designers have gone to try and mask their intent by working some sense of "aesthetic" into their benches.
With how uncomfortable they are to even SIT on, it's reached a point where you have to wonder why they'd bother installing them in the first place. Is it just a formality now? Are the benches just there to create the vague sensation of a public space without actually contributing to it? The most mind boggling design has got to be those spherical benches. I can't even believe those are meant to be sat/leaned on.
I appreciate the small details around the museum that mesh in with the theme, like the sealed fire door that doesn't have a proper knob, the museum-wide warnings not to touch the walls, and most notably the game's viewport being set in an aspect ratio that crops the viewer's perspective into a small gap to peer through.
I also admire the work you put in to painstakingly re-create all of those benches. The final presentation is super crisp, and I am genuinely amazed.
Thank you, what a lovely read!
One of the most common (and least visible) attempts at exclusionary design is not to just not build any public seating at all. It's quite common in financial districts, the only people they want in thoe spaces are either walking to work or getting lunch.
And yea, I'd say the most useless of them are mostly there to offer the illusion of a civil, public space. They are perches for the consumer class to drink a coffee on and nothing more. Though, I don't think those spherical ones are even intended for perching. It's just a slightly more visually appealing way of stopping people leaning up against the wall than... with another wall??
I've seen target use the spherical ones out front of their stores; depending on their positioning, they can double as bollards to protect pedestrians from oncoming traffic. Which is interesting because the entire point would be negated if people DID sit on them.
heh, yea. The fact that they are interchangeably used as seats or bollards implies a general negligence in design thinking.
Awesome showcase and great information!
appreciate it!
Really interesting trip around a museum. Lots to think on and uncomfortable too, like the benches included.
Thanks for making look again at this.
cheers mate!