"Some people find it easier to talk to someone they don’t know."

September 22, 2015 1:00 PM

Hana Feels is a short, dialogue-driven interactive story from teacher, performer, and Zombies, Run! writer Gavin Inglis. When four different characters get the chance to help Hana through a personal problem, subtle choices make the difference between painful and painfully funny.
posted by AteYourLembas (17 comments total)

Is there something broken in this for me? All I get is her talking to Will at the help line, and she never says anything and then she hangs up, and that's it. There's nothing else to do on the second page that I can see.
posted by jacquilynne at 1:36 PM on September 22, 2015

Is there something broken in this for me? All I get is her talking to Will at the help line, and she never says anything and then she hangs up, and that's it. There's nothing else to do on the second page that I can see.

Did you click the ellipsis?

subtle choices make the difference between painful and painfully funny.

I'll take your word for it. After piloting Hana's situation to a mostly happy ending, I really couldn't bear going back to put the kid through the ringer.
posted by Iridic at 1:38 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'd love to know what the other two endings are!
posted by Omnomnom at 1:43 PM on September 22, 2015

I just started off a second time trying to choose themost insensitive options every time.
Couldn't do it.
I can't be an asshole to Hana!
posted by Omnomnom at 1:46 PM on September 22, 2015 [2 favorites]

I... didn't really get an end? Like, nothing changed? No decisions were reached? I mean, that's real life, right? but was it an end or did I miss something?
posted by maryr at 1:49 PM on September 22, 2015

I'd love to know what the other two endings are!

I've gotten two of them. One (mostly happy) was fairly easy to get by taking a careful, sensitive approach. The other (bad) you can get by badgering Hana as much as possible at every opportunity, but that was pretty awful to try for.

I feel like the game was decent and got a lot of this stuff right (and I really liked the Ernie character), but like any game it was fairly simplistic. I feel like navigating Hana through to better mental health was fairly easy and straightforward when, in life, it's obviously orders of magnitude more complicated. That said the general rules of don't pressure, be open, don't be judgmental, will get you far in either world.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 1:49 PM on September 22, 2015 [2 favorites]

Maryr, the end had the actual words The End in the dialogue button. Maybe you did miss something?
posted by Omnomnom at 1:51 PM on September 22, 2015

Did you click the ellipsis?

I tried clicking that bar as a button, but apparently you have to click directly on the three dots for them to do anything.
posted by jacquilynne at 1:57 PM on September 22, 2015

It's funny how as Will, I just tried to go as easy and lightly as possible, but as Jen I was like, Hey I have needs too here, gimme a break. Eventually she reconciled with her mom which I'm guessing is the happy ending.

This took FOREVER to get through on mobile though. I wouldn't recommend it.
posted by bleep at 2:17 PM on September 22, 2015

I guess I'm a natural at this, since the first time I went through the outcome was the best possible--judging from the fact that when I went back and made different responses the outcomes were always worse.

But I'm bothered by the idea that seems to be behind this website, which is common in a milieu that I'm familiar with. The idea is hard for me to put into words, but, basically, it reduces to the idea that the only 'actions' anybody should take on behalf of others are to 'help' them to help themselves. In this milieu (which I'm not sure what to call), the only skills that are valued are empathetic skills and the skill of saying exactly the right thing at the right time, in order to inspire people to chose to take action on their own behalf. People who aren't exactly geniuses when it comes to intuiting other people's feelings or who don't always say the 'right' things, but who would give you their last penny if you told them you needed it, are looked down upon.

Well, I don't think I explained that very well, but maybe others will know what I'm getting at it.
posted by Transl3y at 3:06 PM on September 22, 2015 [5 favorites]

The third ending seems to happen if most of Hana's life is improving, but Jen stops being her friend.
posted by vasi at 2:42 AM on September 23, 2015

I've played through a few times, and I mostly keep getting the same tepid ending. I deliberately tried to get the bad ending, just to see some change, and finally she landed in the hospital. One playthrough I was doing pretty well with the boss I thought but then made one choice that turned out to be obviously wrong on the next screen and there was no way to go back and undo it and pick up from the point I had been at, which I get the reason why I suppose, but on the other hand, going back to the start to try to get myself back to that point is just too tedious. Like, I just don't care enough about Hana now to want to sink another hour into trying to say the right thing. Which I suppose could be another point to the game. Actually, after having written that, I just went back and played again and finally got to what I assume is the happy ending. So I guess that's something going for this game, even though it's tedious and irksome to keep scrolling and I kind of hate Hana, I felt compelled to keep going back and playing it.

But does it bother anyone else that all the women have the same face? I'm pretty sure that Will and Ernie are not twins, but it is Hana to the infinite power there.
posted by Hal Mumkin at 5:24 AM on September 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

Maryr, the end had the actual words The End in the dialogue button. Maybe you did miss something?

No, I got The End. She didn't reconcile with her mom and stopped being friends with Jen, but went to support group and at least took the number of a therapist. *shrug* It was weird to get the mom calling at the end to say "Validate me!" and have no other info on that relationship, besides mentions of fights. Like I said, realistic: Not much changed.
posted by maryr at 9:11 AM on September 23, 2015

The first time I played it, I only got to play Will and she offed herself.

The second time I played it I played it exactly the same except for the last line before she offed herself, and that led to her having a long steady climb to improvement and finally reconciling with her mother.

So I guess the message is, say ONE word out of place and Hana is toast. Nice going, asshole. You're probably even more insensitive in real life. Why don't you go and read "All of my friends are dead"?
posted by tel3path at 11:59 AM on September 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

Whoa! Tel3path, that sounds bizarre. What the hell was the killer phrase?
posted by Omnomnom at 12:13 PM on September 23, 2015

I think it was "I have some information that could help"
posted by tel3path at 12:16 PM on September 23, 2015

I got reconciled.

You know, when I get really angry or frustrated about things, I sometimes punch myself in the face or slam my head against a wall. Only when other people aren't around. I've spoken to my therapist about it. Oddly, until playing this game, I never really equated it with cutting, but its really sort of the same thing. The way she describes it as being a way to release some pressure and then everything else doesn't hurt so much is spot on.

Man, something else to talk to the therapist about in more depth. Thanks a lot brain for being such a jerk.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:34 PM on September 23, 2015 [1 favorite]