Stroad Hero
A Frogger-esque activist video game about the danger and misery of stroads.
Stroad Hero is a Frogger-esque, activist video game that highlights the danger and misery of navigating a “stroad” by foot.
The term “stroad,” coined by Charles Marohn of StrongTowns, describes an unpleasant hybrid of a street and a road. The idea is that roads provide wide, straight, and forgiving lanes, free of obstacles, that enable drivers to move quickly across the landscape. But once drivers reach a neighborhood or city center, a street is more appropriate. The presence of shops, pedestrians, etc., requires frequent stopping and starting; traffic slows to a human scale. A “stroad” (ubiquitous in the US) contains elements of both, and the muddled design makes these spaces confusing, hostile, and dangerous.
In the game, you play as Mats, a hapless Dutch boy trying to navigate a perilous shopping center in Anywhere, USA. The tagline is “Do you have what it takes to complete a series of simple shopping tasks without becoming another senseless pedestrian death? Do you have what it takes to become the Stroad Hero?”
I was inspired to create the game by a visit to Muncie, Indiana, where I felt like the titular Frog from Frogger trying to scurry across terrifying stroads. The game is meant to educate players about the “stroad” concept and parody the absurdity of these spaces.
This game is still in its early days. My blog post details all my aspirations for the game.
- Tools and technologies: Godot game engine, Aseprite.
- Skills showcase: Learning a technology far outside of my typical suite (a game engine), game design, pixel art.