LAZAR

What it is. An interactive memorial built on real handwritten memoirs of my great-grandfather, Lazar Isaakovich Ruvinsky (1902–1966). The player moves through a single life: pogroms, revolution, famine, repressions — and a love that didn't break.

What's interesting about it. Level number equals the protagonist's age. The sparse inventory empties three times across the game — at the points of flight, expulsion, and arrest — leaving the player with only what could be carried. A powerlessness mechanic surfaces at scripted moments: controls intentionally don't respond. The player presses, the character doesn't move. Real family photographs are embedded as narrative beats, not decoration.

Source. 23 pages of typed memoirs transcribed by Lazar's son in 2012. The project initiator is the author's great-grandson. The game stays close to the document — when something is invented, it's marked.

Where it stands. Prologue prototype (P1–P4) playable end-to-end. Stack: Unity 6.4, URP 2D, C#, Unity Localization with RU primary, EN, HE with RTL. Next: vertical slice of the second act.