design challenges
Linked below are activities completed as part of successful design tests.
(All activities are based on hypothetical scenarios and not created for the specific games referenced.)
otherwise
Adventure Game
Otherwise is an upcoming 3D adventure game that takes place in the subconscious mind of its protagonist, Sonia, as she battles her inner demons and attempts to return to the world outside of her own mind.
The gameplay, story and characters of Otherwise, while existing in a fantasy world, reflect a real-world struggle against anxiety, depression and feelings of inadequacy. The personification of Sonia's inner demons and deepest emotions make for colourful and though-provoking characters.
The player takes the role of Sonia, a young woman trapped inside her own mind. Players must solve puzzles, interact with NPCs, navigate the game's environment and occasionally fight back against the very thoughts and feelings that Sonia had tried so hard to repress.
What You Took From Me
Psychological Horror
An ongoing personal project, What You Took From Me is a first-person, psychological horror game with themes of love, loss and our relationship with nature.
DESIGN GOALS
- Explore the use of lighting and cinematics in the creation of tense, fear-inducing environments.
- Create these environments using game levels set at different times of the day (afternoon, early/late evening).
- Produce an unpredictable experience by subverting expected horror and adventure game tropes.
DESIGN QUESTIONS
- What is it that scares us about the dark/night and how can these fears be attributed to daytime environments?
- What have players come to expect from horror games? What familiarities should be built upon? What tropes should be subverted/avoided?
- How can new and interesting levels and gameplay be produced in a game set in a single 'environment' (national park).
PROTOTYPES
Top-down Horror Prototype
Level design, gameplay, and level sequence implementation for a short, top-down perspective, horror prototype.
Museum Level Prototype - Stealth Horror
Level design, enemy behaviour scripting, gameplay and audio implementation for a stealth horror adventure game prototype.
Level design, enemy behaviour scripting, gameplay and audio implementation for a stealth horror adventure game prototype.
UE4 Cinematics Study
Cinematic previsualization in Unreal Engine sequencer.
Cinematic previsualization in Unreal Engine sequencer.