Game Design

3D Vertical Slice Prototype - Capstone Final Project for Circuit Stream's Game Design Bootcamp

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OVERVIEW

Picture Perfect is an immersive photography simulation and exploration game designed to create a calm and relaxing adventure.  Alongside Theo Dwyer and Gavyn Martin, I created this cozy game from initial conceptualization to the final vertical slice prototype. The intention was to use level design, systems and gameplay mechanics to create a player experience that felt intuitive and realistic to being a real life photographer out in the wilderness of a National Park.   

 

I mainly focused on designing the narrative, the gameplay, the UI and the quests, and the implementation of those elements into UE5 using blueprints.

 

MY RESPONSIBILITIES​

• Designing and implementing all gameplay systems such as the phone system, the photography system, the animal ai system, the level progression system and the tutorialization.

• Playtesting to ensure all systems function seamlessly with each other and making iterations when required.

• Hand-key animation for the main player character.

• Creating and maintaining a comprehensive and professional design documents such as the Game Design Document, Accessibility Guidelines and my personal development log- which can be found by clicking the underlined link. Additionally I worked on the pitch presentation, pitch deck and market research.

• Modelling the phone asset and creating 2D user interface assets.

• General optimization.

3D Prototype - Midterm Project for Circuit Stream's Game Design Bootcamp made Unreal Engine's first person shooter template.

 

​OVERVIEW

Core gameplay loop: Secure environment → safely rescue hostage(s) → earn points based on performance → upgrade weapons and skills.

 

Inspired by the well-known Hitman franchise, Crisis Command: Hostages is a first-person shooter where players can play as special agents brought in to handle the most delicate situations. As a special agent of the Crisis Command task force, players can enjoy the feeling of being an efficient and elite law enforcement officer and expert hostage negotiator. 

 

The goal was to encourage emergent gameplay through gameplay mechanics and level design. The tactical mission-oriented narrative allows players to explore, experiment, and discover new ways to complete the level. The map needed to have multiple access points that allowed players the freedom to reach the hostage in different ways. Realistic sound design with proximity based sound effects were also crucial in allowing the player the most immersive experience possible. The game progression is based on a point system, and players are awarded points based on their performance. Narratively, weapons and other skill upgrades will allow players to grow their career, and will also have a progression system and a skill tree connected to the point system. There was limited time to work on this project so this is only version one of the prototype. There are a lot of improvements to be made in both the design and the prototype and I have plans to make more iterations in the future. 

 

DESIGN IMPROVEMENTS

- In the prototype, add NPC Ai complete with hearing and sight sensing, realistic movements and reactions to the player’s actions.

- Improve level design: Map layout was not the primary focus of this design. The map is simplistic and at the time of the prototype, only needed to include a loft/balcony and back entrance access. More doors, house access through the garage, breakable windows would greatly improve the level design.

- Create more immersive player HUD and improve opening narrative presentation (turn it into a cinematic).

- Think about accessibility guidelines and UI legibility.

- Further develop points system.

 

The video below demonstrates the core gameplay loop which includes multiple ways to complete the level and various dialogue options.

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Click here, to see the playtesting analysis.

3D Prototype - An escape room puzzle game designed using Unreal Engine's first person template and was one of my first in-engine assignments during my time at Circuit Stream.

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OBJECTIVE

Create a simple 3D game with a core game loop that can be completed in 60 seconds.

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OVERVIEW

Core game loop: Enter location --> solve challenge --> unlock and proceed to next location.

 

From a design perspective, it would be interesting technically, and creatively, to require players to complete a series of challenges in a specific order, and in a timely manner, to unlock a door- similar to an escape room. To have a playable prototype at that point in time, with limited Unreal blueprinting skills, there were gameplay design restrictions and UE5’s first person template was used as a jumping off point.

 

Having learned about different frameworks such as the Magic Circle and diegetic and non-diegetic UI. To create my Magic Circle, I wanted to subvert instinctual color expectations.  It was designed around a simple, and explicit rule; green doesn’t mean go. There are 3 colors that can be found in the map. Generally, players would gravitate towards the green items, but I wanted to flip the script. As it's explicitly stated in the name of the game, green is not the color that unlocks the next challenge. Each challenge also have unique mechanics. Through color repetition, and player actions, it should be established that the color red is actually the key to completing the game.

 

Diegetic UI was used to show how much time the player has remaining before they lose. Instead of a numeric onscreen countdown, the time is indicated by having the water level rise throughout the gameplay. It is implied that when the water level reaches the top of the wall, the player loses. By the end, the sequence of challenges lead the player to find a statue. Players win when they can escape the room with the statue in hand, otherwise they will drown and lose the game. 

 

The order of challenges are as follows:

1. Find the correct switch to turn on the light.

2. Find the right pressure plate to open the door.

3. Find the right paper, and crack the morse code that will give you the next

instruction.

4. Turn on the light switch near the table to get a hint about which balloons to

shoot (optional). 

5. Find the gun, and shoot the red ballons to open the safe with the statue.

6. Holding the statue, run through the door at the top of the ramp before the

the water level gets too high.

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ISSUES

Playtesting provided valuable feedback:

-Lack of clear lose condition: The diegetic UI wasn’t as successful and intuitive as planned: the walls are different heights and there’s no markings on the wall to indicate “the top” when the timer runs out. The player could also assume that once the water hits above their player’s height the drowning state occurs.
 

DESIGN IMPROVEMENTS

- Add more character movement; introduce a swim, breathe and float mechanic. As the water level rises, the player character will begin to float and must go underwater to complete the challenges. That would also require the player to swim to the surface regularly to breathe, thus eating up time on the clock.

- Clarify the lose condition: If the above was implemented, it could be assumed that once the water level reaches the ceiling, the lose condition/drowning state would be triggered.