Embedded Files
A limited vision game set in an abandoned facility.
A First Person, stealth game in which the player needs to traverse a seemingly abandoned facility.
The player needs to explore the level through echolocation. Surviving using smart path finding and throwing items.
Project information
Timeline:
8 Weeks Concepting (6 people)
8 Weeks Production (22 people)
Time: 2024-04 - 2024-06
Main roles: System Design, UI/UX Design.
Game information
Genre: Horror, Stealth
Game Engine: Unreal Engine 5.3
Released on: Itch.io, Steam
Platforms: PC, VR
Reception: Nominated for the Dutch Game Awards 2024 - Best Student Game
My responsibilities
UI and UX - Main Menu, Pause Menu (in collaboration with UI Artist)
System Design - Prototyping interaction systems
Game Controls - Playtesting + Iterating Gamepad and Keyboard
Shader - Documentation and Game Design requirements
User Interface and User Experience
Wireframe of the Pause Menu UI
last iteration before implementation, art example of pause menu by UI Artist.
For the game menus, I made multiple iterations of wire flows. Working together with the UI artist and asking for feedback from the Design Lead (and other developers in the team) I kept improving the wire flow so that the final implementation would require minimal iterating.
This sped up the process a lot and also gave people an idea as to how the menu should function. This also allowed me to set in stone which features are important for the game.
One example is that we removed the Level Select menu in the later iterations due to our game being a linear and short experience. A level select would allow people to skip parts of the game. A save state was later made, but as that was only finalized in the later stages of the project I had not implemented it on the UI.
UI implementation
Layout, UI/UX design and implementation have been done by me. I used the CommonUI (Beta built in) Plugin for the implementation. This allowed for gamepad navigation and also reusing UI elements for the pause menu.
I helped the UI designer with implementing their assets by setting up the button component. The button changes the button asset on hover.
The settings menu implementation has been done by me. The sound settings Wwise side setup was done by the audio team.
ui-sound-on.mp4
Game Controls
I have proposed a new control layout based on multiple factors:
Competitor analysis - focussed on First Person Horror Games.
Previous playtest data.
From this I went on to make a chart outlining the original control mappings, and showing how I want to change them. With my data and chart in hand, I went to the Design Lead and Designers in my strike team to gain feedback. After making a small change to the chart, I went on to playtest the system.
The next sprint I handed off the responsibility as someone else was now working on the movement system, the competitor analysis I did.
Shader design
Shader research
For the shader I did competitor analysis on what other games in the same genre have done. Breaking down the game's level beats and visible functionality of the shader. The competitor analysis was focussed on games playing around with limited vision.
This document was made accessible to all. In discussions we used it for showcasing what paths other games have taken before us and have inspired the final implemented shader. This was visible through us using a LiDAR like system with dots more near the edges. Helping align the visual artists, programmers and designers onto a more cohesive vision.
Shader documentation
Having researched possibilities for the shader I started making a Design Requirement list. This document was very helpful in communicating to the shader strike team as to what the gameplay capabilities should be. Speeding up communication and having them something to check their work against.
During the creation of this list I have at multiple points of the document asked both the design and audio team for requirements they see as missing or disagreed with.
Reflection
I quickly went to another team's UI designer that I am acquainted with for advice and seeing how they had implemented their UI. This allowed me to learn about CommonUI, it's strengths and weaknesses, and how it functions. This was the right call as it sped up the process a lot.
One issue I am very unhappy with is that another Developer ended up breaking the UI by moving things around. This broke the game pad support. This happened in the last 2 days of the project and did not communicate with me. I had communicated that UI changes should go through me to make sure the UI flow keeps consistent but it seems not everyone got that message so I'll have to be clearer about that in the future.
Things learned
Due to being the sole person responsible for the UI of the game I have learnt a lot. I've went through the process of asking for requirements, making wire flows, gaining feedback and implementing the UI.
Also due to me working together with the Shader Team, UI Team and having good contact with the Audio team I have had a great deal of communication. This helped me come out of my shell more as a game designer and taught me how valuable it is to have many different viewpoints on a feature.
Presenting your work, ideas and research on paper. This was a skill I really learnt due to me working on a lot of the documentation required for the project.
Concepting Work
Player Triggered Level Ingredients
There are 2 elements I created: the falling door level element and the alarm element. I made a small system that allowed the player to trigger custom level events (based on location and other specifics) that could make the level feel more alive, build up tension and give the level designer more control over the player experience.
This system was later not finalized for the final game due to level design time restrictions. In playtests players did request such a system and the feedback to my falling door was generally well liked.
sos-level-sound-on.mp4Logo Concepting
For the logo I brought up the ideas of:
The letters reacting (in transparency) to the sound circles
The O being replaced by the circle (or it being the origin point).
A team member and I later implemented both of these, as we did not have a Visual Artist during this stage of the project.
Sound implementation Collaboration
Together with a team member I worked on implementing sound for the prototype to help sell the concept.
On of the audio we needed was a good enemy screech to sell the idea of what the enemy. I was tasked with making sure we had something for this.
Going through my asset folders, checking licenses I sent a list of samples. One sample was chosen and I gained feedback from multiple people on an adaption they would want made. I quickly adapted the sound and it was accepted.
Original sound (taken from bought sound pack)
media9.mp3Iterated sound to fit our game better
media8.mp3Google Sites
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