Beacons to Oceans
Description
The final game prototype made for my Master of Design.
This demo was made in the exploration of narrative game mechanics.
This demo was made in the exploration of narrative game mechanics.
To read my thesis click here.
A father receives a mysterious parcel and letter, he sets out through a nautical undersea world to find his lost daughter in this first person walking sim.
This prototype takes the ideas explored in the previous prototypes and uses them to make one level of a game using narrative game mechanics.
This prototype takes the ideas explored in the previous prototypes and uses them to make one level of a game using narrative game mechanics.
Information
• Genre: Walking Sim
• Platform: PC, Mac
• Engine: Unity
• Status: Unreleased
• Role: Game Designer & Developer
Highlights
• Level Design and pacing for storytelling moments.
• Making all the 3D assets and and animations.
• Custom shaders using unity's Shader Graph.
All the materials and effects in game were made this way.
All the materials and effects in game were made this way.
Feature Breakdown – Dissolve Shader
The main gameplay mechanic is a strange beacon like device that can emit a sphere on use. This can be used to clear paths by pushing rocks out of the way, and interact with/trigger storytelling moments.
The beginning of the prototype and the end mimic each other in the intended use of this game mechanic, revealing a new twist on the story to the player.
To make this effect a dissolve shader was made that took two materials and blended between them using a sphere collider. A lot of work was put into getting the transition between two materials looking right so they felt like a single element. It also had to work with the other custom shaders I had made.
There were a lot of edge cases that needed addressing where models and materials where hot swapped in/out or turned on/off, this in combination with the dissolve effect sold the effect.
Other Prototypes
Description
A large part of the masters project was rapid prototyping games and reflecting on their outputs. To read my thesis click here.
Several prototypes were made with four main prototypes being the main focus of the research before the final game prototype Beacons to Oceans was made.
Power Salesman, Cosmonaut, Snowbound, and Temp Glitch Mechanic.
Power Salesman, Cosmonaut, Snowbound, and Temp Glitch Mechanic.
Everything in each prototype was made by me, with the exception of some 3D assets in snowbound.
Highlights
• Rapid Prototyping several game ideas in quick succession
• Exploration of unique narrative game mechanics
• Making custom shaders, music, 3d models, and worlds to explore
Feature Breakdown – Narrative Game Mechanics
Each prototype was an exploration into ways in which game mechanics can be utilised to build stories in players mind.
The results of this was an understanding of how we can build worlds and game mechanics that allow players to play through a story rather than be told the story.
My favourite of the demo's is Snowbound because of it's unique game mechanic that builds a story backwards for the player to understand. It was the most story focused and showed the importance of starting at writing first for these types of games. I also love Cosmonaut for it's aesthetic and all the music I produced in it. This prototype showed how games can have narrative without story.
Power Salesman
Explore a small island as the new representative to big power. Set up power connections for the residence and collect regular payments, use that money to build up the islands power grid with wind turbines, power lines, and hydro dams.
Cosmonaut
An abstract exploration of music and the cosmos.
8 planets each with mysterious environments that unfold and develop as you poke and prod along to music.
8 planets each with mysterious environments that unfold and develop as you poke and prod along to music.
Snowbound
How did I die?
Walk through your memories just before death.
A first person walking sim where you explore your memories and how they shaped the impression of your life up to your death.
Temp Glitch Mechanic
You work at a audio factory, your job is to process audio as it comes in. Take a raw file and turn it into something audible.
Use modular synths and operators to change the audio and use the image on the oscilloscope to read the out put.
At the end of the day, go home and play with your collection of modular synths to make music.
