Echoes
For my Honours project I focused on investigating how effective games are when used as a form of expression. As part of the project, I created a prototype game that was inspired by a personal issue, in this case, anxiety issues during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Two Worlds
The prototype focused on two contrasting worlds. One is the bedroom of someone struggling with isolation, and the other is a fantasy world where the player takes the role of a sorcerer trying to save the land.
Escapism
The two worlds are linked, as the fantasy world is a video game that is played by the bedroom scene character as a form of escapism. This game allows the character to forget about the real world and it's stresses for some time. However, in doing this the character ignores their need for support.
End of Project:
2021
UE4 Blueprints
Solo
Echoes Playthrough Video
Design Breakdown
Initial Layout Sketches
After concepting the areas within the game using photobashing, I had a good idea of how I wanted each level to flow. This allowed me to start with creating informed initial sketches of the level design.
Spellcasting
One of the main aspects of the fantasy world is spellcasting and therefore was a priority to get working. Due to time restrictions, I decided to create a basic spell blueprint/prefab that communicated with the player character and could be easily duplicated and changed. This allowed my to experiment with different spells before settling on the final five.
Greyboxing
The level sketches allowed me to create a simple greyboxed version of the levels. This let me see how the design translate into 3D and make changes accordingly.
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Animations
As the main aspect of the project was design and implementation the vast majority of assets I used were sourced. However, for the like of the characters I still had to create the animation graphs and the logic in order for the characters work correctly. This meant using multiple systems within UE4 that communicate together.
Mechanics
The project was created in UE4 and using the engine's blueprint system I was able to quickly develop workable mechanics.
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Storytelling
To convey the story to the player I primarily used two methods, diary entries and environmental storytelling. This allowed for the story to be present but not forced. Therefore, if the player was not really interested in a story it was not an essential component to playing the game.