Désolé | 2022
I worked on developing this game prototype when I participated in the OG22 International Game Development Camp hosted by DIGIAGE. The game follows the series of unfortunate events that a couple goes through when they decide to camp in a remote area. I am happy to have had the chance on working in this project where I learned so much about team work and a fast paced work environment.
Role: Narrative Designer, Gameplay Designer, Cinematics & Programming
Platform: PC
Genre: Third Person - Thriller
Screenshots:
Trailer:
Narrative
The game starts with a joyful car ride, where an adventurous couple is driving to a remote campsite to have a small vacation and some alone time. Little do they know the caretaker of their campsite has dark secrets. He lived here all his life in a small cottage with his wife until she was diagnosed with a terminal illness. As modern medicine failed to help her, the caretaker started conferring alternative possibilities. He started diving deep into the local folklore of the mountains; he was dedicated to saving his wife. In the end, he managed to save her life, but the cost was too heavy. She was cursed with immortality and imprisoned in a monstrous body. The caretaker, who couldn't let her go, decided to feed her with the clueless campers who were unfortunate enough to come across their grounds.
Development
As a group, we wanted to have a cinematic feel to our game as well as a polished look and feel, yet we had a limited time to finish the prototype. So while planning our game, we aimed to keep it as simple and light as possible.
My first task was to set our metahuman character and implement animations with smooth transitions. Additionally, I worked on creating a system that will turn the head of the player character according to where the camera is looking, independently from the other animations.
Later, I worked on setting up triggers and camera switches from a third-person camera to film angles in certain locations on the map, inspired by such games as Silent Hill and Resident Evil. I also worked together with different students for voice acting and implemented these dialogues to some of these triggers, in order to create the exploration part of our game.
I aimed to establish shots that were calm and safe, bringing the beauty of nature into focus, as this part of the game was meant to seem like the start of a wonderful camping trip. I aimed for less safe and uneasy sensations in other shots when the main plot was taking place.
My biggest challenge was to implement quick time events. I had to come up with a way to accomplish this on my own before I could do proper research about it due to our time constraints. In the end, I worked with many if statements and time dilations to make it work.
The blueprint used to change the rotation of player character's head accordingly to the position camera is looking at.
Conclusion
Joining this week-long development camp gave me the chance to work in a large team of 15 people from different backgrounds and bring an idea to life by working together. We also gained experience on how to present our ideas to potential investors and valuable feedback from mentors on-site.
By the end, I was happy with the prototype we managed to piece together and learned how to work under pressure by being the only programmer in the project. As I come from a design background, experiencing a different craft within game development was an intriguing adventure, but I realized it's not where my passion lies. I was having much more fun discussing the backstory and how the gameplay would be and working with cinematics to tell a story. I'm excited to do more of that in the future!