Project Lead · Level Design · Game Design
Solve puzzles and find secrets using your UV light
Horror
Walking Sim
Single Player
Game: Project Asylum
Role: Project Lead
Game Jam
Engine: Unreal Engine 5
Released: 2024
Duration: 7 Weeks
Team Size: 11
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The goal was to make an interactive haunted house experience with a twist, so we introduced a UV light mechanic to integrate exploration and puzzles.
Although my main role was Project Lead, I collaborated with our Level Designer to create the layout of the asylum.
In "Dome," players can explore a post-apocalyptic city encapsulated within a dome, as they use parkour to traverse buildings and rooftops to scavange for resources that allows them to craft weapons and tools.
On this project I was responsible for creating an open world that encourages exploration, parkour and gliding. To accomplish this I worked with natural landscaping, traversable rooftops and explorable building interiors.
Through development I used Unreal Engine tools such as landscaping, painting, foliage and splines to incorporate natural spaces and roads into the design. I also developed custom tools, including a spline for constructing the dome and some trains, as well a building block-out tool that enabled dynamic creation of buildings with varying assets, sizes, and floor counts.
Team & Project Management
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During pre-production I break down what makes an open world fit for exploration, parkour and gliding so that I can set expectations for what the most viable product should look like.
Responsibilities
Level Design
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Layout & Pacing
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Planned and paper designed the layout of the asylum
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Planned Mutant-, quest- check point- and horror event locations.
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Planned the player path.
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Visuals
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Planned and made lists of required art assets.
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Directed lighting, set dressing and horror events.
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Team & Project Management
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Product Ownership
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Wrote all the Design Documents.
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Wrote a social contract for participating students.
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Pitched & Presented the game at events.
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Producing
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Wrote the Jira tickets.
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Assigned work tasks.
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Adjusted workloads.
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Set milestones and deadlines.
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Scoped the project.
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Arranged and hosted Playtest sessions.
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Scrumming
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Planned and hosted Team meetings, Stand ups & Retrospectives
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Game Design
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Game Writing
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Wrote the UI text
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Named the game, characters and locations.
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Wrote in game notes, signs and text.
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Wrote the lore.
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Created a fictional ritual and directed the set up in engine.
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Gameplay Design
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Planned the missions and their locations.
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Planned the execution of puzzles.
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UX Design
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Provided all the sounds for the game.
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Designed the look of the map, the clipboard and the save icon.
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Gameplay
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Platform Features
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Re-programmed the kill volume to switch between respawning the player at the top of the screen and killing the player.
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Reflection
Working on Project Asylum was a very meaningful experience. I got to explore a new way of leading a project that encouraged open, and transparent communication, leading to team members becoming close and working closely on tasks together. I wanted to put the health of the team first so the project had a strong focus on dynamically adjusting workload and prioritising what the team considered fun.
From a design perspective, I learned a lot as well. I got to collaborate with most of the designers in their respective fields and it greatly expanded my understanding of the challenges each designer faces and how they might approach solving those problems.
Overall I am happy with what we accomplished as a team. Despite losing nearly half of our team members due to events beyond our control, 4 weeks into production, and only having one full time programmer, we found ways to get around it and still deliver an enjoyable game.