Bereavement
Project Team:
Evan Halevi (figold666) - Project Lead, Manager, Puzzle and Level Designer, Playtester, Programming, Writer
ekab10 - Lead Programmer
Dario Meillon - Artist
Justinwabs - Composer and Sound Designer
atonbara - Programmer
What I contributed:
Managed a team of 5 artists, programmers, and composers.
Created the concept and narrative of the game.
Designed the movement system for the monster that forces the player to be aggressive and careful.
Designed the layout of the house.
Designed the puzzles and solutions in the game.
Integrated house movement, puzzles, assets.
Managed art direction.
Wrote all descriptions, story, and lines.
Challenges Faced:
Time Constraints and Project Scope: While this project had a relaxed deadline, the scope of it was quite daunting. By using organization tools such as Trello and Discord, the team was able to efficiently complete tasks.
Coordination Across Programmers: The programmers working on the project worked at different paces and styles, which caused some coordination issues. I facilitated an active and supportive working environment for both programmers, giving them the time to ask each other questions and get assistance, which got them back on track.
Godot Program Limitations: Godot as a program has limits on what it can and can’t do. Our team faced many of these limitations during the project, but was able to move past them thanks to some creative problem solving.
Design Considerations:
Keeping the player on their toes…: The apparition that chases the player doesn’t actually ‘chase’ the player, instead moving through the house semi-randomly. This (naturally) creates generative moments of surprise that brings variety to the gameplay.
…but not having them run: To keep the gameplay fresh, the ghost gradually becomes more and more intense as the game progresses… but also as the player runs around. If the player panics, the ghost will respond to that increased activity and be more prone to attacking the player, which puts the player on edge (but not over it) during the gameplay experience. This increased tension creates a much more memorable gameplay loop.
Teased puzzles and solutions: Many of the puzzles are designed to be interacted with somewhat early on, but are often missing a key piece that allows them to be solved. This directly sets the player up to view any items they pick up as clues, and encourages them to scour the whole house for progression, increasing retention.
Safe and dangerous: Some areas in the house are notably more dangerous than others, such as the first floor bathroom. This gives a learning curve to a game that would rather be quite linear in its progression.
“Really loved the art style and the creepiness of it! ... there’s so much about this I loved, and huge props for creating everything from scratch, really impressive”
“This game managed to give me chills, I haven’t felt this for a long time, I’m a big fan of horror and art works likethis ones brighten up my day. Very good work!!!”
“I’m sorry... I can’t playtest this game at night. I’ll look over it in the morning. ”