Game Pillars/Goals
Fear of the Unknown: Create a game with pure humorous intention to amplify the quirky uniqueness of playing as a duck.
Graphical Realism: Develop an experience for children as the designated target audience but not limiting the same experience for adults.
Cinematic Experience: Iterate on different game mechanics that would promote exploration throughout the many possible puzzle mechanic.
Challenges
Lack of Experience: Being produced in Unreal Engine 5 highlighted the initial challenge of experience not being a great factor in the development process.
Sound Design: With The Fear of the Unkown as the core component, there was much frustration and a learning curve to producing diegetic and non-diegetic sounds.
Level Development: Wanting to produce multiple levels was a challenge as there was a lack of understanding in global save data, level transitions, and more.
The Approach
To create a psychological horror experience that is dependent on the concept of The Fear of the Unkown. Hypothetically the limited interactions and environmental effects causes fear and displacement within the player. Setting a new take on the psychological horror genre, by reducing and building from the researching the game concept.
1. Art Direction
The visual design compels players to confront the unsettling mysteries and uncertainties, creating a profound sense of suspense and tension throughout the game. With a cinematic approach to the player's view there was many factors to take into consideration:
Cinematic Camera: Altered the aspect ratio, filmic camera view, and post processing in order to create a cinematic perspective.
Realistic Movement: Implemented head bobbing and focusing effects for the player to feel impact upon their base interactions of movement.
Ultra-realism Graphics: Utilized Unreal Engine's & Quixel's Metascans to produce ultra-realistic graphics in order to have a sense of realism and uncanny detail.
2. Level Design
The intentionally crafted level to heighten the psychological horror experience through simplicity. It plays with the tension between vastness and confinement creating the illusion of endless space while restricting the player's view. This contrast immerses players in a constant state of suspense and paranoia, evoking the unsettling feeling of being both trapped and lost:
Limited & Limitless Space: Developed boundless space with reduction of lighting and player surroundings, allowing players to freely explore an endless space.
Fog Surroundings: Used experimental height fog and particle effects to create a barrier between your surroundings and extended views of the world.
Player Redirection: Incorporated a teleportation mechanic when players get out of bound of the play area that seamlessly transitions.
3. Sound Design
The intentionally crafted level to heighten the psychological horror experience through simplicity. It plays with the tension between vastness and confinement creating the illusion of endless space while restricting the player's view. This contrast immerses players in a constant state of suspense and paranoia, evoking the unsettling feeling of being both trapped and lost:
Soundtrack: Created music tracks to coexisting with the gameplay adding a layer of tensions through sounds.
Custom Sound Effects: Produced custom sound effects to embed throughout the game world and progression.
3D Surround Sound: Implemented Unreal Engine's MetaSounds to create attenuation and surround sound for all audios.
Results
5+ Gameplay Mechanics: Created over 5 fully built gameplay mechanics such as Out of Bounds Teleportation, Realistic Movement, 3D Sound Amplification, and more.
1 Level - 4 Objectives: Developed the single starter level with multiple objectives.
Post Processing: Created post processing effects for the visuals of the first-person camera.
10+ Sound Effects: Produced multiple sound effects from real world objects or vocals, modulated in order to fit into game world.
Conclusion
This project marked my first hands-on experience with Unreal Engine 5 and served as a culmination of the game development concepts I studied throughout my university courses. It was ambitiously designed to push me outside of my comfort zone and test the limits of what I could create with limited experience. By focusing on the theme of Fear of the Unknown, I set out to blend psychological horror with a surreal yet cinematic experience, all while maintaining a playful and approachable concept at its core. While the development process came with steep learning curves in level design, sound implementation, and technical understanding. The outcome was a meaningful prototype that demonstrated my ability to research, iterate, and creatively problem-solve.
