Genre: first person stealth game
Engine: UE4
Team Size: 15 people
Project Duration: 24 weeks (November 2020 - June 2021)
Release: Itch.io
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Osakabe is a first person horror stealth game where the player takes control of a small child hiding from an ancient japanese demon.
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I worked both as a system designer and as a level designer. I prototyped the player's abilities and the object interaction system, while also blocking out one of the levels.
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Abilities
I prototyped several abilities for the main character to use, along with other possible core mechanics.
One of our first concepts was a blind character who could use echolocation to gather info on the environment.
Mirror
The mirror was initially meant to be a very flexible ability, giving the player full control over its placement
The problem with that first prototype, however, was that it clashed with the game's intended experience. We wanted the player to feel like a vulnerable child escaping from a terrifying monster. Giving them powerful abilities would counter that, so we decided to re-work it and make it less powerful.
Shrinking
The shrinking ability was made to increase the possibility space for level designers by adding a new layer to levels.
The shrinking ability was reworked to add an element of risk. The player now controls a separate character, while the main one remains vulnerable to enemy attacks. This is done, again, to aid the main experience.
Gate Level
During pre-production I worked on one of the two levels in the game. The Gate Level is divided into 4 main sections, and it is meant to be a more involved challenge compared to the tutorial level that comes before it.
To make the level I followed the standard level design procedure: from sketching, to deciding metrics to pre-production.
The level guides the player in a deliberate manner. It sets up a goal at the beginning, which is opening the first gate and then gets them through the three other scenes. The difficulty of each scene tends to increase, with harder platforming, less covers and more sentinels, fixed enemies that can alert the Osakabe to the player's presence.
I knew I wanted around 4 main scenes for the level
I made multiple sketches for each scene, testing out different layouts flows for it
Once I have decided what sketches I want to develop, I chart out what the general flow of the level should be.
Before working on the block-out, I spend some time in a gym level to make sure I have got my metrics and basic level ingredients right
Playthrough of the level, changed after multiple iterations
Interactive Objects
While working on the level, I realized we lacked a system to script simple interactable objects, so I decided to create one.
The system sets up the basic UI for the interactable objects as well as the ability to put them into an inventory.
Other objects, like the closet, are static and can't be picked up.