Roots Corrupted
December 2022 - February 2023
Gameplay Programmer & Level Designer
Developer Info
Role: Gameplay Programmer & Level Designer
Tools Used: Unreal Engine, TortoiseSVN
Team Size: 7
Game Jam: 2023 Global Game Jam
Duration: 1 Month Team Bonding – 1 Week Development
Game Info
Genre: Survival Horror
Platform: Global Game Jam Site
Project Status: Released February 5th, 2023
Game Description: A Survival Horror game about saving a corrupted forest while being hunted by evil spirits as you try to return the heart of the Forest God.
Contributions
- Programmed and Designed Player Movement and Combat
- Designed and Implemented the Maze-Like Forest Level
- Facilitated communication and project management in a Bilingual team using online translators and sketches
- Half our team was American, and the other half was Japanese
What I Learned
- It can be incredibly difficult to work with foreigners however, the different perspective they bring to a project is worth it.
- Google Translate is not perfect.
- It is essential to find people’s strengths and weaknesses for a successful game jam.
System Design
Interaction Switching and Horror Limitations
While developing the player movement and interaction mechanics I came up with a clever way to instill fear in the player by restricting what the player could do at any given point.
Originally we had the player have both a flashlight and axe that would be used to traverse the world and protect themselves. However, since this was a horror game I proposed the idea of having these two mechanics artificially separated.
This made the player have to decided between whether they wanted to easily see any forest enemies hiding in the forest or if they wanted to be able to protect themselves from an attacker at a moments notice. Instilling fear in the gameplay itself.
Level Design
Forest Maze
Due to our game’s setting and lore I chose to make the main level of the game feel like a maze to confuse the player’s position so that they feel easily lost and make it harder for them to find the hearts needed to beat the game.
I then chose to place enemies in very sneaky positions to promote two player behaviors:
- Usage of the Flashlight
- Slower Movement
The behaviors helped make the game scarier since the player would have to look out for every corner of the map to try and make out if an enemy was camouflaged into the scenery.
