This is my project Coalheart, a narrative driven detective game about searching for a fugitive in an unforgiving world of steam power.
This project was created for my Game Development Project Module (AKA Final Year Project). This project was created solo in roughly 16 weeks. In the end, I received 85% for this module.
I created this project from scratch using Unreal Engine 5, with documentation in Miro and Microsoft Word, with assets created in 3DS Max and Photoshop.
The project explored the question: "How do you design mechanics and systems that are built to immerse the player within a character and narrative?". My hopes were to answer this question through the creation of my project, using research of the design philosophies of two of my favorite designers; Fumito Ueda and Lucas Pope.
I concluded that mechanics and systems appear to immerse the player in their character role and narrative when the following conditions are met:
Accessibility - The mechanics in question are accessible, easy to use, and intuitive to understand.
Agency - The player has meaningful agency in how they engage with the game mechanics, or how they use the mechanics to engage with the game.
Mechanics as a Storytelling Medium - Instead of mechanics and narrative being seperate entities, thought is put into how the narrative is told through the mechanics in question. My project uses clues, footprints, item descriptions, and NPC interactions to tell its story.
Mechanics Informed by Narrative Goals - Similar to considering the MDA framework (Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics), mechanics should reflect narrative goals by considering how players feel when using them. In my project, giving players mechanical tools to search for and interpret clues helps to reinforce their role as the detective they're playing as, which in turn immerses them in the character and the world around them.
During the design phase, I designed several additional mechanics that didn't make it into the project. Since my project's development time was limited and I was closely following design philosophies like Ueda's Design by Subtraction, I felt it was more important to cut these ideas from the prototype and focus on the core gameplay loop leading up to the end of development time.
I am ultimately happy with this decision, because it allowed me time to polish core gameplay, and I believe it led to a clearer, more enjoyable player experience. Should I revisit this project, I would very much like to revisit these mechanics as well, expanding the project from more than a minimum viable product.
Click here for a link to the slides, which are higher definition and include some gifs and video embeds