About Folamh
About Folamh
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Folamh is a serious, explorative game, blending free form poetry and gameplay to create an expressive experience delving into gender identity and gender dysphoria. Folamh was made with the combination of multiple cultural points, with roots in Irish, Russian and Slovak culture.
Team Size: 4
Primary Roles: Level Design, Unity Prototyping, UI/UX
Tools Used: Unity, Photoshop, Pro motion NG, Blockbench, Blender, Audacity, Visual Studio,
Timeline: November 2023 - May 2024
Notable Achievements
Winner of the Games Now! Autumn 2024 international game jam,
selected by a panel of six expert judgesFolamh was featured at the 2024 Games Now!
Kumma Gallery Exhibition in Helsinki, Finland.
UI/UX Design
UI/UX Design
UI Design Goals:
UI Design Goals:
This game is all about making the player feel a sense of dread that becomes more intense as the story progresses. It was essential that the UI did not distract the player or detract from the overall experience.
How It Works:
How It Works:
I designed unusual button sprites that reference key items in the game.
The Pause Menu breaks the fourth wall to create a sense of unease in the player.
I kept the UI minimal and cohesive with the overall art direction of the game.
The UI responds abruptly with no audio cue when the player selects a button.
Character Creator UI uses custom, handwritten font to give personality to the character.
Animated Pause Menu
Animated Pause Menu
Systems Design
Subverted Character Creation
Systems Design
Subverted Character Creation
Folamh is a very short experience, and it was essential to establish an immediate attachment to the player character in order for the gameplay to be effective. We also wanted to establish a clear sense of dissonance between the player's own intentions and the actions of the player character.
To achieve this, I designed a very simple character creator which appears at the start of the game.
Design Goals:
Design Goals:
Establish some connection between the player and player character.
Subvert the player's expectations and evoke a feeling of discomfort or frustration.
Generate ludo-narrative dissonance between player intent and character action
How it Works:
How it Works:
The player can choose from a selection of Faces, Clothing and Hair Options.
Once the player is happy with their selection, they must click a button to confirm.
The player is then presented with a question, but can only choose a single answer.
The player character's appearance is then randomly re-assigned, nullifying the players selection.
The character creator serves as the game's introduction, and turned out to be very effective at setting the atmosphere and tone. This was the first time that I worked on a game with a darker tone, and the intention of making a player uncomfortable. I learned a lot from working on this project and trying something new!
Character Creator
Character Creator
Level Design
Level Design
Level Objectives, Layout and Whiteboxing
Level Objectives, Layout and Whiteboxing
The level design reinforces the game’s core loop: exploring a small, claustrophobic environment to collect key items. Each time an item is returned to the bathroom mirror, it triggers a mini-game where that object is turned against the player character. This cycle of collecting, returning, and confronting the next mini-game is what drives the player experience.
Level Objectives:
Level Objectives:
The player must collect five key items, and return them to a central point in the level
Each key item triggers a unique mini-game.
The player can only collect one item at a time.
All mini-games must be complete to finish the game.
Design Goals:
Design Goals:
Make efficient use of limited space while encouraging exploration.
Ensure progression feels intuitive and focused.
Establish dread as items are collected and returned to the mirror.
How it Works:
How it Works:
Key Items are placed strategically around the level to encourage exploration.
Once an item is collected, ambient audio intensifies as the player gets closer to the mirror.
The more key items the player collects, the slower they move, heightening the suspense and anticipation as they return to the mirror to face the next mini-game.
Level Design Whitebox
Level Design Whitebox
Replacing the placeholders with models
Replacing the placeholders with models
Key Takeaways
Key Takeaways
What Went Well:
What Went Well:
Folamh was selected as one of six winners of the Games Now! Autumn 2024 international game jam by a professional panel of judges from a pool of almost 60 total entries, and the game was also featured at the Games Now! Kumma Gallery Exhibition in Helsinki.
The judging panel highlighted the game’s atmosphere, graphical style, and message delivery, noting it as one of the most complete entries.
From the very beginning, everyone on the team understood what we wanted to make, and we ended up with a very achievable scope which aligned well with our allotted time.
What I Learned:
What I Learned:
Because the game relies on ambiguity, some players struggled with controls and objectives at the start. The addition of subtle guidance at the beginning would improve the experience for new players.
Unity's ProBuilder caused some texture stretching issues. I ended up rebuilding the level using primitives. This cost us some time during the game jam that could have been put to better use!
The camera movement could have been better synchronized in the final build. The project could benefit from some more game feel consideration!
Official Poster for the Games Now Exhibition
Official Poster for the Games Now Exhibition
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