David Runnding
Game/Level Designer
About the Project
Role: Narrative Design/Generalist
Perspective: Third Person
Genre: Puzzle/Adventure
Tools: Unity/Perforce
Time: 4 Weeks
Team Size: 13
Introduction
The game was a 4-week school project at Futuregames. The intended design of the game was to make a puzzle game where players use music to control living things and use them to complete these puzzles.
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My main role was Narrative Design but I also made the level for the forest and had general game design tasks such as player and puzzle mechanics.
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The Narrative work was related lore creation, goal of the game and converting mechanics to fit narrative. I worked closely with the art team to get the correct environment, tone and UI.
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My work related to:
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World Lore
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Convert puzzle mechanics to fit the Narrative
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Artifacts (teaches the worlds lore)
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Enemies Lore (Explain how they work)
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Dialogue & Narrated texts
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Cinematics
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Forest Level Design
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Player/Puzzle Mechanics (Together with team)​
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Playtesting/Bug reports (QA)
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Collisions for all assets​
Narrative Design
Game Backstory
The forest and it's inhabitants used to live together in peace, the forest provided resources and shelter in return. The forest dwellers provided the forest with music and they sang together. The air got filled with emotions allowing the forest to grow. The villagers were allowed to cut down the trees that had a long and strong life. They wanted to be of use to the dwellers that provided them with beautiful songs after they had gone. But as time went on, the connection got lost. The dwellers became greedy. In need of more supplies the dwellers cut down the young trees. The mother tree got enraged by grief and performed a cursed song that drew the dwellers away from the forest. Trees, plants and creatures began to attack and the dwellers took refuge in a tower, locked up for their crime. The curse affected her heart, only by performing a healing song can the curse be lifted.
Player Perspective
The player is a human that has accidently been teleported into this cursed realm. The player must learn to communicate with the forest through music and eventually heal the heart of the mother tree to lift it's curse to able to return.
Artifacts & Encounters
The player would carry a journal where every new ability, artifact and encounter is written down. The purpose of this was to let players learn about this world.
Since the game had to be played in 20 minutes we chose to have the artifacts as optional collectibles that the players finds across the map if they wanted to learn more about the narrative.
Tarnished Songbook
The pages of this book have long since been lost to time. Once, it was known as The Book of Communication, a sacred tome that held the songs used to communicate with the forest melodies shared between the villagers and the whispering trees. Though the book now lies incomplete, its missing pages may still linger somewhere in the world, waiting to be rediscovered.
Mentor
A villager of the tower, cursed by the forest. A mysterious creatures that guides me through the language of music. The story of this creature is still unknown.
Vines
The vines of this forest gives of a sound when getting near. It plays a tune similar to 'Alter' that I received earlier. When Played I can perhaps alter it's growth.
Mallet & Chisels
The villagers shaped stone to build their homes, never using wood, as the forest was sacred to their society. Cutting down trees without permission was strictly forbidden. Elder trees occasionally offered themselves to the villagers, expressing gratitude for the joy they had shared throughout their long lives.
The Evergreen Crown
The Evergreen Crown was worn by the leader of the village, the noblest of villagers. Upon hearing music, its leaves would dance. The crown was a gift from the Mother Tree herself, given to the first of the villagers. It is said that the Mother Tree was lonely, and the forest grew slowly. But when a lone bard found this valley, the Mother Tree reacted to the music and they sang a magical duet, helping the forest grow more rapidly. The Evergreen Crown became a symbol of their friendship, and, in time, it was worn by the villager with the deepest connection to the forest.
Mask of the Fallen
A mask from a fallen villager, made from a branch of the Mother Tree. Whenever a new villager was born, they were blessed by the Mother Tree through a ritual and given a mask as a sign of their connection to the forest
Broken Axe
As time passed, the villagers' belief in and connection with the forest weakened. The Book of Communication was read only by the religious members of the village, while the rest became more focused on expansion and self-sufficiency. They found that building houses from stone was much harder than using wood. When the villagers decided to cut down trees without permission, the Mother Tree became enraged, singing a cursed song that drove them away. This event became known as ‘The Corruption’.
Thornshell’s Eye
Once mere insects, the thornshells underwent a massive transformation during the corruption. Though they are large, they shrink away when met with direct eye contact. But the moment you turn your back, they strike without mercy. Their minds remain possessed by the cursed song of the Mother Tree, a fragment of its melody still echoing within them. Those who play this corrupted tune can bend the thornshells to their will.
Corrupted Bone
As the corruption spread, many lives were lost as nature turned on the villagers. These bones are the remains of the villagers who perished while trying to escape. The purple lines indicate how the corruption latched onto them and drained their life force.
Devourer
Creatures that live underneath the earth. It seems like they drag their prey underground to eat them. The Devourer gives out a sound of corruption. I might be able to possess it in order to travel underground.
Thornshell
A Corrupted bug that is very territorial. It waits for me to leave when stepping close, but if I stay too long it pushes me away. The Thornshell gives of a sound of corruption. If possessed, they might help me overcome obstacles.
Songs and Mechanics
Most of the time the team together came up with mechanics for songs and how it should work in terms of gameplay. I interpreted the mechanic and adjusted it into the narrative.
For example the growing vines (See Gifs below), When prototyped is was moving blocks. You played a song, and the blocks scaled itself to form an elevator or bridge, I combined the "Alter" and "Nature" logic to make the vines grow.
(See Gifs below)
Blockout
Final Version
Level Design
Forest Level
Blockout
My level was used as a tutorial/learning ground for each song(Ability) that contained portals that connects to each puzzle level. In order to get to the levels I placed an obstacle to teach the player how to operate the puzzles.
Reflection
To be honest, I think the level is not quite as good as I had wished. I would have loved to create more verticality and guidelines to improve both navigation and exploration.
Due to lack of time with other tasks and a fast approaching delivery date, there was no time to fix this during the project and it became noticeable some time afterwards when I had time to reflect.