This is an overview of the six month process leading up to the final hand-in of our game, Audacity (The Avarice of Darién V), in which I performed Creative Director, programming (audio & gameplay), texturing and level design roles. Throughout I made use of Unity 3D, C#, Wwise, Substance Painter, After Effects and GitKraken for source control.
The pitch
Following a marathon ideation session we all split up for a week endeavouring to come back to the next meeting with a short elevator pitch. As luck would have it my pitch was the chosen one! Here is roughly what I pitched:
Audacity (The Avarice of Darién V) is a first-person, story-driven platformer set in the mysterious aftermath of a great catastrophe in New Mexico. The player is tasked with guiding protagonist, Franklin, around the deserted, ruined, and now inexplicably icy research station, Darién V, in an effort to find voice logs scattered throughout. These logs detail the final days of the researchers and will perhaps give Franklin a chance to find answers to the many questions posed by their mother’s death.
Sci-fi elements are woven into greater themes of climate change, loss, abandonment, and ambition in an unravelling story that gradually reveals darker, more arcane forces at work.
Gameplay
Franklin has several means of traversing the levels, most important being their gloves which adhere to almost any surface. Climbing aided by the gloves (and later ice-picks) and ice-sliding, combined with the more traditional platforming mechanics of running and jumping (and later rocket-jumping) will give players many different paths around every game space. Players will be rewarded for exploration and the use of this kit through voice logs and environmental story telling that will give additional flavour, context and colour to the setting surrounding the main plot. To move between levels the PC uses the tram system, in theory affording the players a great deal of freedom with the way they wish to move around Darién V.
Alpha
Click the banner above to get a more granular breakdown of the alpha hand-in.
This phase was intended to be the point at which the project was feature-complete, meaning our movement system, voice log implementation and level transition system (Tramsition ©®™) had to be in and working. Luckily we accomplished it and got an absurdly high grade.
Final
To see my contribution to the visual pass for level 2, click here
johannes 