Memory of Hope
A 3D Adventure with Puzzles, Action and Cutscenes
- Rubika
- Team of 9 people (6 artists, 2 programmers)
- Narrative Designer, Game Designer and Level Designer,
- 4 months (2022).
- Team of 9 people (6 artists, 2 programmers)
- Narrative Designer, Game Designer and Level Designer,
- 4 months (2022).
Game Pitch
Hope is a lost girl trying to recover her memory in a world she knows nothing about. Guided by the ethereal voice of her father, she'll learn more about herself, unlock abilities linked to her personality, escape the dangers of Lazarus, and find a way through this seemingly abandonned realm, all in order to reach her the end of her journey, the top of the Memorial Palace.
In this team, I had the opportunity to handle all aspects of design, from gameplay, to level design, to storytelling and writing.
Game Design
Intentions & Vision As the main designer, my role was to define the ideal experience, and take advantage from all the team members' inputs to shape the game's ambitions. We had a classic Top-Down process, starting from a vague story idea to define all the other elements.
Game Mechanics I iterated with many ideas for the main mechanics and challenges that the player would encounter in-game. My role included defining all these mechanics in a very detailed level to help the programmers.
Documents & Communication I handled most of the documents destined to the team, and communicated the design decisions during stand-ups.
Narration and Writing
Narrative Direction As a Narrative Designer, I had to define the ways in which the story was going to be told, the goals of the story and its place in the game.
Script Writing I imagined the story and characters and wrote the scenario in English and French.
Actor Direction Because we chose to use Voice Acting, I had to define the roles, find motivated people, give them directions during the recording sessions and edit the audio later on. I even recorded some of the lines for NPCs myself !
Cutscene Direction I made all of the game's cutscenes using the Unity Timeline tool and integrated all the dialogues.
Level and Content Design
World Design Before attacking micro-scale level design, I had to design the overall player progression. This included imagining the different regions of Lazarus, and what abilities and challenges they concealed.
Level Blockout I used the Unity Probuilder tool and some Unity Terrains to create each region's collisions and functional elements based on my rough paper drafts.
Level Iteration and Testing Each region had to be tested thoroughly, first to make sure the level was fun, then to make sure the player wasn't lost, and then to test for bugs and possible exploits. I led several playtest sessions for each of the regions.
Puzzle Design The main challenge for the player in MoH is the puzzles. Turns out it's also a challenge for designers !
Takeaways
Memory of Hope was my first 3D project. It was also my first time designing levels for a big project. And it surely was the first time I ever recorded voice lines ! But the real difference with all my previous works was being the only designer in the team. This forced me to have my mind at many different places at once, and allowed me to tailor an entire experience. The hardest part was probably communicating very precise ideas to really different people. I learned an incredible amount during these months.
Full Game Walkthrough
Trailer
The MoH Team
