- THE NORTH WOOD FACTORY -
1.9.23
TAKE
A SEAT
Mariana
Team Developed | Eight Month Design Challenge
Click this link to try the game for yourself! ​
500 TERRY FRANCOIS STREET SAN FRANCISCO
​
MON-FRI 7AM-10PM | SATURDAY: 8AM-10PM
Design Video (No Gameplay Audio)
- THE NORTH WOOD FACTORY -
Role: Game Designer, UI Artist, Sound Designer, Programmer
​
Tools:
-
Unity Engine
-
FMOD
-
Audacity
-
Photoshop
-
Illustrator​
​
About:
Mariana is a Lovecraftian horror game, which takes place deep under the ocean. It offers a unique story element tied along with some terrifying moments. It is a single-player game, in which the player need only follow the path that is set out for them. The game was built over eight months by Team Crab's Nest, made up of eight members as the final capstone project.
​
​
Takeaways:
One of the biggest takeaways from this project was the importance of communication. When working on a project of this size or even greater proportions, it's possible for information and ideas to get construed in different ways. It's also possible to be working on different game elements, the ideas of which clash against one of the core principles of the game. All team members need to share the same vision for the project.
1.9.23
TAKE
A SEAT
Sound Design
Sound design work took up a large part of my focus during the second half of the project. It was something that was fairly new to me and we wanted something that would really stand out and make the player feel uncomfortable. Initially, we had a simple sound setup planned but we were lucky enough to team up with six talented audio students from a different program! They all specialized in their own preferred audio creation genre but were more than willing to learn new things and collaborate. They were able to create anything from character sounds to soundtracks and even more. I was personally able to learn many things from the way they went about approaching sound design and audio creation. We worked together and came up with something that we're more than happy with!
​
One of the biggest takeaways for me specifically in sound design was the importance of communication. There was a point where I misunderstood the responsibilities of the members on the other team and decided to take on certain tasks by myself, which not only stressed me out more but also contradicted the ideas the other members had. It's extremely important to keep the lines of communication open and even ask questions that we may not think are worth asking.
500 TERRY FRANCOIS STREET SAN FRANCISCO
​
MON-FRI 7AM-10PM | SATURDAY: 8AM-10PM
- THE NORTH WOOD FACTORY -
UI / UX Design
1.9.23
TAKE
A SEAT
We decided early on that this game would have minimal UI, so the player could be more immersed in the horror experience. I was personally involved in coding UI elements, scene transitions and other menu-related items. I feel that I should have stepped outside of my comfort zone and pushed for some hidden UI that the player could pull up. I feel like this would not have hindered the immersion into the horror experience too much. However, we were happy with how the game turned out regardless of the minimalistic approach.
Initial UI Sketches & Wireframes
Programming
500 TERRY FRANCOIS STREET SAN FRANCISCO
​
MON-FRI 7AM-10PM |SATURDAY: 8AM-10PM
Programming normally isn't my strong suit, but I'm happy to say that I took on many coding responsibilities because our team only had two programmers. I took care of the less complicated and tedious tasks, while my other team members tackled the major tasks that needed work. I was able to spend time with the two most technical people on the team. As a result, I got to understand how the game was built from the beginning; this was a rewarding experience and allowed me the privilege of having influence as a game designer.
