Rebirth, a 3D puzzle platformer about the journey beyond death.
Duration: 24 weeks
Team Size: 10
Platform: PC
Engine: Custom
Role in project:
- Lead UX Designer
- Camera, Character, Controls
- Artist
- Final Polish
Introduction
Play as a young man who found himself in a familiar yet strange version of the world he once knew. Discover the stories of reincarnation and find your way to the gates of heaven by utilizing the golden moths before it is too late. Last but not least, AVOID THE LIGHTS AT ALL COST!
Main Target Audience
The main target audience for this project was 18 to 35 year olds.
Game Mechanics
Navigate through the levels and avoid the light by utilizing your ghostly powers to influence objects or to possess moths.
Core Pillars
1. Strategy
2. Control
3. Navigation
My Roles as a Lead UX Designer
Main Menu
I was in-charge of creating, designing and implementation of all assets stated below to ensure that everything was displaying as intended.
- All Menus & background scenes
- All UI
- All On screen visual effects
- All Particle effects
The key theme of all the UI and Vfx was to portray the ghostly feeling of the afterlife and also a slightly spiritual and less menacing version of ghosts while at the same time keeping with the game idea of a difficult journey in life after death.
Transition to Instruction page
Damaged by the light effect
Interaction with objects and hazard area of lights
Character, Camera, Controls
It was important for the game to be done in a 3rd person view so that the player would be able to judge the distance between the objects and the player character. This also allowed the player to have a wider view of their surroundings and they can view changes happening around them whenever they interact with an object.
Camera placement & angle
The character was shifted to the left side to allow the players a direct view through the middle so that it would not block the players actual line of sight. The camera was also offset to a higher elevation to reduce the amount of screen space the character took up.
Controls
The camera rotation is controlled using the mouse movement allowing the player to freely view the world around the character, this was an important feature due to the puzzle elements and interconnected nature of the puzzles which often span across the entire level.
Viewing the path ahead
Artist
I was also in-charge of creating all the 3D art assets and animations within the game. Due to time constraints the team decided to go for a monochromatic art style with a heavy emphasis on lights and simple gradient shadows in order to portray the world as other worldly.
Final Polish
After the level designer finished blocking up the level in the engine, I took over to populate the level with appropriate props in order to guide the player towards the intended locations via pipes, signboards, flickering objects and particle effects.
Finally, I did some adjustments to the levels to ensure that the line of sight for important objects such as interactables and NPCs would not be obstructed to prevent the player from missing these key items which are integral to the gameplay.