Enigma Isle

My Role

Game & Narrative Designer

Industry

Computer Gaming

The Project Details

For my 7 week internship, I was part of a 4 person team tasked with the creation of a platformer game using the software of our choice. Ultimately we decided to try Unreal Engine 5 since it is so widely used throughout the industry. I landed the role of Narrative and Game Designer for the project.

We all pitched ideas in for the game concept and ended up going with my narrative for the game we labeled: Enigma Isle.

Since the team had a strong 2D concept artist and a skillful 3D modeler, we decided to create a 2.5D platformer style game.

The Process

After outlining the basics of the first 3 levels, I started to work on the first level's walkthrough. Basically I just typed out every step, interaction, cut scene, dialogue, and mechanics that I wanted to incorporate at the time into a Word document. This was altered overtime, but overall stayed consistent with the team's approvals.

With the general ideas of the game on paper, it was time to start designing it in the engine!

The Narrative Concept

Tobi, a little boy from a sleepy island almost lost to the sea, longs to be a brave adventurer just like his forefathers. After centuries of war against the terrors under the tides, the island town has cherished the last 7 years of peace. All except for one little boy. Born into one of the bravest families to call the isle home, his spirit craved the same exciting peril that took so many before him. To be hailed a hero among his peers, the stories of HIS victories being told by the fire side, filled his dreams every night. Dragging his feet in the sun warmed sand by the shore, he felt as though something was off. Something looked.. Different. That cove in the distance, he never remembered it being there before. He grabbed a sturdy stick that was laying nearby, and created a wispy tale in the sand as he dragged it across the shore to investigate. It is almost as if he could hear a tune in the wind as he approached the unfamiliar cove. As he peered around the slick stone entrance, his eyes fixated on the bright blue hue of the water inside. Mesmerized by its beauty, he walked towards the eerie glow, slipping on the smooth rocks under toe. Then all went black. More Here....

Using the Cube Grid tool inside of Unreal Engine 5, I was able to layout the first part of the level. With something to stand on, I decided to start creating the character blueprints. I knew that I wanted to start with a main parent blueprint for both the player and enemies since they would use a handful of the same mechanics. Child blueprints would then be created off of that for the player and for a basic enemy. The same process would be used for child enemy blueprint to configure more specific enemy types.

Since the characters are 2D, I used the PaperZD plug-in for the animations and implemented features like sprite shaking when hit.

2D Asset Creation

I also was able to design some 2D assets that would help populate the level, as well as, design the logo for the game using Photoshop.

My thoughts after 7 weeks...

This was the absolute first time I had ever opened Unreal Engine or even attempted to create a game. It was a huge under taking for me since I already had a full time job and was taking other summer college courses at the time as well. I was able to average 25-30 hours a week during the internship, despite all my other obligations. Through very strict time management and organization, I honestly feel that the amount of work I was able to complete, on top of just trying to learn the engine, was pretty impressive. I know I still have much to learn and am looking forward to completing this project with my intern team, as well as creating future games! This was an amazing opportunity and truly has made the fire in me to work in the gaming industry burn even brighter!