TENEBRIS
YEAR
ENGINE
TYPE
2023
Unity
Academic Group Project
GENRE
PLATFORM
Endless-Runner
Pc
ROLE
Lead Designer - Level Designer - Gameplay Designer - UI Designer
DESCRIPTION
Tenebris is a 2D endless-runner platformer. Players will take control of a cultist who failed a dark ritual causing to awake the Shadow, a giant evil entity that will chase players until the end of time.
The atmosphere is based on a Lovecraftian and thrilling style to enhance a fast-paced and restless gameplay experience.
ABOUT TENEBRIS
Tenebris is a Group project made for the DBGA course in Game Design.
The idea of the team for this project was to create a Hyper-casual experience by modifying the basic endless runner formula and offering a thrilling experience with a precise style and atmosphere. The project was developed in collaboration with Giovanni Giacalone and Simone Vacirca (game programmers), Fabio Sperati, Massimiliano Minio ad Raffaele Venturini (game designers).
Download Documentation:
GitHub Repository:
Play it here:
HLGDD
Pitch Document
MY ROLE & EXPERIENCE
THE ROLE
Lead Designer/Game Design:
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Leaded the Ideation processes of mechanics, theme, and characters.
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Presentation writing and exposition of Game’s production milestones (Pitch, Vertical Slice, Final Product).
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Constant communication with programming team to facilitate team’s coordination.
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Ideation and Implementation of the Game's Tutorial features.
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Balancing of game’s economy.
Documentation Production:
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Pitch Document – Block-out, Writing and Revision.
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Game Design Document (GDD) – Block-out, Writing and Revision.
Special Roles:
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Level Designer for more than half of the Level’s chunks creation.
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UI Designer.
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Testing and balancing of game’s mechanics, enemies, and game progression.
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Quality Assurance
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Voice Actor for the Player’s “Damaged” SFX.
THE EXPERIENCE
Tenebris is my first team project. The game got developed in 3 months following all the steps of development, from Pitch to Vertical Slice, leading to the final product.
At first, the team had no designated lead designer or producer, but already from the start I used my communicative skills to make the team members know themselves better since we where all new to each other. From that point I started leading the Ideation sessions and managing the majority of communication between the design and the programming team succeeding in aligning the ideas in a project that got appreciated by all members.
I kept making as a filter between the two teams avoiding any form of argument or annoyance leading the final result to what was considered from our teacher “A resounding success”.
I also hosted all the presentations and cured the majority of the documentations created.
WHAT I LEARNED
SOFT SKILLS
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Adapt and work with people that I don’t know really well.
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Giving and Receiving feedback.
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Adapting and changing after feedback.
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Better understanding of MDA methodology.
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Communicating with a small team of designers.
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Communicating with a small team of programmers.
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Dealing with deadlines and working under pressure.
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Agile workflow and tasks organization
HARD SKILLS
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Working in Unity
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Working with GitHub and Trello
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Level Design organization and implementation.
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Document Block-out, writing and review.
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UI Design and logic.
ABOUT LEVEL DESIGN
The levels' chunks are divided in four categories based on the difficulty rate of each level. My first concern in the level design was to have enough chunks of each difficulty to connect one to the other making the game progression as fluent and coherent as possible, without rushing the player in mastering the game’s mechanics.
MY CREATIVE PROCESS
Depending on the level of difficulty I had to make for a chunk, I wanted to create a section in which exalting the mechanics and challenging the player to let them appreciate the experience. Every level is also created considering a game flow constantly increasing in speed.
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If a level difficulty is low, the level has to contain less jumps and monsters, with accessible obstacles to experiment with the mechanics and get used to the movement system.
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If a level difficulty is high, the level has to contain plenty of obstacles, forcing the player to take risks, having to make decisions on the path to take and having situation in which having mastered the mechanics is essential to avoid failure.