Chrono - Detective

 Yo!

I had to pivot away from my immersive sim project, tragically! Originally, the intent for this game was to condense my favorite aspects of immersive sims into a standalone level. After close examination, I decided to try and replicate it by investigating the environment to piece together stories and using weapons to solve physics puzzles. With that in mind, I decided to be less of an immersive sim and more of a straight puzzler for this level.


For this level, I ended up doing a ton of blueprinting. I couldn't find an asset pack for what I was plotting, so I made all the mechanics myself. Mechanics include shooting, multiple destructible physics objects (chains, wood, crates, glass), rewinding time, a checkpoint system, dialogue UI, a journal to check clues which updates in game, and others. This was honestly a lot of work, especially for restarting my entire project, but I still think it was worth it. I learned a lot! 

The way the story is told is via writing on the walls. I actually kinda like the story that's told here- It moves very quickly in this less-than-ten-minute level, and it involves and fits with the narrative very well, in my opinion. 



I still have some work to do on this level for portfolio. I want to set-dress it some more, fix up the lighting a bit. I also want to try and do more for the mechanics and add more puzzles that aren't strictly physics-based. We'll see if I have time to do any of this before GDC!

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