Creased (2020)
class. GAM 394 + GAM 395 (Game Development Capstone)
assignment. Create a game to showcase what you learned at DePaul
team. 6 people
my role. Producer, Lead Artist, VFX Artist, UI Designer, Level Designer
time. 20 weeks
engine. Unity
Creased is a 2d platformer starring Kami, a living square of paper, with the power to fold into various origami forms with distinct abilities that aid in the exploration of handcrafted levels. Play levels within four unique worlds built around a crafty paper aesthetic to save the world from a form-folding thief who wishes to harness the folding powers for evil!
As Producer
During the first few weeks of class, I assisted another member in writing an Elevator Pitch, in depth Concept Documents, Level Documentation with sketched, and one dynamic GDD. These helped set the framework for our other team members to understand our vision with Creased.
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I held standup meetings multiple times during the week to ensure that our entire team was on track during the course of our 20 week development cycle.
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During these meetings, I provided each member with detailed documents of current tasks that were separated into three different subcategories: incomplete, ready for test, and in-game/functional. It was up to them to check off a task and ask for feedback when they updated the status, and we would discuss as a team.
As Artist
The first step of Creased was to figure out an art style. Since we wanted a paper world (but not paper craft), we needed to poke around and find something that looked unique and was also easy to create. Since I was the sole artist on the project, I made sure to create things I knew would be in my range of ability. We also added an additional form (the frog) five weeks into development.
The images below are the final designs we settled on.
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The level assets were designed with a paper texture overlay, to give it that crumpled paper look. On top of this, I added grass, ambiance particles, and responsive lighting to make the game seem more fluid and that every aspect of the level flowed together.
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I was the only artist on the team, so nearly every visual asset in game was created by me.
As Level Designer
Our initial idea was to map the map on cohesive level that scrolls as the player progresses. Some areas of the map would be locked until the player unlocks a new ability or gathers enough collectible cranes to pass.
We also planned on having mini quests hidden around bits of the levels in the form of NPCs. This would have required the player to plan level traversal and crane collection smartly.
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Many original ideas didn't fit the 20-week scope of the project, so we decided to keep the successive levels that connected at the beginning and end.
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One of the features we were able to include was a progression system that was locked to the total number of collectible cranes. The player was not able to proceed to the new world until they collected all the cranes. This helped us to prevent too much backtracking for the player.
By the end of development, we had 20 levels.
Each unique ability level helps the player understand the advantages and limits of each folding form.
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Each shrine requires the player to interact with it in order to proceed to the village level, where the player can have short conversations with NPCs around the world of Creased.
Original Design
Final Designs
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Crane Level 1 before effects
Added: parallaxing background, responsive lighting, grass, ambiance particles, collectible items.
