An Enchanted Escape: Developer Diary

For this project, we were given a simple brief that set the theme and scope for a vertical slice of the game. The game begins with the player stranded in front of a forest, and they must explore the land, find the necessary equipment, and light a signal beacon to be rescued.

This was my first university project and my first time working with the Unreal Engine. I chose a low-poly environment art style to create a magical fantasy vibe. The design presents the player with several challenges to overcome, including hazards, AI enemies, and a puzzle element.

Dynamic Main Menu UI

“I opted for a more engaging main menu screen, rather than a static image, as I consider the player's first impression of the game to be important.

Within the settings, I provided users with the ability to customise their graphics, resolution, and audio options, and to save those settings to memory.

The menu itself, along with the controls page, were created in Photoshop, aiming to match the low-poly art style of the game.”

Illuminating the Path

“In certain adventure and open-world games, players sometimes inadvertently stray from the intended path set by the developers.

My goal was to implement a scoring mechanic that also functions as a subtle guide, rather than explicitly guiding the player, the wisps reward points, encouraging them to follow them along a designated path. The different colours indicate the point values rewarded.”

Original Island Overview

“Making use of the spare time during my morning commute to university, I used my trusty graph paper notebook to initially sketch out an exciting and engaging experience for players, filled with twists, turns, and high-risk, high-reward areas.

This is the digitised version of the original map, which I created in Photoshop.

After realizing that the experience might take longer for some players, I had to significantly reduce the map size and condense it to ensure a shorter playtime that matched the brief requirements.”