달 [Dal]

Final University Project, 2022

Duration: 12 Weeks

Team Size: Solo

Roles: For this project I produced everything with the exceptions of; Audio (Epidemic Sound) and Animations (Mixamo)

Software Used: Unreal Engine 4, Photoshop, Blender, Notion, Procreate, After Effects, Niagara, Figma, Google Suite, Trello.

Dal (Moon) is a third person RPG set in a fantastical universe shrouded in Korean folklore. Play as Han - the newest recruit in a long line of moon stewards and help him on his quest to join his ancestors and fulfil his duties. Like all new recruits however Han’s first day isn't quite going to plan.

FULL GAMEPLAY VIDEO

As Dal is derived from a real culture I wanted to ensure I conducted thorough research before beginning to design, producing a game design document helped me easily reference information. I am also earning Korean and, although my intended audience was English speakers I was adamant about not emitting the language completely and using it where appropriate, such as in the introductory cut-scene.

I used Figma to prototype my gameplay flow and user interface before taking it to engine, this helps me address any overlooks and make sure the pacing makes sense. I also always produce a timeline for solo projects of how I want the gameplay and narrative to flow. this helps me address; audio, camera angles, systems needed and mechanic design. I also planned out the level and character movement options.

My biggest challenge here was defining a narrative with a beginning, middle, end and giving Han a motive. As the character movement plan shows, he was originally going to have a hammer however I quickly realised I did not have time in my scope to learn animation to the level I would need. I did however want to work on my VFX ability, this is why the design evolved into Han having a projectile. As I progressed with technical development the story rounded out well and I found a pace for Dal.

Creating all of the 3D assets in Blender was a huge undertaking but it really helped me learn the workflow and best practices.

Timeline:

UI Prototype:

Gameplay Flow:

Level Sketch:

Character Movement Plan:

DESIGN PROCESS

Gameplay Loops:

REFLECTION

Key Takeaways

  • Dal was an ambitious project from the start and I knew it would be a challenge. I wanted a project that could incorporate all of my learnings from university and be a nice final piece to show.

    This project taught me so much about the iportance of preperation and research, especially a designers responsibility to design thoughtfully and with intention. I am proud of what I produced in the timeframe I had, having a playable final piece was my goal from the start. My single biggest achievement was sticking to scope, my goals and saving time for polish and additional content.

  • Whilst I am proud of how much I was able to do I would not do it again. Practicing 3D was a great exercise but I feel I could have designed a better game had I more time in Unreal as opposed to Blender. In future I intend to produce pieces focusing less on a broad range of skills but more on my specialism.