Darkness was a level I made for my Game Usability class during Spring 2016 in Unreal Engine 4. The assignment was to make a simple maze but I got very invested and continued working on it outside of class. The end result was something that was well received

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    While the story is meant to be ambiguous the idea is that your character is trapped on a ship that’s malfunctioned (and seemingly abandoned). This setting is mainly there to create the tense atmosphere. Considering that I got a few screams out of it (even though it isn't a particularly scary game), I’d say it worked out well.

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    Designing the puzzle where the area goes totally dark was an interesting challenge. The idea was that the player notes what they have to do when the lights are on and then carry out their plan in darkness. In order to make sure the player isn’t totally lost, I added a red light that spawns at the beginning of the area and if the player goes up to it, the area’s lights come back on. This red light is always visible when the others are down and so if the player ever needs to reorient themselves, they go back to it and reset.

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    Towards the end, I got to work with a sound designer - Rahul - to record some sound effects and replace my temp ones. Rahul was super talented and he understood the direction I gave him with ease. Overall, it was a fun project and I’m proud of it.