There You Are
There You Are is an exploratory narrative game that features stop-motion-inspired graphic design and two endings from the player's choices and actions. In this game, the player will role-play the girl, Su, to deal with her father's relationship to move away from the past and accept the loss of her mom. While many games already touch on this type of topic to a certain extent, There You Are uses both storytelling methods and game design principles to exquisitely craft each story beat and depict an emotional bittersweet story.
DESIGN CHALLENGES
1. Create a story about unresolved-grief
2. Limited number of team members
3. Distance work during COVID
TEAM SIZE - One full-time, one part-time + eight help
DEVELOPMENT DURATION - 12 month
GAME GENRE - Story-based Graphic Adventure
TOOL - Unreal/C++/OOP/C4D/Maya/Substance Painter
MY ROLE
Creative Director/Lead Game Designer/Writer/Programmer
Authored 15+ minutes of narrative, world-building, game design, puzzle design, replicated QTE design, and emotional arc, etc. from an idea;
Leading a team of 10 on creating a story-based third-person adventure game;
Collaborated online using Agile methodology;
Prototyping and implementing the game in Unreal Engine mainly using blueprint;
Created 116 sequences for branching plots and multiple endings;
Orchestrated code architecture with OOP in Unreal Blueprint;
Prototyped several gameplay structures to create engagement and evoke target emotion.
![ThereYouAre_Trailer[00_01_44][20210512-214002].png](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fb023e44acf8362c9e5c2af/54a5b85d-b6f9-45cc-a20e-9be42be03ede/ThereYouAre_Trailer%5B00_01_44%5D%5B20210512-214002%5D.png)
Walkthrough with Ultimate Gamerz
Design Process
A Gift for Teenagers
From motivation to research, scripting to finally find our main characters Su’s family in the summer of 2020.
Full production, crafting the whole experience and finished in the summer of 2021.
For Details
80.lv: There You Are: Developing Process Behind a Narrative-Driven Game
Thesis Paper: There You Are: An Exploration of Storytelling Methods Using in Video Games
House layout (reference Ordinary People 1980)
Story Intensity and Emotional Arc
Awards & Showcases
EVA DIGITAL 2021 - Best Art
Nordic Game Discovery Contest Season V Grands Final - Final Finalist
SIEGE 2021 - Best Audio
Independent Game Festival(IGF) 2022 - Best Student Game Honorable Mention
Moscow Russia International Film Festival - Best Video Game
Urban Mediamakers Festival (UMF) 2021 - Best Game Winner
Amsterdam International Film Festival 2021 - Best Video Game
DreamHack Beyond July 2021 - Student Showcase
Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival 2021 - Semi-Finalist
Qld XR Festival 2021 - Best in Gaming Finalist
Chainsaw Game & Music Festival 2021 - Official Selection
Bit Bang 2021 - Official Selection
WORLD CINEMA ANTWERP BELGIUM 2021 - Official Selection
World Cinema Milan 2021 - Official Selection
Queer Global Arts Fest 2021- Official Selection
Animae Caribe International Animation & Digital Media Festival - Official Selection
Indie Game Fest 2021 - Showcase
FILMGATE INTERACTIVE MEDIA FESTIVAL #08 - Showcase