Beyond eyes

Genre: 3D platform /puzzle/ story Game
Platform: PC
Software&Language: Unity 2018.2.0f,C# (Adobe PS, AE, AU, PR)
Duration: Three months
Independent development: script writing, game design, level design, scene building, programming,video making ,voice acting

Project Infomation

Introduction

I always love to reflect on life. And game design is my favorite way to express all my new ideas and feelings. It feels really great, to say what I want to say through the game. That is how my interest in game design starts and grows, just like this demo I produced in my senior year.

The idea of the demo came to me one day, when I was reading An Unconventional Pig by the Chinese writer Wang Xiaobo, I saw this line “I don’t think we are seeing the world as it is.” These words grabbed me, and somehow they resonated with what I had been thinking about the world I lived in: If we just see the world through a subjective, personalized spectacle, how can we touch the truth? Then I realized that the truth of the world could never be revealed by the mere opinion of a single person. It was something we should view and approach from diversified perspectives. So we should learn to jump out of the box and to observe the box from a 360-degree angle before we could get a whole picture of it.

To conclude, the altitude from which we look at the world determines how much we can see in it, or to make it philosophical, with the improvement of ideological dimension comes the release of freedom. It was with this philosophy that I designed the Beyond Eyes.

I always love to reflect on life. And game design is my favorite way to express all my new ideas and feelings. It feels really great, to say what I want to say through the game. That is how my interest in game design starts and grows, just like this demo I produced in my senior year.

The idea of the demo came to me one day, when I was reading An Unconventional Pig by the Chinese writer Wang Xiaobo, I saw this line “I don’t think we are seeing the world as it is.” These words grabbed me, and somehow they resonated with what I had been thinking about the world I lived in: If we just see the world through a subjective, personalized spectacle, how can we touch the truth? Then I realized that the truth of the world could never be revealed by the mere opinion of a single person. It was something we should view and approach from diversified perspectives. So we should learn to jump out of the box and to observe the box from a 360-degree angle before we could get a whole picture of it.

To conclude, the altitude from which we look at the world determines how much we can see in it, or to make it philosophical, with the improvement of ideological dimension comes the release of freedom. It was with this philosophy that I designed the Beyond Eyes.

Concept Design

The challenge was how to embody the abstract, implicit theory through simple operations, and how to expose players to the diversity of the world through switchable interactions with the game. So I had this idea, creating a magic world and encompassing all the concepts in it. Based on this idea, I finished the storyline. A blind boy embarks on his adventure with his three magic eyes – the monster’s eye, the girl’s eye and the deer’s eye. Every eye has its unique power and enables the boy to see the world from a different aspect. By switching the eyes, the boy can see the world in different ways. Players controlling the role of the boy can crack barriers, gain special power and freely explore the world by taking advantage of the three magic eyes.

There is an Easter’s Egg placed at the end of the game. When the boy passes all the levels, he will see the world for real. Then the girl’s eye will lead the boy to see a big, blowing snow, which is the ex-owner’s dream before she died of disease. Through the girl’s eye, the boy can finally see things, and through the boy, the girl eventually fulfills her dream. At this point, both the boy and the girl get what they want most in their life.

Instructions:

The Monster’s Eye: See everything bloody, unlock the fire of hell and bring huge power.

The Girl’s Eye: See everything beautiful; conceal the fire of hell

The Deer’s Eye: See the hidden things in nature, bring the power to control the flying nimbus cloud

Core Gameplay

Endding, snow

1. W,A,S,D to move in four directions. SPACE to jump.

2. Switch Eye balls! Press Key E to show and hide eye balls menu. When the menu is open, the hero Luke cannot move around. By pressing A or D can change the choice of eye ball, and SPACE to confirm the choice. In different modes, players can see and interact with different objects in the scene,

3. In the third level, I added some new gameplay like use the cloud and rain appear in deer mode to recover the withered tree. When the tree is recovered, wherever Luke step on will turn into green color.

4. Easter egg: the ending of the story. Every time player switch to girl eye mode, there will be a audio saying, "What's snow like?" in a sad voice. At the end of the game, a swing will show in the scene. when walk close to it and change the eye mode into girl eye mode, it will snow. The hero Luke in this game help the little girl to see the beautiful scenery of snow that she didn't have chance to see.

Press E to Show Eye Menu

Recovering the withered tree

Turn sand into green

Switch to Deer Mode

Level Design

I designed and developed 3 levels of this game. Each level has its unique map, and there are different puzzles and elements in each level. By going through all levels, a touching story will also reveal to you.

1. level One

The intro level. In this level, Players will learn the basic operation of the game and solve some easy puzzles.

In the story, little Luke went on his journey, so the environment in the first level is a beautiful forest.

2.level Two

In the second level, players need to think more about how to use their eye balls to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. In this section, little Luke comes to a historical castle. He will learn how to deal with more difficult situations. Some puzzles may need a little quick-operating.

3.Level Three

In the third level, I want to show something different, give players some surprises. So I broke the formal form, and created a more open land in level 3. I added many new gameplay in level 3 such like conversation, how to recover the tree and how to bring back life to the land. What's more, there is an Easter egg at the end of the game.

Concept Design on paper

The final effect in Unity

Concept Design on paper

The final effect in Unity

Concept Design on paper

The final effect in Unity

Iteration

When I finished making this game, it changed a bit times because I would continue to iterate it according to my new thoughts and advises from my friends who were invited by me to play this game.

I adjusted the color match in the scene and add more trees and flower ornaments which make the scene looks more beautiful and interesting.

Version 1

Version 2

Final version

Video making

In order to tell the story in a better way, I made a video as the entrance animation. I processed picture of model first in Adobe Photoshop, then made and edited the rest in Adobe After Effect, Audition and Premiere.