Blood Runs Thicker 2024
Project Length: 15 weeks
Team Size: 5
Engine: Unreal Engine 5.2
Role: Lead Puzzle Designer, Level Designer
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This was my first semester-long project. Our team made a 2 player cooperative and competitive puzzle game focusing on narrative and storytelling. All artwork and models are premade assets purchased from an asset store.
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For this project, I was tasked with designing all the puzzles for the game. Each week, I needed to design at least one puzzle, sometimes I designed up to three in one week. In addition, as the flow of my team's work was dependant upon the puzzles being created each week, I needed to design and document the puzzles as efficiently as possible. Towards the final few weeks of development, our Level Designer could no longer work on the project, so I assumed his role as Level Designer for the project while continuing my other responsibilities.
Game Trailer, created by Timothy Clark.
Our team's sound designer created this gameplay trailer. It shows segments of the three main game puzzles while showing off the mansion and playing the narrator's dialogue. Each of the main game's puzzles is designed for multiplayer cooperation and is impossible to complete alone. For each puzzle, it was vital to ensure that each player had a unique role that they needed to fulfill to aid in completing the puzzle.
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Attached below are screenshots of two puzzles from within the build.
Screenshot of the Machine Gun Puzzle
In this puzzle, the two players need to be in two different rooms. Triggering switches in each room allow both players to progress the puzzle until it is completed. The puzzle is solved when both players have opened up all areas and the desk in the middle of the room lights up as shown in the image above.
Screenshot of the Rotating Platform Puzzle
For this puzzle, one player must traverse platforms to reach the elevated lofts in the image above. One player rotates the platforms for the other player, allowing them to reach the loft above to complete the puzzle. When designing this puzzle, I needed to ensure that both players felt they had equal agency in solving the puzzle and contributing towards its solution.
Teammates: Timothy Clark: Sound Designer, Michael Kirkpatrick: Lead Programmer, Ian Whatmough: Art/Asset Implementer, Dylan Pettit: Lead Level Designer, Jonah Thompson: Head Producer/Team Lead, and Daniel Martinelli: Lead Narrative Designer.