Leonard Ray Conradson
Gameplay Designer
Here & There
In Here & There, experience a novel sense of momentum as you possess your way through a cast of characters with unique abilities.
Development Time: 4 weeks full time (12 weeks part time)
Team Size: Solo Role: Gameplay & Technical Design
Tech: Unreal Engine 5, Blueprints (Visual Scripting), Adobe Illustrator + Photoshop
Project Outline
After having recently learnt the concept of "deep" (context sensitive) mechanics. Ex, Marios Jump being a jump, yet also an evade and an attack. I wanted to build a prototype that centered around one core player interaction.
From there, I delved into game archives to find unique & feasibly repurposable mechanics. Eventually arriving at a 2010 PSP game, 'The Third Birthday'. It had an interesting location swap mechanic that I reimagined into a method of possession.
- Learn to manipulate a player's camera as an integral part of gameplay & game feel.
- Learn how player controllers & pawns interact, design a mechanic from that.
Keyboard Controls
Character Movement = WASD
Possession = Charge Ability With Right Mouse, Release when cursor on target
Unique Character Ability = While possession charging, click Left mouse
Designing Camera Movements For Possession
In order to make this mechanic easy to iterate on, I decoupled the act of possessing something into stages. Essentially: a charge / shrink FOV state, a release charge on valid target state, and one for a release on an invalid target.
Timelines and cinematic camera actors were used to improve the game feel.
Character Ability - Projectile Pawn
This character ability can convert environment actors into possessable pawns that can then be taken over and launched at enemies or other environment obstacles.
Design Intent - Can be used to stun on hit, but also gives the player a sense of power over their environment. This opens up another design axis for world interactions, such as hitting targets.
Character Ability - Redirect AI
When used on an AI, the player can spawn an indicator and control it for a brief period of time. When time is up, the indicator's location will be sent to the AI, who will then be redirected there.
Design Intent - Since this is not a combat game where players have the freedom to fight against opposition, this gives them an alternate method of doing so that is relatively effective.
Character Ability - Create Bridge
Build a bridge between the player character and any other possessable pawn.
Design Intent - 1. For use in puzzles to cross distances that otherwise wouldn't work.
2. If used tactically, this wall can block the pursuant AI's navigation path.
Character Ability - Slow Time
While possession is charging, slow time significantly.
Design Intent - Pursuing AI is quite quick, this ability lets players get a break from that and temporarily be more strategic when deciding on their next possession's positioning.
Character Technical Planning
