Outside is an combat based 2D adventure platformer Game in a spiritual world setting with puzzle solving, along with a comprehensive storyline. Unique features revolve around the character being able astral project himself out of his body to see and interact with an unseen world.
The primary gameplay mode is set within a 2D platformer with an avatar based interaction model. The modes are split into two parts, combat, and puzzle. These two modes form a balance throughout the gameplay, keeping the player interested and on their toes. Both parts lay within a larger game mode of exploration. Naturally the player must explore the web of instanced maps to find their way to the end. Players must find the source of his Out-of-Body (OOB) power, with the main storyline objective being to clear the curse of the forest.
My major role on this project is game mechanic design and level design. Level design is really an interesting but hard thing in game development, we need to make them self-explanatory for the beginning, and then adjust the difficulty gradually, the final combination should be tricky enough for players to take some time to think about it. Level design does took more time than I expected, but it is interesting to see the areas are started to get more and more completed, and it is absolutely the reason why I love game design.
After the playtest of our prototype, we obtained a vast amount of small details that we did not notice as game designers. This is because we focus more in the entirety of the game and can only see the some very general issues. We realize the player testers can encounter minute problems by playing the game without the background knowledge of being one of its creators. This new perspective helps us find out what we need to refine in an unbiased manner.
We held a game showcase and invite all students in SFU to come and try our game. We also have some professionals for game industries to critique and vote the games they love. Our game got the champion and became one of the best game of the entire course so far.
