Unbreached is a horde-based survival shooter set in an underwater dystopian wreckage, Agents are kitted out with steampunk and mechanical weaponry to dispose of crustacean-like monstrosities and circumvent further disasters from happening. 

TASKS:

I worked on the refinement of gameplay mechanics, provided systems consultation through internal playtesting, and cooperated on design iteration for the general game loop and visual styling choices. These design choices spilled over to correspond with the responsibilities of laying out level affordances and objective signifiers. I dealt with the design adaptation and final creation of some of the enemy monsters as well. This included rigging, look-development, skinning, and blendshape work.

Encounter Design:

Consideration was given to enemy spawners positioned around nests and key point of interests to create multi-angle engagements to stress quick player decision-making and repositioning. Patrols and ambush placements built to pressure players to consider traversal options and work cooperatively to overcome interesting enemy arrangements – promoting engaging, skill-driven gameplay in repeatable phases.


VISUAL IDENTITY & DESIGN PHILOSOPHY:

Reference was drawn from various crab species, octopi, slugs, and aquatic bottom-feeders, while trying to counter-balance that alienish look. The goal was to make the creatures appear as they came from the same biological order and are each tasked with “different roles” in their ecosystem, with dozens of them visible together at any given time.

The enemies in the game have various behavior states that players can detect them in, visually identifiable through emissive patterns on their bodies and expressive shapes of their eyes. So, when producing the creatures I kept the polycount for their overall bodies rather low to account for the large number of them that will appear on screen at any given moment, while still reserving most polygons for their eyes to be emotive. 

This design cue contextually resonated with the desired narrative setting that we were trying to capture for players – feelings of being surrounded by shrouded hordes of piercing, glowing eyes swarming about to hunt them down were critical to the game’s design profile.
It was a choice that adhered and amplified the core design pillars of our game, as we set out to deliver an “on the edge”, nerve-wracking experience by conveying to players that they could be attacked by any vector as they were stuck underwater with no amount of cover adequate enough to shield more than a quick respite from the luring threats.