Ling & The Corrupted Hollow

Game Info

  • Software: Unreal Engine 5

  • Team Size: 26 team members

  • Development Time: 6 months

  • Platform: PC (Steam)

  • Platform: Steam / PC (Controller Compatible)

  • Role: Systems / Technical / Audio Designer

Project Goals

For this project, I created and balanced the movement systems and mechanics, as well as all the audio systems and implementation. In working deeply with Unreal Blueprints, I collaborated with programmers and engineers to refine my code and blueprints and get them to full function.

Below, I will show and describe in detail my contributions to this project.

Available On Steam!

Development Process & Responsibilities

Audio Design & Implementation

Through In-Engine Blueprint Scripting

Creating, Balancing, & Documenting

The Movement & Ghosties Possession Systems & Mechanics

Creating, Balancing, & Documenting the Movement & Ghosties Systems & Mechanics

Balancing Movement Systems

  • For this project, I worked with a systems tools programmer to design and balance the main movement systems in this game:

    • These systems included: walking, running, jumping, double jumping, ground dashing, and air dashing

    • Ground and air dashing ended up getting cut to slow down player pace and align closer to the design goals of the project

    • For each milestone, the programmer and I would sit down with the team leads and reassess the movement systems, taking their notes to rebalance movement feel

Documentation on New Mechanics

  • For the team to keep up with the design and balance changes made for movement systems:

    • I created a detailed document that would be frequently updated by either myself or the systems tools programmer to represent the latest movement system changes

    • This document also outlined design considerations for level designers on ideal situations for the current movement balance

  • Below are some images of the documentation I made for these game systems.

Mechanics Breakdown

  • Movement Mechanics Analysis & Breakdown Document

  • Ghosties Abilities Mechanic Breakdown & Design Considerations

In-Engine Variables & Measurements

  • Measurements for Movement Abilities Table

  • System Tools Variable Table for Designers

Audio Design & Implementation Through In-Engine Blueprint Scripting

Audio Design & Editing

  • For this project, I designed all audio sound effects for the game:

    • This included utilizing sound bites from a free audio library provided by SMU Guildhall

    • I would bring these sound bites into an audio editing program to create sound effect wav files

    • Then, I would import these files into the game files for game implementation

  • Below are some images of the audio project files that were used to create the sound effect files.

Audio Implementation & Scripting

  • For this project, I also implemented all audio into the game project, including all music and sound effects:

    • This included creating Metasound files for each audio file

    • In some cases, I needed to create Blueprints to trigger the audio to play at specific moments

    • I often collaborated with programmers to either fix or refine the functionality and organization of many different blueprints I created or worked on

  • Below are some images of the MetaSound files and Blueprints I used for audio implementation in this project.

  • Blueprint to make a sound effect play when player interacts with an item without overlapping sound effects

  • Blueprint created to slowly fade out background music once the player has left a trigger box

  • Blueprint created to control when background music fades in or out in a specified area

  • MetaSound File structure that plays sound on input until input is released

  • MetaSound File Structure that randomizes the sound file that plays from an array of sound files

  • Audio Editing for Scan Sound Effect

  • Audio Editing for In-Game Animal Noises

Postmortem

What Went Well?

  • Communication with programmers went very well

  • Extensive experience working with Unreal Blueprints on the project; good learning experience for Unreal Blueprints

  • Maintained good communication with leadership

  • Good studio experience working with other designers and programmers

  • Released a good, high-polish product despite production setbacks

  • I was able to create sound effects for full cutscenes, working with the cutscene artist, to create important narrative moments in the game

What Went Wrong?

  • I had inconsistent communication with the artists, creating many frustrations on both sides when certain systems or audio assets had to be redone to fit what the artists had already made or vice versa

  • As I was learning audio design for the first time, I would often underestimate the time it would take for me to finish up audio assets and implement them into the game, especially early on in development

  • I didn’t focus heavily on the Metric Zoo, made to measure the player character’s movement measurements, later in development, which led to some difficulty when changing movement values in-game

Even Better If……

  • More frequent meetings with artists to catch up on both my own progression on systems I’m designing, as well as the artists’ progression on art assets for such systems, would prevent art or design from redoing work late in production

  • Establishing a stronger line of communication between myself and the team leads would help to reinforce strong creative vision and design principles for the game project earlier on in pre-production

  • Prototype and test out game mechanics faster in-engine to find the fun in the game mechanics and systems, so level designers can more quickly and confidently design around the game’s key mechanics and systems