Level Designer | Game Designer | Narrative Designer | Project Manager
Tenebris
Sci-fi horror episode design — layout, narrative, and project leadership.
Welcome to the Tenebris Voyager, a sci-fi action horror game where you try to escape a corrupted space hulk from zombies and an unknown otherworldly being.
Project facts
- Developer(s)
- Gen Games Club
- Platform(s)
- PC, Mac
- Genre(s)
- First-person shooter, Horror
- Release date
- January 18th, 2020
- Project length
- 14 months
- Engine & tools
- Unity 3D, GitHub, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Slides
Roles & responsibilities
Level Design
- Blocked out and designed Episode 1's environment.
- Marked and placed items and spawns (e.g., enemies, audio logs, etc.).
- Drew map layouts for levels in Episode 2.
Project Manager
- Hosted and facilitated meetings with news and updates, prompted progress reports, and delegated tasks based on priority.
- Prepared notes and slides for meetings; took notes during meetings.
- Problem-solved issues between departments and mediated conflict.
- Kept members on track; coordinated across departments; joined executive planning meetings.
Narrative Design
- Wrote parts of Episode 1 progression; co-wrote Episode 2.
- Wrote email texts and audio log dialogues for Episodes 1 and 2.
- Wrote and fleshed out characters to fit the game setting.
General Game Design
- Brainstormed mechanics (e.g. random environmental triggers that lure enemies).
- Devised new enemy types with unique interactions (tendrils spreading to sense the player) for later Episode(s).
Research
- Analyzed similar games for inspiration (Amnesia: The Dark Descent's insanity mechanic, Bioshock/System Shock logs and atmosphere, etc.).
Behind the scenes
This game's scope was spread across 5 Episodes and sought to give the player limited agency, atmospheric sound design, and inconsistent enemy encounters for a subversive horror experience. Level design around Episodes 1 and 2 used bi-directional and modular segments when they best fit the narrative and enemy encounters. Episode 1 was completed and published while Episode 2 went through development hell until October 2020 when the project was shelved indefinitely.
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