Wardruna

Overview

Wardruna is a a narrative-driven video game set in space and based on an original novel by Joan J. Pons.
Genre: Adventure, Science-Fiction
Platform: Windows PC
Engine: Unreal Engine 5
Tools Used: UE5, Photoshop, Google Documents, Twine, Notion
Team Size: 1
Role: Concept, Blockout, Narrative Design, Scripting

Goals and restrictions

My goals with this project were to:

Create a level based on a given story.
Spend time researching to ensure the level ends up as loyal as posible to the original novel.
Learn how to analyze and create core mechanics, finalising in a small demo of a bigger game.
Design and pitch a story that is playable and can be scaled.

I have also set some restrictions on this project to keep the scope and give myself a deadline. The restrictions are:

Only adapting the first chapter in the game, although designing for the whole story.
The story must be focused in narrative, at least 3 different dialogues should be included.
No pro asset packs or buying packs. I must use what I can get for free in the fab store.
No AI and no enemies. This would take too long and fall outside the scope of the project size.

Final iteration of the 2D layout of the whole spaceship, in a cylindrical shape.

Blockout of the spaceship in UE5, already with 2 rooms built-in.

Layout

In this first iteration, I went for a cylindrical shape, rather than a donut shape, as I felt it had richer oportunites when designing it. Once I had the blockout, I begin working in the 2 main systems for the game; the interaction system, made with blueprint and UI interfaces, allowed me to easily replicate interactable objects (such as doors or NPCs) with just a few tweaks. The second system was the dialogue system, key to this narrative-oriented project. Once both systems were working, it was a matter of building up the level and adapt the narrative of the novel to a videogame, following the restrictions and constrains set up for this project.

See Level Design Document