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Indie Designer & Programmer
Golden Moose Collective - In the Heart of Borneo

Largely a NOMADIC STUDIO, Golden Moose Collective traveled across 8 COUNTRIES in the Asia Pacific for over 1.5 YEARS while developing independent games.

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The broad range of experiences I acquired during this time period heavily INSPIRED future game design and level design.

Game Designer Writer Programmer - Simula
Karin-Cederskoog-Video-Game-Design-Level
In the Heart of Borneo - Level Designer & Programmer (C#)
Unity 5

Engine: Unity 5

Languages: C#

Team Size: Solo project

Platforms: PC

Project Length: 9 months

Year: 2018

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I created a 2D jungle survival, simulation PC game, inspired by nonstop travels through Asia for 1.5 years.

 

I wrote DYNAMIC IN-GAME NARRATIVE events and programmed systems in C# (events, cutscenes, time manager, UI manager, etc.).

Game Designer Writer Programmer - Simula

Game Design

  • Decided on the GAME LOOP and ITERATED upon it.

    • Game Loop: Arrive at Village - Sell Animal Photos - [Optional] Talk to NPCs - [Opt.] Buy Supplies - [Opt.] Sleep - Decide Next Destination (may be a Detour or Village) - Walk to Next Destination (random events, such as Animal Attacks or Animal Sighting/Photo may happen)

  • Decided how GAMEPLAY and SYSTEMS worked together:

    • For example, I decided upon a TURN-BASED SYSTEM for Animal Attacks vs. Animal Photos, where the PLAYERS TRADE OFF proximity to an animal for a better photo (resulting in more money) or possible Animal Attack or Flee.

  • PLAYER DECISIONS AFFECTED possible events and game changes.

    • I.e. The farther the player travels into the jungle, the more likely they are to see (or photograph) an animal.

    • I.e. The less Stamina, the more likely an Injury event will occur.

    • I.e. Player stats affect the outcome of eating a plant (curing the player of an ailment, restoring health, poisoning the player, etc.)

  • GAME SYSTEMS AFFECTED events and game changes.

    • I.e. The WEATHER​ SYSTEM impacted animal sightings (and the possibility of photographs).

  • PLAYER PROGRESSION was tied to Detours and Supplies:

    • Players could climb Hills​ to increase Stamina. Players wouldn't be able to scale mountains in some areas of the game (to proceed to the next area) without both - increasing Stamina and stocking up on Supplies.

  • ROGUE-LIKE gameplay.

    • On death, players started in the last main area reached.

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See these systems in action, full GAME DESIGN EXPLANATION and EVOLUTION of my PROTOTYPING PROCESS in my video devlog series:

DevLog - "In the Heart of Borneo"

Narrative Design

  • Wrote DYNAMIC IN-GAME NARRATIVE events:

    • NPC dialogue​

    • In-game event UI popups 

  • Outlined NARRATIVE ARC for full game.

    • Involved a mystery where the player is investigating the jungle to learn about the myth of a man-eating dragon (based upon a real myth on the actual island of Borneo).

  • Developed CHARACTERS - 1 main character, villager NPCs, a girlfriend back home.

  • Wrote IN-GAME UI:

    • PLAYERS UNCOVER more about their relationship with their girlfriend and CHARACTER MOTIVATIONS for traveling in Borneo​ through letters.

    • On player death, I wrote final letters from the main character to his girlfriend, so Game Over would feel less punishing, as it would allow players to uncover more about the characters' RELATIONSHIPS.

Systems Programming (C#)

Due to the systems-driven nature of this simulation game, I programmed many Systems and Managers. Occasionally, I sought advice from a seasoned programmer to create the architecture for my game's systems.

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Some of the systems I created:

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  • EVENT SYSTEM

    • Depending on time of day, there were different chances each game event could trigger (Injury, finding a hidden village or object, etc.). An Event Base parent ensured all of my game events behaved in the same way, with children inheriting OnStart, OnUIHidden, OnEnd, etc.​

  • CUTSCENE SYSTEM

    • Like the Event system, Cutscenes inherited behaviors from a parent class. I loaded in strings from a comma separated localization file, which were handled by the UI system.

  • ANIMAL MANAGER

    • ​I used information from scriptable objects for Animal Type and Animal Rarity. Animal Rarity (common, rare, etc.) determined how much money the player received from photos of the animal, and Animal Type provided information for the animal. I randomized animals by Rarity to determine which animal a player saw.

  • PHOTO MANAGER

    • Similar to the Animal System, each photo had a different Photo Type (Common, Unique, etc.). A Unique Photo Type, for example, could add to the money a player received from a photo.​

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