Narrative Design: Collectables and UI Writing
On top of supporting the Creative Lead in suggesting and executing story amendments, I took on responsibility for writing in-game collectable and object text. This extended to writing all text that would appear in UI menus to help expand and elaborate on the game’s story, as well as managing responsibility for preparing these text strings for localisation.
In-Game Object Text
Writing brief, anecdotal information for players to discover in-game to help expand the lore and narrative, including book covers and pages, magazine articles and letters. The example shown to the left is a journal extract I wrote for the titular villain of the game, Frank Stone, where I sought to demonstrate the human doubts that underpinned a monstrous character.
Collectable UI Menu Descriptions
All collectables found in the game also have an accompanying description within the UI menu. This comprised of ‘Artifacts’, and ‘Relliks’, the second of which is on the right. Each of these 12 Dolls were themed on a Dead by Daylight Killer, for which I wrote a brief description designed to help introduce unfamiliar players to these characters within the wider lore.
Collectable In-Game Effective Text
When the player discovers a collectable, this includes a snappy ‘effective text’ line designed to hint at the nature of the object. This was done in a traditional descriptive way for Artifacts and Relliks, but for the third type of collectable – Trinkets – I used short quotes lifted from Frank Stone text like his journal to give brief snapshots into his tormented mind, with an aim to build a wider atmospheric connection to the character through the game.
Fate and Relationship UI Notifications
When the player made an important decision, they would receive a UI notification on-screen to inform them that their choice might have changed either their ‘fate’ or their relationship with a particular character. These descriptions needed to be brief but accurate, helping the player understand the impact of their choices.
Branching Narrative and Cinematic Design
A major part of my work involved developing branching narrative paths through Visual Scripting tools within Unreal, collaborating with other designers to create meaningful choices that ricocheted off each other to create unique experiences for players.
Through Unreal Sequencer, I would then work with camera artists, animators and other specialists to deliver these crucial moments as movie-like cinematics, where choice and consequence are presented with tension and suspense.
In this video are two examples of branching paths across the game that I participated in conceiving alongside the design team in pre-production, and then also worked on in Unreal Sequencer, be it instantiating cameras, integrating animation data, or executing video editing techniques to refine the cut.
Puzzle Design
Although The Casting of Frank Stone is a cinematic-focused game, it was also important for the design team to integrate engaging exploration mechanics between cutscenes. Central to this was the creation of compelling environmental puzzles, that reflected the strange and twisted nature of the Dead by Daylight universe.
This video shows a multi-step puzzle I devised during early 2D production of the project. I took inspiration from classic horror puzzle levels found in the likes of Resident Evil, whilst ensuring a fun Dead by Daylight theme ran consistently through. I took on feedback and worked with other designers to refine the scope of the puzzle to fit our exploration mechanics, and assisted in the execution of the interactions that comprise each step.
Level Design
On top of designing puzzles in 2D and integrating them into Unreal using our mechanics, I was also given responsibility with designing the layout of some levels in 2D maps and then white-boxing them in Unreal, to scope out the size of game spaces and identify opportunities for additional exploration.
This video shows a simpler optional puzzle area I added to help expand the exploration of a level. Found early in the game, the intent was to reward players for exploring off the traditional path, whilst also helping to create a sense of mystery and atmosphere to the manor as a central location, adding subtle nods to the Dead by Daylight universe where possible.