Vestige is a 3D third person exploration and adventure narrative game made in collaboration with Drew Shapiro and Tyler Zhang. You play as an alien archivist, tasked with exploring a dying planet and retrieving its relics in order to preserve its memory. This six week project was created in Unity using C#, Autodesk Maya, Inky, and assets from the Unity Assets Store. The game is a 20 minute experience with text based interactivity, inventory strategy, and car mobility mechanics. My contribution includes: dialogue, narrative mechanics, environments/levels, and character art.
You can play the game here:
Vestige Trailer
Game Mechanics
Driving
Dialogue Interaction
Dashing and Gliding
Inventory Management
Map Overview
Overview of the entire map.
Level Design
The map is made up of five major islands that the player can explore. The path to traversing to the islands is rather linear, as the requirement to beating the game is to collect 3 ship parts, each spread out in a way that makes the player have to visit each island. Each island’s terrain is different so as to hone in on the sense of exploration and adventure. The flow of the game is intended for the player to go from island 1 to every other island consecutively, with the ship parts at island 3 allowing for travel to the 4th island. The player ultimately ends up back at the starting point as the final ship part (as marked with the circle) leads them back. The placement and sizes of the island were made in mind with the player being able to see the silhouettes of potential interest and travel from the starting island.
Island One
Overview of island one
The first island is the one the player lands in. As they walk away from their ship wreckage and are explained narratively via UI elements the situation, they will find an artifact and their vehicle immediately. This introduces the player to collecting items, the inventory management, and how to control the car. As the player nears the edge of the hill, they will see the Statue of Liberty and Island 2 and 3 in the distance. The Statue of Liberty and the first artifact reveal to the player that the game takes place on Earth, though many centuries after humanity. The terrain on this island is relatively smooth and allows for the player to practice using the newly introduced car controls safely.
Island Two
Overview of island two.
The 2nd island is a transitional island, it allows the player to traverse to both the 3rd and 4th island, and has a couple collectible artifacts scattered about as well. The arrow to the right leads to the 3rd island, and requires the player to dash across broken land mass, once there, the player will unlock the jumping mechanic — which allows the player to go back to the 2nd island and travel up the hills. The arrow pointing up leads the player to unlock the gliding mechanic, and glide over to the 4th island.
Island Three
Overview of island three.
The 3rd island’s terrain has more opportunity for the player to use their newly obtained jump mechanic, as they follow the arrow to under the landmark of interest — part of the Eiffel Tower. This terrain is rocky and requires lots of vertical jumps to explore and seek out artifacts. When the player collects the jump upgrade/ship part, they are prompted narratively via UI to look elsewhere for the next ship part. So while the game’s pathing is linear, the pace and the player’s choices when deciding which artifacts to seek out and keep with their limited inventory are not so linear.
Island Four
Overview of island four.
Island 4’s terrain is noticeably harder than the rest of the map, as it is the culmination of both ship upgrades — jump and glide. The environment requires the player to use both to navigate and explore. There are ice-like structures that serve as ramps for the player to use in their vehicle. Once they reach the end, there is another long gliding sequence so they can enjoy seeing the next island (Island 5) from above as the player did originally to get to the 4th island.
Island Five
Overview of island five.
The last island serves as a cooldown environment and offers some final artifacts for the player to decide on picking up to replace items in their inventory, or to leave them. The environment itself is not very challenging, and allows for the player to joyride across the dunes and up the mountain for a considerable amount of introspective time as the player makes their way to the final ship part needed to complete the game.