Chronique (Chronical) is a single-player puzzle-platforming game currently in development by the class of 2022-2023 of Campus ADN, a school of videogame development in Montréal, Québec. This is our capstone or final project in which we simulate a production environment and attempt to make a game of AAA quality in 15 short weeks. The game is made in Unity engine.

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2484810/Chronical/

Game Design + Scripting

My primary contributions to the project are as a game designer and scripter:

Scripting:

  • Core (character, camera, control)

  • Enemies (including boss)

  • Scene loader, camera tricks, spawn manager + other utilities

  • Basic ingredients (levers, doors, pressure plates, platforms, etc.)

  • UX / UI

  • VFX + Animation integration

Game Design:

  • Brainstorming

  • Foundational design documents

  • Rational Game Design process

  • Mid-level + low-level design documents

  • Prototyping in-engine

Other Contributions:

  • Narrative design

  • UI / UX (design, integration)

  • Localization (from French to English and Brazilian Portuguese)

Game Design

Example Documents

Development

A team of 11 designers collaborated on the foundational (high-level) documents that determined the core of our game before production began. The core experience is also profoundly shaped by the many restrictions imposed upon us by the school and by our profs. Most of the design restrictions were to keep the size and scope of the game within the range of our limited resources and very short production time.

After production began we split into Game Design (GD) and Level Design (LD) teams, with 4 GDs and 6 LDs. We completed design work during a brief 2-week pre-production phase. The LDs got to work designing the game’s physical spaces and some of the gameplay ingredients. The GDs (including myself) finished the mid and low-level design of most of the game’s systems and ingredients, while mapping other features that would need to be coded.

After pre-production, design work was all completed. LDs began to build out level blockies while the GDs became the core of our scripting team.

Approximately 30 students in other programs contributed to the project during production. This included 2D and 3D artists, riggers, animators, VFX and sound designers, as well as techs who aided in the implementation of their colleagues’ art. We greatly appreciated their hard work and professionalism. It’s thanks to them that the game has a AAA look and sound to match the gameplay experience.