INTO THE ABYSS


ABOUT
Welcome to the inside of the human brain -- a battlefield of dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin. A place where it's your job, as the ruler of Darkness, to ensure those pesky rays of happiness and sunshine don't make it through the dark and into the host's neural pathways. You must build and fortify your defenses to take those happy chemicals down before they grow too great in number.
Into the Abyss is a 2D top down tower defense style game in which you must use the cards in your hand to build, strengthen, and modify towers and unleash special attacks to handle the timed waves of enemy sentries. The fewer cards you use, the more benefits you receives, but make sure you have enough power to keep enemies at bay. If too many enemies reach the end, it's game over for Darkness. Into the Abyss allows for player customization to determine the likelihood and receiving certain types of cards, enabling you to develop tactics and approaches that suite your play style.
GAME SCENES
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MY ROLE
Into the Abyss was made by a small team of three, which gave me the opportunity to oversee a range of tasks, including:
Player Onboarding
Considering the player's first moments with a new game is one of my mains areas of focus both within studio courses and in my own thesis research. In this game, I designed, implemented, and tested the initial tutorial sequence that introduces players to the general narrative of the game and teaches them the necessary controls, as well as the first level that provides moments to practice these new mechanics.


Level Design
It was also my role to design each area of the game. The biggest challenge in designing the layout of a tower-defense style game is considering how to balance the UI with health, stats, and the card deck while still leaving enough physical for the enemies to move through. I also needed to consider tower strategy and design optimal locations to place towers.

Environmental / Card Art & Particles
After collecting a range of inspiration pictures ranging from gothic landscapes to abstract interpretations of the brain, I designed a simple environment that served the mood of the game without distracting from the main characters. I also designed the cards to make them look old while visually communicating their power. To add some dynamics to a somewhat flat 2D world, I used Unity's particle system to add a shimmer and glow to enemy characters and towers.







