Where
Welcome to "Where," a game born from the creative collaboration of:
- Aia Kragh (Art Direction)
- Neil McGuiness (Programming and Sound)
- Aashika Vijayan (Level Design)
About the Game
Where is a single-player, third-person, explorative game in which the player follows the journey of Lilybud (Bud), a young aspiring tech-botanist. She is sent to a desolate ecological area to retrace the steps of an older tech-botanist who has mysteriously disappeared. Equipped with a plant-listening technology that enables her to collect audio-memories from certain flowers in the world, Lilybud must uncover the mystery of the missing botanist. However, the longer she stays and the deeper she ventures into the wilderness, the more she loses herself to nature.
Features in Where
- Collect audio-memories from flowers
- Play, rewind and search through audio-memories for clues
- Replenish water to keep exploring the landscapes
- Explore/Navigate the atmospheric natural biomes
Reconnecting with Nature through Navigation
Where has a navigation system unlike many other games. Without any traditional navigational aids, such as player position, mini-map or waypoint-markers, Where encourages the player to Sense the Nature around them to navigate using only a map, a compass and the environment itself.
Role of Level Design
In the dynamic field of video game design, level design plays a pivotal role in shaping player engagement and immersion. This thesis project delves into the realm of facilitating player navigation and progression within the natural environments of the game world, examining the role of environmental cues in guiding players’ exploration and discovery. Contrary to conventional gaming paradigms in which nature often serves as mere scenery or a resource, this study recognizes its potential as a guiding force in wayfinding. Challenging the conventional methods of wayfinding in games, which mostly employ explicit navigational aids such as mini-maps, route highlighters etc, “Where” prompts players to rely on a combination of their map, compass and the natural game environment to navigate.
Mapping the World
Iterations and Progression of the Game