Jump to:

• About the game

• Inspiration

Roles

• - Level Design

• - Lighting Design

• - Audio

• - Producer

• Reflection

7 people

Project: 12 weeks
Level design: 2 weeks

Unreal engine

2024-2025

Fuse is a side project I started in 2024. You play as one character focused on stealth gameplay, switch to another with platforming abilities, and in specific points during the game merge the two to become a high pace melee character.The game's about a person's journey to understand more about their past and how it shaped them. The idea is that the person process this by doing stuff they did when they were little like folding origami characters and doing other arts and crafts.Since this portfolio piece focuses on the onboarding level where you only play as Stealth and Platformer (temporary names for the characters), these are the ones I'm going to talk about.

The visual inspiration came from arts and crafts, and from origami - the Japanese art of paper folding.The level design was inspired by a therapist's office, since this is where the protagonist process their past and where the game begins. The end of the onboarding level is also the end of the real world as we enter the mind of the protagonist.So why the two characters? They represent the two sides of the protagonist's personality. One energetic and agile, and one more low pace and down. I wanted these characteristics to come across in every way possible - in their abilities, animations, character design, SFX etc. It was also important that the level design challenged and rewarded the player based on each character's abilities.The game Unravel is the main inspiration and reference for this game with it's platforming and puzzle gameplay, and how the game convey both narrative and emotion through other mediums than words like music and animation. For example the player character Yarny conveys a lot of emotions in their animations by reacting to what's happening in the level, while the player can still control the character.I found a picture of Moomin in a book, and the contrast between the fantasy world and the realism in lighting and textures was interesting I thought. This became the reference for lighting and material in the game.The onboarding level resembles a therapist's office since this is where the protagonist starts processing their past, and the three main levels in the game are inspired by the nature surrounding the town where the protagonist grew up. The first level is in a forest, the second one in the mountains and the third in a mine. The three levels connect through a ventilation shaft where a boss battle takes place, one after each level.

These were the abilities I wanted to onboard the player with.I wanted to introduce some abilities but not all for the same reason as mentioned above regarding keeping the player engaged, but also because I didn't want to overwhelm the player. Some mechanics and abilities will therefore be introduced and developed later on during the game.

We didn't want the gameplay to last too long in the onboarding level. Both since the area is quite restricted in size and in that it needs to resemble an office, which affected the level design possibilities. So 2 minutes felt like a good aim.Because it's an onboarding level it made sense to restrict the player to only play as one character first to avoid overwhelming the player.Stealth made the most sense, because it has a slower gameplay which lets the player ease into the gameplay. Starting off as Platformer would have it's perks as well, but the important thing was to restrict the player to only one character.Personally I like when a game grows in what you're able to do, it keeps the experience alive. To not give everything away right from the start felt like the right decision.

I proceeded with planning out what was going to happen during the level and in what order.The shifting between the characters was important, but I also didn't want to force the player too often to change character as this would ruin the flow for the player.I also planned out some simple enemy encounters.Having this color coded flow chart made it clear that there's an unbalance in gameplay between Stealth and Platformer. I did what I could to find ways to interesting gameplay with Platformer, but in this tight space I found it challenging. My plan is therefore to compensate this in the following level, which will be more open and therefore easier to expand upon than the onboarding level.

Stealth character path

S1. Stealth starts here. There's a short cutscene when starting the game with a spline camera movement. The purpose is to set the mood and give an overview over the level.

S2. The first ability's introduced - rolling. You learn this when you're at quite a large furniture to increase the sense of safety and control and reducing the risk of the player falling down.

S3. Second ability - pushing block. I wanted it to happen organically and letting the player explore. So I put the block on a bridge so the player had to approach it since there was no other way to the other side.

S4. First enemy encounter. I wanted this to be a completely safe encounter where the player could observe what happened when the enemy ran towards the player and caught on fire by the light beam.The player then has to cross over in some way, and this can be done by pushing the block in front of the light beam so that the character can walk past.

S5. Stealth approaches higher ground where they see the level from another perspective, and the next enemy challenge.

S6. Enemy encounter. Here the player is taught to throw a paper plane to distract the enemy into the light beam. I wanted this to be a safe zone as well, so I put blocks so that the enemy couldn't reach the player.I used shadows from a hanging object to create the shape of a dart board for the player to aim at. After this Stealth can't move forward but encounter a big blue wheel that's not moving. This is where the player's introduced to the ability to switch character to also play as Platformer.

S7. The first blocker for Stealth. They've reached a dead end with an object that's the same color as them, and it's not moving. The solution lies in Platformer turning on the hairdryer to make the wheel spin by the air.I discussed with the technical designer about making the connection clear between the button, the hairdryer and the spinning wheel, and we came up with adding the spline camera to the cable with a spark to follow what's happening.

S8. Enemy encounter. Here I'm repeating the technique of luring the player into the light beam to make the player used to the gameplay.

S9. Pushing block. Here the block is the problem and not the solution. When the player pushes the block the light beam hits a mirror, and this is where the player has to switch character to be able to rotate the mirror and clear the way for Stealth.

Platformer character path

P1. Stealth approaches instructions on a book how to change character. The player can also see the character before this, resting on a pillow. Introducing the character before being able to switch was important to me, so that the player recognized the character and "solved the puzzle" kind of, by switching character. A minor buildup.

P2. Platformer wakes up. The character is instantly faced towards the intended path forward to create a clear sense of direction. I also lit up this area a bit more since I noticed that playtesters tended to get excited over being able to move more freely and therefore more easily got lost.Platformer is mainly going to jump and glide in the air, so this was the main focus in the onboarding for Platformer.

P3. Glide and double jump. The player gets to choose here. I had a longer jump before, but I noticed that people fell down here, so I added an extra platform to make it easier.You still have to either glide or double jump since that's part of the onboarding, but I made it easier to pull off.

P4. More jumping. This is where I wanted the player to repeat the jumping ability since this is the main gameplay feature for this character.

P5. Button to turn on hairdryer. I created a crack in the window for foreshadowing. To enhance clarity of what's happening even more we added a spline camera following a spark along the cord to the hairdryer. The wheel then starts spinning to make Stealth be able to go to floor 2.

P6. The player's introduced to rotating mirrors. By rotating it the light ray hits a paper door and the player is taught that the light can do both good and bad - kill player characters, but also defeat enemies and open doors.

P7. Platformer rotates the mirror once again to burn a second door which reveals a ventilation shaft.

B1. I wanted both characters to be at the same place when the onboarding scene ended to get a feeling of them doing this together. By standing on one button each they turn on the light for the lamp which burns the paper door.I think payoffs are really important in games, so I created a small cutscene where the camera moved past the characters through the ventilation shaft and revealing the first level while playing a short version of the onboarding music. This gives the player a short brake, and an overview over the next level.

I wanted the player to take in the environment and the music as the first impression of the game. Starting off as Stealth made most sense in this regard since it's slower in movement.I wanted to not have too much to interact with, so I focused on height difference and turning around. This also onboarded the player in moving around.Pushing the block was the only way to move forward and the idea was that the player made this by simply trying since there were no other options.

The onboarding needed a sense of tension and release, but without risking pulling the player out of the immersion.I did this by making the enemy run towards the player but burn up when it ran into the laser before it could attack. In the next encounter the placement of the enemy made it so it couldn't see the player and therefore don't approach the player.

There were two areas I focused on with lighting - the esthetics and the guiding of the player.We wanted the lighting and fog to resemble our reference in this Moomin picture. A picturesque world where you feel like everything's safe, which is an interesting contrast to the dark undertones the game has.

Using Unreal engine made this easier than other engines I've tried. A directional light and volumetric fog with a lot of tweaking gave the result we were after.This enabled the lighting to create direction to guide the player in a way that surface hit lighting can't.

Here I'm guiding the player towards Platformer decided both the placement of the windows and the angle of the directional light.

I created this simple lamp in a Blueprint to highlight the instruction text. I only used it on this kind of text so the player easier found these because of their importance in the level design.

To make it as clear as possible for the player to see the end goal I used light intensity, since the human eye's naturally drawn to light. I also made the lit area bigger to make it stand out further from the rest of the light in the upper level.The light on the shelves stayed true to how you could light up an apartment, and I wanted it to be close to reality to create a bigger contrast to the fantasy world. By putting the lights in a row the intended path became clearer as well.

When I observed people playtesting I realized that a lot of them flew back to the beginning of the level when they played as Platformer, which is not the intended path. It's encouraged for players to explore I think, but here it left them confused. So I highlighted the intended path with lights and it improved the guiding for the player.

For the music I made a song with music and lyrics that fit the theme of the game. I then used parts of the song as different themes for different parts of the game.This intro theme is the second part of the original song. I slowed down the tempo and played at a piano with only the room mics on. This was to create a distant mood, the feeling of being a bit lost and uncertain. I wanted to mirror how the character feel in the beginning of the game.

For the song that was played throughout the onboarding level I used the first part of the theme. I wanted to portray how the memories from the trauma are still twisted and manipulated, so I wanted to do the same with the theme. I improvised on the main instrument based on this modified theme to make it go even further away from the original song but still keeping the essence.

This is a visualization I used to explain to our technical designer how the tracks were going to be played throughout the game.I usually prepare some visual material when I explain something to a team member that I know might be confusing. In this example this was also something he could refer to when he started programming.

The aim for the SFX was to enhance the characters' personalities, and with subtle sounds enrichen the experience. Nothing that stood out too much.I started off by recording the sounds in the same material as the one in the game making it, so for example paper. I then added layers of other sounds or processed in other ways if needed.For example i wanted the second jump of Platformer to feel like a rapid folding of paper, but it sounded better when I added a tremolo to the existing pretty simple recording of a slow folding of paper instead of cutting and reversing the tracks to make the folding effect.

I think it's important that everyone in the team have at least somewhat of an overview over the project and in detail.For the overview I created these bigger milestones. Here's the one for our application to the contest FGA.We used Kanban for the detailed plan. It can be quite tricky to make everyone use this I've noticed. Sometimes we had a look at it during meetings, but a lot of the time we managed to do well without it. The team is quite self sustained once we have a clear direction, so I don't want to go in and manage people that don't need it.

The player mechanics used in the game. I think consistency's important in games. I take inspiration from a composition technique here. The idea is to use a theme, a few notes, and twist and turn to create as much as possible from what you have. The same idea is applied in this game.From the start we didn't have any technical designers, but since they joined mechanics have been implemented way faster in the game than before. This was amazing, but I also felt like it was important to not just throw things into the game because it was cool or fun. We could still do that, but it had to support the game pillars and be connected to the current gameplay, but enhanced.

The structure of our meetings involves looking at the agenda on the Miro. People can fill this in if they have things they want to discuss.We also play the game together and discuss what comes up. Usually this is where most of the discussions come from.

Trying to find time for meetings in a side project in school can be quite tricky. It was a lot of messages back and forth. So I created this in Miro, and I think it works quite well. Every team member has their own color, and then they mark where they're available.

I created these two overviews to explain in broad terms to the team how the game was going to work.

I try to communicate the idea in as many ways as possible. The boss battle is inspired by slime mould visually, and I've also described the behavior for the programmer to start testing things out.It's very important in situations like this to reach out now and then to see how things are going to make sure we're not going the wrong path, or that too much time's put into something that's not going to work.

Me and the artist went back and forth with the character design. They're the heart of the story, and it was important both that they conveyed origami and that they portrayed the different sides of the protagonist. This restriction was challenging to communicate, but in the end I'm very proud of the result.When I came up with the concept a lot of the inspiration came from clothes, and some can be seen in the pictures.

Some examples of how I
communicated the visual direction to the team.