Infernus (2014)
Infernus is an experimental level-design project focused on creating a creepy and atmospheric first-person experience.
Infernus was a solo design project, utilizing the Unity game engine and making heavy use of materials available on the Unity asset store. The primary goal of Infernus was to craft a small set of highly polished levels that could be implemented in a first/third person game set in the survival horror or role-playing genre.
With the time available for this project, I knew that I wanted to focus as much as possible on the level design. In order to do this, however, I still needed to deliver a compelling experience without focusing on the implementation of additional game mechanics. I felt that the best way to achieve this would be by creating a slightly dark atmosphere that could invoke a sense of fear and mystery. With a clear goal in mind, I was able to quickly determine the layout, audio, and visual components that would best contribute towards my desired experience.
Infernus benefitted immensely from having a solid foundation from the very beginning of the project. I was able to construct approximately 90% of the final level content in one sprint. I was then able to continue building upon and polishing this content for the remainder of the project, making small layout tweaks and constantly improving the quality and quantity of the audio and visual elements. By explicitly choosing to ignore mechanics implementation for this project, I was able to instead focus completely on audio and visual polish and their impact on the overall player experience.
Platform: Windows PC, Mac OSX, Linux
Genre: First-Person, Ambient, Horror, Walking Simulator
Team: Chris Morris (Design, Programming, Art, Audio, UI), John Henke (VO Production), Jason Uritescu (VO Production), Apollonia Thomaier (Voice Over)
Development Time: Approximately 8 Weeks
