Shaman (PC)
As part of a year-long production project, our team of 8 students developed a short action-adventure title set in fantasy Mesoamerica.
Guided by mentors from the industry, we were able to produce a fun experience and something to be proud of.
DOWNLOAD GAME FOR PC: teamshaman.itch.io/shaman
It is a time of great strife, your people massacred and forced from their land. The elder Shamans have been hunted to extinction and your very way of life at risk to becoming just another tale to be forgotten. Learn to listen to the spirits of the world, and allow them to guide you through the world. Answer the call of the Shaman and become the hero of your people!
Shaman is a third-person action-adventure game where you assume the role of a young shaman amidst a great cataclysm. Seek out the ancient secrets of your people and gain the ability to Shapeshift into the mighty Jaguar, cast fireballs and incinerate your foes, and unlock the ability to lift objects at a distance.
My design and programming contributions to the project focused on a few key game mechanics, and on developing the UI/UX.
Shown below are some examples of that work:
simple clean hud
I was tasked with creating a stylized health bar (and now-deprecated stamina bar), with a minimal design in mind. This style was also used in the pop-up text boxes which featured dynamic text replacement for control bindings.
Aim Down Sights & Targeting
Since the shaman could throw fireballs, we needed a way to aim and we didn't want crosshairs. I developed an Aim Down Sights feature that combined with red highlighting on the currently targeted enemy.
Jaguar vision & scent trails
With the ability to shapeshift into a jaguar, I added a special 'jaguar-vision' based on limited spectrum but boosted gamma, to see in dark caves and other spaces. I then developed scent trails that could only be seen in that mode, that provided hints.
shaman vision
I was able to apply what I learned from the jaguar-vision to create a parallel ability for the shaman, loosely inspired by Risen 3's astral vision. This mode revealed anything in the environment that the shaman's telekinesis or fireballs could affect by making them glow.
User Interface
One of my favourite aspects of the project was designing the menu systems and style of it, as it is the first thing players see when they start. The 3D living background scene took inspiration from God of War and The Witcher menus.
accessiblity options
Accessibility was something I considered important from the start, so I made sure to add a menu for rebinding the controls to accommodate players' various needs. Plans for both closed captioning and color-blind mode had to be scrapped for time.