ABOUT THE GAME
14 Member Dev Team |Producer and Lead Programmer
Sept 2020 - May 2021 |Unity
Out There is a first-person puzzle/exploration game set in Everett Valley, Arizona, in 1997. You play as Shelly Fay, a freelance photojournalist, sent out to interview a well-known conspiracy theorist about the UFO-laden history of the Valley. Upon arriving at a gas station, she finds that there seems to be no one around, yet there are signs of life everywhere she looks. However, she finds an alien device that holds strange powers both innately and some that must be unlocked. Armed with the device, her camera, and her motorcycle, Shelly must travel around Everett Valley and discover what happened to the people living in the valley and what is truly out there.
My work
For this project, I worked as both a producer and programmer. As a producer, I managed the programming and dialog team. I created many documents including backlogs, burndown charts, and Gantt charts. I reviewed our GDD and ASG for grammar, spelling, and making sure all information is cohesive. Our team did not have as many programmers, so I stepped up in this area. I worked on all-level scripts and also more mechanical scripts like our mini-games, camera function, and journal. Lastly, I white-boxed all 4 of our levels for our prototype.
Shelly Fay
Shelly Fay is the playable character and a freelance photojournalist working for whatever newspaper needed a person on the ground. Her last few cases have been boring and she is desperate for something interesting to cover. Finally, she is hired by an editor to interview a man named Jacob Carter in the middle of the desert. He has left a dozen calls at the office about the “discovery of a lifetime, a chance to prove the man is not alone among the stars.” What was supposed to be a simple interview turns into a night of strange disappearances, government conspiracies, and extra-terrestrial encounters.
Production Documents
These are all the documents I have worked on throughout this project. I had created the Burndown and Gantt Charts. When it came to the ASG and GDD, I formatted, spell, and grammar checked these documents.
Game Design Document
Midmortem Report
Production Plan
Productivity Report
Personal Productivity Report
Backlog
Programming
Recorder Script
In the game, the player will come across tapes that are unusable. The player will unlock a device that will allow them to fix the tapes through a mini-game. In the mini-game, the player needs to move the cube from point A to point B. The player must do this without touching any walls; if they hit a wall, they must start over. Once the player wins the mini-game, they will be able to listen to the tape.
The player has the ability to take pictures of things they see in the game. This script allows them to take the camera out and put it away. It will also recognize if the player to a picture of an important item. A flash will appear as a visual clue to let the player know. Important pictures will provide more information to the player and populate Shelly's Journal.
CameraDevice Script
The player has the ability to take pictures of things they see in the game. This script allows them to take the camera out and put it away. It will also recognize if the player sees a picture of an important item. A flash will appear as a visual clue to let the player know. Important pictures will provide more information to the player and populate Shelly's Journal.
JournalPage Script
If the player takes a picture of an important item, the JournalPage script takes over. It will populate the journal with the respective image and information. As a visual indication, the script will simulate a flash to let the player know the journal is updated. This script also takes care of letting the player know when they are near a picture-worthy item. If the player is in range of a picture, a visual clue will appear on the screen accompanied by audio ding.
Level Script
Each level has a master script that controls all scripted events, hints, dialog, audio, items, and much more. In total, I have made 4 of these for each level. In the pdf, I have included the Gas Station Script.
For this game, I white-boxed all four levels using level maps created by our writers. The white box allowed us to create a prototype for our game despite not having 3D assets ready. I built each building using Unity 3D objects, made tags, and started working on the level scripts. This allowed us to have our game tested. Which allowed us to work out the kinks and better the mechanics.
Whitebox
