HINDSIGHT
Team Size: 6
Role: Game Designer
Timeframe: 2 months
Engine: Unreal Engine 5
A cozy puzzle game based around the use of forced perspective. The story revolves around a clinical psychologist and his patient, William, who is undergoing experimental dream therapy. The player is transported into the depths of William’s mind and must reconstruct his fragmented childhood memories, represented through forced perspective puzzles. The game was developed at AIE in collaboration with a team of three artists, one programmer and one other designer.
Roles & responsibilities:
• Level design (Memory Hub and Treehouse)
• UI & UX design
• Puzzle design (Treehouse)
• Gameplay mechanics (Ziplines & Ladders)
Documentation
Game design document
LEVEL DESIGNS
Memory Hub
The goal for this level was to create a peaceful, calming environment representing the inner sanctum of the mind — a place of quiet retreat and tranquility. To achieve this effect, I decided to combine smooth stone platforms with large pools of water, giving a sense of calm as the player wades through them.
The layout itself is symmetrical in nature and follows a simple hexagonal pattern, with paths branching out to doors representing separate memories. Given how symmetrical patterns often convey a pleasing aesthetic to the eye, focusing on this in the level design was also intended to invoke the same sense of peace and calm.
Treehouse
The Treehouse is the game’s main level, containing most of its puzzles and narrative content. I was responsible for designing and building the entire level from greybox to final product, including lighting, level layout and event scripting. Early on in development, the team brainstormed ideas for the environment and I proposed a treehouse complex with different platforms connected by rope bridges and ziplines.
This was an ideal environment from both a narrative and gameplay perspective: treehouses invoke strong feelings of childhood wonder and imagination, while the mix between vertical and horizontal sight lines provided greater flexibility in designing our forced perspective puzzles
The player’s goal is to rebuild a make-believe time machine by retrieving several missing parts hidden behind forced perspective puzzles. Each puzzle consists of a 2D decal of a missing component, split into separate pieces and painted onto the environment. By viewing them from the right angle, the player can align them correctly and create a 3D object to pick up and install in the time machine.
Puzzle design and placement was a significant challenge given the need to build the player space around each puzzle so that each had their own specific viewpoint. The level is divided into separate areas, each with their own puzzle to solve, and are linked by two-way ziplines that allow the player to move quickly between each area and return to the workshop when needed.
