The Crystal Changeling

When designing the game's mechanics and how to make it fun, I put myself in the player's shoes. "What would it be like for me to find this fun?" I took inspiration from one of my characters and developed a mechanic based on her concept: transformation. I tried to give each transformation different movement feels and mechanics, having some aspects limited to a certain form, but all were needed for a full experience.

I formed the prototype's level around the mechanics: moving around and transforming. I implemented a section for each part of different aspects of the game, movement, and stealth. For example, there is a section that shows off the human movement, there is a section that introduces the fox fitting into smaller spaces, there is a section for stealth, and there is a section to teach the player that the fox can sprint.

Using Unreal Engine 5's Blueprints, I crafted different events such as triggering the player to walk in certain areas, perfect for storytelling and voice cues. I also implemented cues for actions, letting the player become aware of the environment to teach a mechanic. Another thing I did was come up with an easy way to implement tutorial text without creating a new blueprint class each time.

While developing this prototype, I kept the game feel in mind while developing each aspect of the game. I added small things like the camera shakes when landing from a tall height to big things like fixing the character movement to make it more satisfying to play. I also adjusted the level to best fit the mechanics, showing them off better in the process.