Solo Project:

Cinematic Sample - Sci-Fi First Person Shooter Gameplay plus Cutscene

".[…]Good day, Ma'am. I'm Staff Sgt. Murona. Have a thorn in your side from aliens I am told." Click link above to read the full sample.

My Developer Process: Providing summaries and notes to designers for implementation into level design, gameplay, and a cutscene. I focused on communicating to other teams details on what takes place for the player-character, such as gathering supplies or asking secondary characters questions.

One task I had to figure out was, "Where to write notes that point out when gameplay comes in? Or switches to a cinematic?" I implemented that for the given example about a human soldier on a mission to eliminate an alien warrior in an abandoned factory. The main character has the option to stock up on ammo and supplies. My steps are to point out, using Trelby’s Note function, when first-person gameplay starts or ends from a cinematic. This is emphasizing urgency to the player that a tricky scenario is here. Stock up, meet the characters dealing with it, and fulfill the plot beat.

In doing it this way, I communicate to designers how narrative can be laid out lock-step with other elements. Throw in rounds of iteration and we’ve got an fun level to play.

My Developer’s Lens: The player experience is as the witty, powerful character they play through a grounded, serious situation. The character giving the sit-rep is the hardcore-but-accepts-help sort. Set against the backdrop of a human-alien conflict, the feeling is that this guy has proven himself to handle tricky situations. The player experiences this through a thrilling encounter, a plot beat encompassing an urgent need, and a dose of humor.