Role: Narrative and Game Designer
Developer: Nimbus Games
Genre: Survival Horror, Puzzle-solving, Narrative-based
Platforms: PC, PS5
Game Engine: Unreal Engine 5.1
Release Date: January 2024
Steam Page: Chiyo
Description
Play as Idate Chiyo, a newly recruited paranormal investigator of the Tokugawa Shogunate’s Magical Arcane Division, tasked with
her first assignment to investigate some strange occurrences reported to have originated from an abandoned mansion on the
forested interior of the small coastal city of Gōtsu in Shimane Prefecture.
Within the mansion, Chiyo encounters strange and malevolent spirits, devious contraptions and puzzles and a dark family history that will threaten her life.
Responsibilities
My main responsibility is to translate the narrative into levels and gameplays. Throughout the production, I collaborated with other fellow writers to construct the plot, worldbuilding, and other narrative elements.
- Led brainstorming sessions for the narrative team.
- In charge of maintaining the Main Texts documentation that includes items descriptions, lore entries, dialogues, and cutscenes to keep it up to date.
- Created and maintained the narrative design document which included a complete walkthrough, branching events and paths.
- Cutscene concepting, scriptwriting (protagonist’s monologue, NPC’s dialogue) and planned out narrative branching.
- Designed narrative-focused areas, how the player navigates them, and the interactions within that area with meaningful environmental storytelling elements.
- Contributed to items’ descriptions and planned the location of their placement in the game.
- Worked with designers, artists, programmers, and fellow writers to implement game flow, scripts, and cinematics.
- Worked closely with quest and level designers, ensuring the designs and mechanics fit the narrative and backstories to fit the puzzles.
During the production, I also had the opportunity to work on other aspects of game development.
- Produced sound effects using Cubase, a professional DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).
- Directed and prototyped in-game sequences inside Unreal Engine 5.1.
- Designed a major level (also plays an important role in the narrative) of the game.
Check out the writing samples with the in-game footage below!
