Deadzone: Aberration

Background

Deadzone is a narrative driven, 3D first person shooter game with around 40 minutes of engaging gameplay with 15 unique levels. The world has been completely taken over by a monstrous infection, with fierce robots oppressing the people. Shoot, stab, or blow up monsters and enemy robots, collecting new unlockable upgrades you'll find along your journey. This game features an original game soundtrack, along with a fully voice acted cast. This game was made by a team of 4, with over 2 years of development and has achieved wide success.

Accolades and Achievements

Miscreation won the 2nd place cash prize for the $2,000 PGJam2, with tough competition. This game was praised by the judges for its story, game design flow and the creepy ambiance that was built up. In this video, I was interviewed by Project Genesis about the creation process and any advice that I could give to any future creators.

Received front page Pick of the week and an Mm Pick from Media Molecule

The Journey

Deadzone has been an integral part of my game development experience, learning to work with a team and creating several levels.

Clowntown

The intro sequence is a crucial way to immerse the player into the world and learn the rules and goals. It starts with a brief audio recording about the mission to set the scene and an elevator going down into the lab. The elevator marks the one way entrance and exit for the ending escape.

Problem: Ensure the player understands all controls without a full tutorial and no immediate backtracking.

Solution: The player can only reach the door using a combination of the controls to progress, where it's only open for a few seconds. The door seals the player to guide the direction to go and adds to the tone.

What I learned: Button reminder popups and extra time was added after playtests, which improved the user experience and accessibility for everyone.