Melody For the Forsaken

Game overview

Point-and-click narrative game made during a 5-day school workshop. Set in 1603 Japan, a village uses a secret powder to ward off evil Yokai.

When Kotaro, the protagonist’s brother, takes his own life after learning the powder's recipe, Yukiko sets out to uncover the truth. Guided by an owl spirit bound to a biwa, she faces Yokai and morbid revelations leading to a difficult final choice.

My role

Co-developed the key feature and critical path
Blocked out all levels
Prototyped some features to share my vision
Wrote characters and lore to support dialogue
Integrated all features into Unity

Narrative design

We received this project as an assignment, along with a narrative bible. Once we identified our key feature, I restructured the provided material to fully integrate it into the lore. I added depth to the existing characters to create stronger, more natural dialogue.

What I learned :

• Lore-driven features enhance narrative impact.

• Dialogue Implementation in Unity

• Craft powerful stories from interconnected backstories

Level Design

After discussing the player critical path, I could start working on the level design. I first made maps on Miro to share and get feedback from the team before diving into Unity Probuilder.

What I learned :

• Planning with maps ahead saves time in engine

• Gained workflow experience using Unity

• Gained experience with Perforce