GAMES DEVELOPMENT / DST61104

on

20/4/2026 -26/7/2026 / (Week 1 - Week 14)

Aricia Man Yi Xuan / 0375026

Games Development / Project / DST61104

Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Google Drive Link

TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Lectures

2. Instructions

3. Project 1

4. Feedback

5. Reflection

LECTURES

Week 1 (20/4/2026)
Today, Mr. Ronald explained the assignment brief for the Mental Wellness Game project, including the theme and key requirements. He also showed us several example games on Steam to help us understand how games can explore emotions and mental health in different ways. After that, we formed our groups of five and started discussing initial ideas together, discussing about some possible concepts and directions for our game.

Week 2 (27/4/2026)
Today, we continued to discuss our project and get feedback from Mr. Ronald.

Week 3 (4/5/2026)
This week, we finalized our game topic concept and start to do the GDD draft.

Week 4 (11/5/2026)
This week, we revised the game mechanics and discussing about the memory story.

Week 5 (18/5/2026)
This week, we distributed the jobs among our team members and started drawing the game assets and design ideas. We discussed each person’s responsibilities and began developing the visual style for the game.

Week 6 - 9 (25/5/2026 - 15/6/2026)
Each of us continue doing our own assigned part of the game.

Week 10-16 (22/6/2026 - 3/8/2026)
Developing in PlayCanvas and refining the game flow.

INSTRUCTION

Fig.2.1.1 Module Information Booklet

PROJECT 1

Group formation

On week 1 (20/4/2026), we formed our group of FIVE members.
  • Aricia Man Yi Xuan (Me)
  • Rachel Ng Jie Ting 
  • Jiang Jia Yu
  • Pan Rui Ning
  • Sun Yu Tong
Brainstorming Development

Fig.3.1.1 Idea #1 / (Week 2, 27/4/2026)

At the beginning, our group discussed and came up with three different game ideas related to mental wellness. One of the main ideas was a 3D emotion simulator, where players explore different emotion rooms such as sadness, anger, and anxiety, with interactive activities in each space based on their current mood. 

However, after receiving feedback (Week 2, 27/4/2026) from Mr. Ronald, we realized that some of our ideas, especially the emotion room with multiple mini-games, might be too complex and difficult to maintain in terms of quality. 

Therefore, we decided to rethink and simplify our direction, and explore new ideas before finalizing our concept.

Finalized Concept

Fig.3.1.2 Chosen Game Idea / (Week 3, 4/5/2026)

After sharing and discussing all ideas, we conducted a group voting to decide on the topic of our project. The concept Sea of Echoes, proposed by Sun Yu Tong, received the most votes from the team. After selecting this concept, we continued to develop and refine it as a group.  
Fig.3.1.3 Game Development Document (Draft) / (Week 3, 5/5/2026)

This is our first rough draft for our concept.

Narrative Storyline

Fig.3.1.4 Story Idea / (Week 4, 11/5/2026)

After drafting our game concept, we continued refining the storyline and discussed how to create a more emotional and meaningful narrative experience for players. We decided to create a "friendship-based" narrative between two characters (Fig.3.1.4).

Work Distribution

Then, our group started to distributed work:
  • Aricia
    - All of the characters (MC & NPC), including character movements
    - Ship
    - UI design
    - Game cover page button
    - Game map and in-game elements
  • Jia Yu
    - Design all game backgrounds
  • Yu Tong & Rui Ning
    - Drew memory cards, think of the story
    - Design the mini game
  • Rachel
    - Responsible for game coding & programming
My Process of Creating Game Assets

First, I confirmed all the assets and elements needed for the game design before starting the drawing process. Listed require game assets:
  • Main character (MC) with walking movement animations.
  • NPC characters 
  • Chat box designs.
  • Boat design.
  • Homepage/game cover page buttons.
  • All icon button designs for the UI.
  • Game map design.
  • Star shards in 5 different colours.
  • Big star design (combined form after collecting 5 star shards) ×10.
  • A glowing potted flower design.
  • Tree design after the plant grows bigger.
  • Glass bottle used for collecting stars.
  • Rolled-up map design placed on the ship.
References

Fig.3.1.5 References / (Week 5, 18/5/2026)
I began by searching for visual references and inspiration on Pinterest for style ideas.
  • Pinterest board link: click [here]
Development in Adobe Illustrator

Fig.3.1.6 Adobe Illustrator Process - MC / (Week 5, 22/5/2026)
  • Main character
I first drew the main character. I inspired by the references I found that matched the emotional and fantasy atmosphere of our game. I explored soft glowing spirit characters, ghost-like silhouettes, and minimalist indie game art styles. From the references, I combined different ideas such as a rounded spirit head, glowing body shape, scarf accessories, and floating fantasy elements to create a unique original character for the game.

Fig.3.1.7 MC movements / (Week 5, 22/5/2026)

After completing the base character, I started designing different facial expressions, action movements, and poses.

Fig.3.1.8 NPC / (Week 5, 22/5/2026)
  • NPC Spirit
After completing the main character design, I continued by creating NPC spirit character. It also have different emotions, actions, and movements.

Fig.3.1.9 Raft / (Week 5, 23/5/2026)

  • Wooden Raft 

Moving on, I started creating the basic wooden raft. The raft was designed using uneven wooden logs tied together with ropes to create a handmade and unstable appearance.

Fig.3.1.10 Upgraded boat / (Week 5, 23/5/2026)

  • Upgraded Boat

I designed the upgraded boat as an evolved version of the original raft. I made the upgraded boat larger, more stable, and more decorative. One of the main features added to the upgraded boat was the large glowing glass bottle used to collect star shards. I designed the bottle using transparency effects, gradients, and glowing highlights to create a magical appearance. Inside the bottle, colourful glowing star shards float softly, representing collected memories throughout the journey.

Fig.3.1.11 Plant evolution / (Week 5, 23/5/2026)
  • Plant Evolution
Another important feature was the magical plant growth placed on the boat. I designed the plant to gradually evolve from a tiny sprout into a glowing tree as the player progresses through the game. 

Fig.3.1.12 Star shards / (Week 5, 24/5/2026)
  • Star shards
The star shards, which act as the main collectible item in the game. I created seven different star shard evolution. At the beginning, the star shard appears as an empty star, symbolizing uncollected memories. As the player collects more fragments, the star gradually becomes filled colour. 

Fig.3.1.13 Elements & Button / (Week 5, 24/5/2026)
  • Map
After completing the character and boat designs, I started creating the game map. The purpose of the map was to guide players through different islands of the game. I designed the game progression around five different islands, where players must complete tasks and collect star shards before finally reaching the last island.
  • UI Button

I also designed icons for gameplay features such as:

  • Cover button (Play, Play Again, Settings, Exit)
  • In-game button 
  • Frame box
  • Dialogue Box
  • Star Icon
  • Map Icon
  • Progression Bar
Fig.3.1.14 Game Cover Page / (Week 6, 25/5/2026)
  • Game Cover Page Design

This is the game cover page and main menu interface. I created it with the feelings of loneliness, calmness, exploration, and hope. 

I placed the spirit boat near the center-right area of the composition to act as the main focal point. The boat silhouette was intentionally darkened while the lantern glow and surrounding particles. I also added soft reflections in the water to enhance the peaceful mood and make the environment feel more immersive.

Fig.3.1.15 Other's NPC / (Week 6, 27/5/2026)

After showing my group members these elements I drew at week 6, my group leader said I need to draw more 4 different NPC. Hence, these are the NPCs I created:
  • Blue Galaxy Spirit NPC
  • Pearl Jellyfish Spirit NPC
  • Orange Octopus Spirit NPC
  • Green Forest Spirit NPC
  • Purple Cat Spirit NPC
Game Assets

Fig.3.1.16 Game Assets in Google Drive

Each group member contributed by designing different game assets based on our agreed art direction and gameplay requirements. These assets included environment elements, interactive objects, UI components, character illustrations, and decorative items that would later be implemented into the game. To keep our workflow organized and ensure everyone had access to the latest files, we stored all completed assets in a shared Google Drive folder.

Development in PlayCanvas

Fig.3.1.17 PalyCanvas Development
The PlayCanvas development was primarily handled by our group leader, Rachel. After the visual assets were prepared, she began setting up the game environment and implementing the core gameplay mechanics within PlayCanvas. This included importing the assets, organizing the scene hierarchy, configuring cameras and lighting, and building the interactions that bring the game experience to life.
As development progressed, our team regularly reviewed the playable prototype together, providing feedback on the mechanics, visuals, and interactions. This collaborative workflow allowed us to refine the game iteratively while ensuring that the implementation remained aligned with our original concept and design goals.

Final Outcome

"Sea of Memories"






Project Link: click here

FEEDBACK

Week 2 (27/4/2026)
Specific Feedback: 
  • Our primary emotions should be based on research, not random choice.
  • If the gameplay concept is strong, narrative is not necessary.
  • We need to concern about complexity as each room have different mini game. If too many game, it would be hard to maintain quality and consistency.
  • Different gameplay in each room is good.
  • The most important is "How the player feels of playing the game", it must align with the project theme.
Week 4 (11/5/2026)
Specific Feedback:
  • We should make it clearer that the stars collected by the player represent positive memories and emotional fragments, may use sound effects such as cheerful ambience, children’s laughter, when collecting stars to help players emotionally connect with the memories.
  • Instead of directly collecting memory shards, we can change the system into collecting smaller star fragments first. After collecting enough small star fragments (for example, 6 pieces), they will combine into one complete large star. Then,  the completed large star will then unlock a memory scene and related mini game.
  • For the art style, we could reference a simple visual style similar to stickman-style games. However, the final visual style is still up to our group’s decision.
  • Since the gameplay mechanics are relatively simple and minimal, we should focus more on storytelling, atmosphere, emotional delivery, and visual presentation.
Week 5 (18/5/2026)
Specific Feedback:
  • Overall game mechanics are good and well-structured.
  • Instead of collecting and placing stars one by one, the idea can be improved by transforming collected stars into a plant growth system, allowing the plant to fully grow first. Then, planting it at the final island as the ending action.
  • Recommended adding special effects (e.g. glow effect) to the plant as more stars are collected to make the growth feel more rewarding.

REFLECTION

Experience:
At the beginning, the brainstorming stage took longer than expected because our team kept refining and changing the game concept until we found an idea that everyone agreed on. Although this delayed the start of production, it helped us develop a stronger and more meaningful concept for Sea of Memories. Once the direction was finalized, I completed my assigned tasks of designing the UI elements and the main character relatively quickly. I really enjoyed the design process, and it was one of the most enjoyable parts of the project. Besides completing my own work, I also collaborated with my teammates by sharing ideas for other visual elements, such as the game backgrounds, to ensure the overall art style remained consistent.

During the PlayCanvas development stage, our progress was slower than we had hoped. We only began the implementation around Week 9 because everyone was occupied with assignments from other courses. At that time, I was quite worried that we would not be able to finish before the deadline. Fortunately, through teamwork, continuous communication, and everyone's commitment to completing their tasks, we managed to finish the game on time.

Observation:
Throughout the project, I realized how important teamwork and project scheduling are. Since our work depended on one another, if one member delayed their tasks, the next stage of development could not begin. This showed me that effective communication and time management are essential skills for collaborative projects and are areas that our team could continue to improve.

From the design perspective, creating the main character required more planning than I initially expected. I had to carefully observe how game characters move and prepare multiple character poses and directions, including the front, back, and side views, so that the character could be animated naturally during gameplay. This helped me better understand the importance of designing game-ready assets rather than just static illustrations.

Findings:
Overall, I found this module both enjoyable and rewarding. The learning environment was relaxed, and our lecturer gave us the flexibility to manage our own schedule and development process. Although this required a high level of self-discipline, it also allowed us to experience a workflow that was closer to a real game development project.

Looking back, I'm satisfied with what our team achieved within the given timeframe. Despite facing challenges such as multiple assignment deadlines and a delayed development schedule, we successfully produced a playable game that reflected our original concept. If we had more time, I believe we could have further polished the gameplay, visuals, and interactions to create an even better player experience.




Comments

Post a Comment