EXPOSURE

Exposure is a short first person horror game in which you play as a journalist investigating the notorious Bennane Cave in Scotland, after the recent disappearance of a caver. You must navigate the cave with your torch and camera, taking photographs and keeping a journal of any interest findings you make along the way. The game is based on the legend of Sawney Bean and other Scottish myths and legends.

It was developed in Unreal Engine 5 as a vertical slice for a university module.

Itch.io Page

Details

Platforms

PC (Windows)

Team Size

6 people

Development Duration

Jan 2023 - April 2023

Software Used

Unreal Engine 5, GitHub, Maya 3D, Procreate, Illustrator, Photoshop, Substance Designer, Premiere Pro, Media Encoder, Word, Google Slides, draw.io

Role and Purpose

I was the lead designer for this project. I worked closely with the other designers to ensure a coherent final product, and had meetings with the producer and lead programmer to ensure we are on track and talk about what works, and what couldn’t be done. Despite my role, I still ended up contributing to other non-design work, such as art, blueprints, UI, and the ending cutscene.

The game was a second-year project at university, and also the first group project I was part of. This was my first proper project in Unreal Engine so the learning curve was quite steep, but I'm happy with the outcome.

Contributions by Discipline

Summary

Decided to create a horror game due to its focus on atmosphere rather than intricate mechanics, in consideration of the team's inexperience with Unreal
Created a few scripted scares throughout the level, hinting at the monster's presence

Initial and final progression through the game to build up to the monster reveal. Link

Summary

Designed, blocked, and set dressed the level across three iterations
- Conducted playtests for each, seeing how players navigate the level and tackling spaces where they would get stuck
Much of the level was also designed to be ran back during a scrapped chase sequence, with certain pathways being blocked or new ones appearing

Notable Challenges

Due to the low brightness of the level, it was hard to gauge where you are in the level
- Shifted away from more open areas to a more linear path through the level
- Used looping level design and minor backtracking Metroidvania-style to maximize the use of what little space there was

First blockout of early open area

Summary

Created storyboards for two possible endings cutscenes (one with and one without jumpscare)
Created the sequence in Unreal, before exporting to Premiere Pro for easier sound editing and finally compression in Media Encoder
- Created different lighting setups for each camera angle/shot

Notable Challenges

Because the monster model wasn't rigged, I had to rely on available animations from Mixamo and use camera angles and animation speed changes to achieve the desired movements

The cutscene can be found in the Gallery below.

Exposure

Details

Contributions by Discipline

Videos

Playthrough

Ending Cutscene

Screenshots