Mystery Mansion
Project Overview
Client
Team Project
My Role
Team Lead + Lead Engineer + Puzzle Designer.
Timeline
Jan 2024 - May 2024
My colleague and I created an escape room-style video game using Unreal Engine. Out of all the pitches, mine was selected as the game to be developed. One challenge we faced was that our only engineer dropped out of class early in the project, so I stepped in to take over their responsibilities and used the opportunity to develop my Blueprint skills.
This experience showed me how much one role can impact a team’s workflow, and how a well-structured template can make collaboration smoother and reduce the overall workload.
My Pitch Selling Point
Most escape room-type video games do not have any negative consequences for the player and allow them to try every possible way to solve the puzzle. However, our game will have hazards placed throughout the mansion that will require the player to be more thoughtful of their actions.
Story Behind The Level
You are an adventurer walking in a deep forest. Suddenly, you stumble upon a mystery mansion. With curiosity, you decide to explore the mansion, only to find that it is full of mysteries and puzzles. Each solved puzzle reveals a part of the family's history, ultimately leading to the discovery of a hidden treasure.
Level Design
My goal was to guide players through an experience where they explore room by room, solving a unique puzzle in each space to earn a key that unlocks the next area. The final puzzle brings everything together, requiring players to use the items and knowledge they’ve gathered from all the previous rooms.
First floor (Draft)
Second floor
Problem & Learned Lessons
Problem
The house layout we designed ended up feeling too large and empty. Although we hoped that furnishing it would fix the issue, the result didn’t meet our expectations, and by then, it was too late to make significant changes.
Learned Lessons
I should block out the furniture with basic shapes first to determine the size of the house.
Puzzle Design
There will be a total of 5 main puzzles in this game:
Caesar Cipher Puzzle: The player needs to find two pieces of a cipher, combine them, and find the hidden meaning to get the kitchen key.
Acid Sink Puzzle: The player has to find water to mix with the acid sink to lower the acid level and obtain the pantry key at the bottom of the sink.
Blood Stain Puzzle: The player needs to mix potions from flowers in the greenhouse and pantry to clear out the bloodstain, which will reveal a passcode.
Digital Safe Puzzle: The player needs to get a passcode from the bloodstain to unlock and get the nursery key.
Statue Puzzle: The player needs to find all the alphabets around the house to unlock the statue and get the master bedroom key.
Engineer
Lists of my proud engineers:
All puzzles and obstacles: This is the hardest part because each puzzle needs its own Blueprint that cannot be reused over time. (This includes all the interactable items that are used in the puzzle such as flowers, potions, keys, and the alphabet).
Notification System: A function that anyone in our group can use to write a notification for the purpose of informing the player. Such as “The door is locked.”
Inventory System: A system that allows players to store items they collect during gameplay.
Inspection System: A system that allows players to know items’ information.
Item System: A system that allows players to interact with items, such as using or combining them.
Notification System + Item System
Inventory System + Item System
Inspection System
