Bob Wu
Technical Combat Designer
Nomad
January 2022 - April 2022
Nomad is a serene PC first-person platformer developed in Unity with a team of 8 people. Players use a magical rope to traverse the body of a dormant ancient colossus to heal its wounds and awaken it once again. They embark on a relaxing journey of melancholy to rekindle one of nature's long-lost wonders. The game revolves around climbing on the body of the colossus, and the platforms change based on the levels (the state of the colossus).
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Role: Designer, Engineer
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Summary:​
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Designed and set dressed three unique levels to separate the experiences into learning, practicing, and challenging.
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Formed the core gameplay of grappling and platforming to create an experience that is easy to learn but hard to master.
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Created 4 cutscenes in Unity’s Timeline to establish smooth transitions between story and gameplay and to escalate tension.
Details Below:
Designing Core Gameplay
I want players to feel a sense of awe and grandeur mixed with terror through interacting with the sleeping colossi and experiencing the contrast in size between the colossi and players. I embraced the idea of making the body of the colossi into platforms for players to traverse, and each time players proceed to the next level or phase, the colossi wake up and move his body further up the ground, creating an entirely new set of platforms for players to traverse.
For the core mechanics, I gave players only a grapple hook and simple movement to play with because I wanted to focus on adding depth to gameplay through level design. However, we created the movement with room for more advanced techniques such as air-strafing.
Level Design
I designed the levels that serve unique purposes: Level 1 teaches players the basic mechanics of movement, grappling, and the objective, and Level 2 teaches players more advanced movement skills, such as air strafing and positioning. Level 3 challenges players with all the mechanics taught in the previous levels and presents players with multiple routes to maximize their freedom in parkouring.
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Cinematics
With my previous experience in creating cutscenes in Unreal Engine 4, I was able to incorporate the techniques and skills I've learned into this project. I created the cutscenes using Unity Timeline. Without using any words, the cutscenes serve as pivots that connect gameplay and story, allowing players to understand the story as they play the game.
Building Various Features
I built multiple features such as birds, moving platforms, and an adaptive audio system.
