The Game
Falling in Reverse is Falling In Reverse is a 2D space platformer that was inspired by the likes of Jump King and Metroid. Jump up and explore an unknown planet with your robot companion IV4N as you both try to find a way to escape. But beware, there will be plenty of turns along the way. The game was released on Itch.io to positive reviews.
My Responsibilities
User Interface
Designing and implementing the game's User Interface was a major part of my work. This involved creating various art for menu systems and the dialogue box in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and even Premiere Pro before implementing and developing them in Unreal Engine 5, ensuring they work effectively.
Narrative Design
Throughout our game's development, I was able to create the game's story and the character of IV4N, a robot that both provided help to the player and criticism when they fell further from the end of the level. This involved studying various sci-fi media, developing a backstory to begin the game, and utilizing Data Tables and Unreal Blueprints to have each line be from a random selection whenever the player fell.
The Challenges of UI
The biggest challenge of the game was the fact that I was fairly new to developing UI. I had recently taken a course on it, so when the opportunity came up, I volunteered to test my skills in it. The biggest issue was figuring out a way to properly trigger the dialogue following when a player falls, especially when it came to a level that took place upside down. My initial code was based upon the dialogue triggering under the player, so when falling upside down, I needed a complete rework of it. This was incredibly challenging to comprehend and took nearly the entire semester to get working in a reasonable manner, but as we reached the end, I was able to properly find a strategy to have the dialogue trigger as the player falls, not just regularly, but as they fall in reverse (hence the game's title), working very well.
Writing Samples
Below is a writing sample from the game, revealing several lines of dialogue initially meant for IV4N, but ultimately cut for different reasons. Please use the clickable link below to check them out.
Initial lines of dialogue that were ultimately cut from the game, but were meant for the robot character of IV4N to say each time the player fell below their location.