1408 STUDIO
Game portfolio
UNDERGROUND
Underground
Game Inspiration:
The inspiration for my game was based on the Metro series. I have based most of my game on
snippets of Dmitys Glukhovsky’s novel Metro 2033. The metro game series share the same storyline
as Glukhovsky’s novels including his own vision of a devastated Moscow, and the titular Moscow
Metro system.
Level Duration: Still in Progress, but I want to create a larger scaled linear environment where the
player can navigate through multiple paths to one exit.
Learning Objective:
I really enjoyed playing the Metro game series and I wanted to take what I had learnt and loved from
these games and books to make my own level. I wanted to enhance my understanding and ability to
create in Unity and so I wanted to re-create the base of a game I already loved and elevate it for my
own personal enjoyment.
What I learnt from the Metro series is that it emphasizes on tangible and physical interactions
making it incredibly immersive for players. For example, Metro created a different style of main
menu whereby the game continues in the background even when the player pulls up the menu. This
is different to other games and something I want to implement in this one as traditionally, if players
pull up the menu, the game in the background freezes.
This game is my first personal project where I wanted to challenge myself in designing small narrow
interior levels like how the Metro games designed their level layout. The first mission/ objective is to
explore and navigate the tunnels so the player can understand the environment and stress of the
way of life in the tunnels.
Narrative:
The story is based in a nuclear post-apocalyptic metro tunnels and stations where the new threat
from an unknown biomass threatens the lively hood of the survivors in their new home. The player’s
objective is to find the source of the biomass and neutralise the threat saving his home and
everyone lives.
Research:
I researched into how the underground tunnels work and the layout of the British underground
system. I investigated how and where it connects the stations and locations together so that for this
game, I could provide a real-world element to the game. The reason why I researched into the
British underground is because the UK has an established history of the tunnels being used as
shelters during WW2. During the Blitz, the tunnels sheltered hundreds of people every night due to
the air raids anticipated to hit London.
I could have been influenced by the Russian Metros as they too have got a history of turning their
metros into shelters during the cold war. However, it was easier for me to research and find pictures
of how the British Underground became shelters for people during the war. To add, I wanted to take
my game away from the already created Russian environment the Metro game series were based in.
I was initially unsure on what I wanted to create regarding the biomass. I researched into various
possibilities such as an amorphous creature of the tunnels however I liked the idea of there being a
biomass that produces a gas and attracts its victims. A bit like carnivorous plants releasing an odor to
attract insects – the character would have an urge to walk towards the biomass and submerge
themselves in it. I wanted the biomass to be slowly growing after consuming its prey so it was
spreading into the tunnels as the game develops.
Design:
These images below are based on an interior level I called “Into the Abyss” within this metro style
game: where one of the settlements are in the threat of the biomass speaking throughout the metro
tunnels causing chaos.
I designed the biomass to be like what would happen if people get dissolved in acid and designing it
as a blob of flesh.
I chose to not see the character because I wanted to focus on the perspective of seeing what the
character sees. I also didn’t want there to be a lot of objects that distracted the players view in the
environmental design. I haven’t completely ruled out not designing a character body however for
now, I want to keep it the way that it is.
I designed the environment with the lighting and atmosphere because I wanted to make the lighting
realistic. I wanted players to only see what is illuminated by a light source and everything else
remained pitch black. I also did this, so the players knew where to keep their focus during the game.
I would like to create characters in the tunnel and be some of the survivors. I plan to design these
characters to the point where they will have some movement and emotions that players can see
when walking past and/or going up to them.
