generation neXt - Duck Soul
A Dark Souls-inspired game about a metal duck.
Role
Project Manager/Producer/Composer/Designer
Timeline
May 2022 - September 2022
Methods & Tools
OneDrive, Competitive Analysis, Viability Studies, Blender, Unity, Ableton, Slack
Teammates
Julian Herring (Animator/Writer), Taurus Moore (Engineer/Narrative), Anson Lee (Lead Developer), Bryce Lampkin (Developer/Sound), Yasameen(Digital Artist), Anh Musa Do (Product Manager)
Mentor: Tyson Christensen
Project Context
"Unleash the fury of a metallic feathered warrior as you embark on a journey through an unforgiving world, inspired by the challenging gameplay of Dark Souls, with a unique twist of a metal duck as the protagonist."
A gaming prototype designed for Microsoft Game Camp.
The Making of Duck Soul
Using the conceptualization discussions with the team, I documented and created a Game Design Document to streamline our thought processes. From there, I formed what the desired user experience would entail for the consumer and captured their user journey. We decided what actions, features, and functions were capable as well as desired and designed a storyboard and map emphasizing on simplicity and dating.
Creating a sense of theme between each of the planets was a big deal for us as we wanted each environment to have its own unique aura about it.
I also worked heavily within the UX design of the customization screen to allow for players to change what their duck would look like. The options were designed for simplicity and to allow for easy understanding of the categories.
Sound engineering was a main duty of mine that required connecting with a voice actor and a script reader to be able to take their samples and edit their voices to be able to suit the sounds of non-English speaking ducks as well as animated villains. This involved giving them direction as well as clearing up their sound to match. The song making process was fairly simple. The main goal was to come up with songs that felt ethereal and exciting to be in these worlds and not be grating on the ears in selection menus.
I also worked within the Unity and Blender space to help design and construct the 3D in-game version of the metal duck as well as the environments for the scenes that we portrayed within the trailer. We wanted a duck that would be visually appealing, but also functional within the constraints that we had with limited engineers and developers for more complex motion.
Moving Forward
There is still a lot more to explore with Duck Soul. We want to continue the project and add more levels and interesting features to our concept.
