Harvest Season
A Simulation & NArrative Game
Welcome to Harvest Season, a charming 2.5D adventure. Step into the worn boots of a budding horticulturist in a quaint, pixel art world brimming with mystery and growth. Your journey begins in a rundown greenhouse that awaits your care. Tend to a vibrant array of plants as you gather seeds, nurture sprouts, and unlock their secrets. With every harvest your greenhouse blooms into a sanctuary. Explore vast environments to become a master gardener!
Engine -- Unreal Engine
Studio -- None (Indie)
Team size -- 4
Role -- Level Designer, Producer
Duration -- 5 Months
Release -- PC
Role(s) and Responsibilities
Level Design:
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Designed and built the level environment (e.g., landscape, locations of NPCs, puzzles, collectibles).
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Designed and whiteboxed environmental objects and references.
Gameplay Design:
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Concepted and implemented puzzle mechanics.
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Implemented and balanced character controls and mechanics.
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Implemented gameplay mechanics.
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Implemented inventory system.
Narrative Design
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Wrote the overarching narrative and character dialogue (e.g., quest updates, player directions).
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Implemented environmental storytelling (e.g., set dressing).
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Concepted key gameplay moments.
User Interface:
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Created layout and design of the user interface.
Art:
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Created multiple 2d assets for both the environment and user interface.
Design Process
Brainstorming
My first step in the design process to brainstorm ideas for the game or level I intend to create. I define the overall theme, mood, and purpose of the level. Consider how the level fits into the broader game narrative. Identify key gameplay elements and challenges specific to the level.
For this project our main focus was to create a narrative based game where player could collect and grow their own plants. This evolved into creating multiple locations, NPCs, and a story that created a fun, uplifting, and unique gameplay experience and world.
Paper Design
Entering the paper design phase I started to create basic layouts for game levels and environments as well as the User Interface. I found reference images of desired locations in real life and tried to translate them to the style of game we were crerating.
Environments
User Interface
Whitebox
After creating the intial designs of the levels on paper I then used Unreal Engine to whitebox the level layouts performing some iteration on parts of the levels that didn't quite translate how we wanted.
Initial whitebox of "Old Man Jankins Farm" Level
Playtesting and Iteration
After the intial whiteboxing of the levels we implemented a few basic assets and textures to start to get a feel for how the game was coming together. I worked on iterating on the levels as playtesters gave us feed back on the designs.
Final Details and Art Pass
Once we reached the state of having a playable Alpha we implemented all of the finalized art and assets and did final tweaks to improve the gameplay experience,