Caislean: Paranormal - 2020 / 2023

Genre: First Person/Point and Click Horror
Stack: Unity, 3DS Max, Blender
https://yoshedev.itch.io/caislean-paranormal

----- Overview -----

Paranormal survival horror game created over the course of 3 years while I held a full-time job(46 hrs) and was a full-time student. Some models created by me, but most of them were free assets from the Unity asset store. Game is about setting up equipment during the daytime in order to survive the threats of the night. Game served as my first real time completing a playable game. I focused mostly on the programming, leaving the design with quite a lot to be desired. The released demo has a playtime of half an hour, with an additional custom game mode for endless content. The game can be played on Steam, Itch.io, and Gamejolt.

This project marked my comfort in using Unity and C# before I moved on to utilizing Unreal and C++ for my final two years in college. Since 2020, I have learned a great deal about the development cycle and problem solving process through this project. Simple elements such as doors and U.I elements were great obstacles that I was able to overcome through work on this project. This was created solo so I was responsible for models, animations, design, sounds, and programming.

----- Personal Thoughts -----

A whole post mortem can be read here: https://yoshedev.itch.io/caislean-paranormal/devlog/725508/post-mortem
I learned a lot from my mistakes with this game, and looking back I can see a lot more of the flaws. My initial concept was to create a paranormal investigation game in which the player had to set up cameras and traps during the daytime so that they could survive the night. This would make sense as an arcade-style game, and would have been easier to technically pull off. Instead, I decided I wanted to try and create a story. That decision was a poor one, as I was not prepared to create such a game outside of my technical scope.
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My biggest regret in this game was not including more of my enemies in the night at the end of the Demo story mode. I had created plenty of enemies to make the player need to open their camera, but did not put them in that night as to not make it too difficult. I had thought players would record evidence on the cameras to earn in game money, but since there was only one night in the demo there was no need for money in the first place.
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I was going through hard times during the development so I don't blame myself, I actually think I did a great job given my schedule and experience. It is really important to reflect back on progress with respect to where we started, and admire how much we have learned since then.