LEO — Game Development ePortfolio | DST61104
Game Development/Bachelor of Design in Creative Media
Project Development LEO
Play the Game
Game Presentation and Demonstration
Game Overview
LEO is a 3D first-person psychological narrative adventure about emotional healing, self-discovery and impostor syndrome. Leo is a young artist who loses confidence after failing to achieve first place in a major competition. When he falls asleep, his inner conflict becomes a dreamlike museum filled with memories he has avoided.
The player explores this environment without combat. Progress comes from observing paintings, lighting candles and listening to memory soundscapes. Each recovered memory reframes Leo's past effort, gradually transforming the experience from psychological horror into warmth and acceptance.
Main menu key visual: Leo's real-world room establishes the melancholic tone.
Key Features
- First-person exploration in a dark museum-like dream world.
- Candle and painting interactions that reveal memory scenes.
- Environmental storytelling using lighting, particles, fog and colour changes.
- Sound-driven feedback for UI actions, footsteps, candles, elevator actions and chase events.
- A shadow chase that changes the pace from exploration to survival.
- A Floor 2 ending that resolves the journey through a brighter final gallery.
Controls
- W, A, S, D: Move
- Mouse: Look around and focus on objects
- E: Interact, collect items and light candles
- Shift: Sprint
- P / Escape: Open pause and options menu
Progression
Floor 1 - The Labyrinth of Memory
Floor 1 is a slow exploration space built around seven memories. The player follows paintings and candles through childhood creativity, practice, validation, comparison, loss and distortion. As Leo's self-doubt grows, the hallway becomes darker and more unstable.
Memory 1 - The Spark: Leo's early joy in making art.
The final Floor 1 memory triggers a shadow chase. The shadow represents Leo's internal critic, and the player must sprint back to the elevator while chase ambience and a faster heartbeat raise tension.
Elevator Transition
The elevator creates a pause after the chase. Mechanical sounds, fades and a guiding light shift the experience from panic toward reflection.
Floor 2 - The Foundation
Floor 2 changes the palette and emotional tone. A bright gallery presents the final painting and reframes Leo's ability as the result of years of effort rather than luck. Sparkles, music and a white fade close the experience with acceptance.
Final painting key visual for Floor 2.
Development Process
Gameplay and Interaction
The project turns impostor syndrome into a playable metaphor. Darkness represents avoidance, paintings represent stored memories, candlelight represents attention and the shadow represents comparison. This keeps the experience mostly non-verbal while making the emotional change visible through gameplay.
Audio and Feedback
Audio was developed as gameplay feedback. UI actions, walking surfaces, sprinting, candles and elevator actions each have distinct sound cues. Memory audio is prioritised when the player focuses on a painting, while ambience and music use fades between menu, exploration, chase, transition and Floor 2 states.
Technical Implementation
LEO was built in PlayCanvas as a web-playable 3D game. The project uses reusable event-driven scripts for candle, painting, dialogue, chase, elevator and audio behaviours. Volume, fade timing and interaction settings are exposed in the editor so they can be tuned without rewriting the system.
Reflection
The most successful part of the project is the connection between story and interaction. Lighting a candle is simple, but it becomes meaningful because the player chooses to face a memory Leo avoided. The chase interrupts the calm exploration rhythm, while Floor 2 gives the player an emotional release rather than extending the horror.
The main technical challenge was making sure many individual scripts and audio cues reacted to the correct gameplay state. The key lesson was to use clear gameplay events, reusable editor controls and full launch-mode testing of transitions instead of testing sounds or scripts in isolation.
Credits
LEO was developed by Team C.H.U.D.S. Generative AI was used as a support tool for brainstorming, code iteration, debugging and planning. The team remained responsible for integration, editor configuration, gameplay decisions, testing and final presentation. Original and third-party asset information is documented in the Game Asset Manifest.
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