Demon's Motel

Satirical UE5 first-person action-adventure — graduation project.

challenge →: Players needed to find objectives without soft-locks or a cluttered HUD.
what i did →: Built Narrative Companion callouts (Articy → Blueprint state flags) and a Hint Ladder, with a minimal HUD.
result →: Playtesters completed the core loop without outside help; objective discovery rose significantly.

project type: Graduation Project
role: Game Designer
team: 6 (2 Designers, 1 Programmer, 2 Artists, 1 UE5 Generalist)
scope: Vertical slice • Engine: UE5 • Duration: 5–6 months • Status: Ongoing

A satirical first-person action-adventure built in UE5. Realm-based progression, telekinesis combat, and a sarcastic sock-puppet companion.

Think Stanley Parable energy with DOOM cadence.

My contributions

Co-led the creative vision; established the narrative structure based on Hero's Journey and authored the GDD (pillars, progression, encounter templates).
Engineered Narrative Companion logic (drafted in Articy → manually integrated via Blueprint state flags).
Owned the UI/UX pipeline in the absence of a dedicated artist; designed and shipped UMG HUDs, menus, and player prompts to ensure gameplay clarity.
Produced the opening cinematic (Premiere/CapCut) and led playtest sessions, using my QA background to tune first-session onboarding.

Systems/Loop: Grab → Aim → Throw mechanics; clear telegraphing; companion triggers based on narrative context.
Onboarding/UX: diegetic hints and a "Hint Ladder" system to prevent soft-locks; minimal HUD to maintain immersion.
Production: vertical slice scoped to one realm; sprints managed in ClickUp; workflow: Paper → Figma Flow → Graybox → Playtest.

Playtesters consistently completed the core loop without external guidance.
Objective discovery rates increased significantly after implementing the "Narrative Companion" callout system.

Flow control on Figma — each node is a gameplay beat, used to find logic gaps before engine implementation
Ideation