The journey within

2023 Game Concept & Game Visual

The protagonist Alice enters her own spiritual realm due to an accident. In order to return to the real world, the player will control the protagonist to explore her different inner scenes and overcome obstacles to complete levels.

ROLE

TIME

CLIENT

TOOL

Game design

Visualization

2023, 1, 1 month

Self-interest

Procreate

Photoshop

OVERVIEW

“Inner World Journey" is a single-player narrative-driven game where players embark on a surreal adventure through the mind of the protagonist. Set within a dynamic and ever-changing inner world, the game explores themes of self-discovery, emotional healing, and the complexity of the human psyche.

Players traverse 3 symbolic landscapes, solve puzzles tied to emotions and memories, and interact blockers that aspect of the protagonist’s mind. The goal is to uncover hidden truths, confront internal conflicts, and ultimately bring balance and clarity to the protagonist's fragmented sense of self

LOGLINE

The protagonist girl - Alice is a 16-year-old girl. She is going through the transformation of puberty. She longs for independence but is afraid of loneliness. The confusion and uncertainty about the future make her anxious. She cannot find her true direction, and all her goals seem vague. The fear and confusion about the future are the opportunity to push her into her inner world. In this journey, she will face her inner self and learn how to overcome fear and find her way.

GAME

GENRE

The game contains a lot of platform-jumping elements. Players need to accurately control the characters to jump, climb, slide and other actions to cross various complex obstacles and levels.

Platformer

To express Alice's inner and crazy mental world, every chapter/plot is in different aesthetics which include Western and Eastern art styles, different points of view, different brightness and darkness, etc.

Shifting Styles

Cartoon/Fantasy Art Style: Hand-drawing cartoon style, surrealism and physic-based design, diverse and involving worlds.

Cartoon/Fantasy Art

Through rich dialogues, cut scenes, and character interactions, the game tells the emotional story of the protagonist girl Alice. The plot is not just a background, it is closely related to the level design, character skills, and tasks, driving the player forward.

Narrative-Driven

Cartoon/Fantasy Art Style: The user can only move to the next charter when finish games from the beginning.

Linear Progression

Target Players

15 year-old, people who like adventure and detective game

Platform

Personal Computer (PC)

GAME MECHANISM

The story of the game revolves closely around the development of the characters' relationships and emotions. Each chapter features a unique storyline, where players progress the narrative by solving puzzles, gradually uncovering conflicts and resolutions between the characters.

At the end of each chapter and story task, players must collect items and memory fragments. These items aid the player in completing tasks and advancing the storyline in subsequent chapters.

Once all memory fragments are collected, the player awakens, returning to the real world and achieving reconciliation with their inner struggles and life.

CORE LOOP

Move the character go to the destination in the scene.
When moving on the path, avoid obstacles that cause the character hurts and dead.
When moving on the path, connecting tools that help character space the scene.

GAME CONTROL

The player controls Alice to escape the lost scene what filled with obstacles, gaps, turns, attack, thorns and etc. She can only go one directly and can’t go back.
The player must use keyboard:

Left and right key to change lanes and take turns.
Up or space key to jump over obstacles or gaps.
Down key to slide under low-hanging obstacles.
E key to pick up tools

CONCEPT OF 3 MAIN SCENES

Path of
Dark
Thorns

Fantasy
Forest

The Wold in the Mirror

OBSTACLES

Getting close will trigger the attack. After getting hit three times, player will fail the task. Shooting it with bubble shroom blaster will destroy it.

It will randomly slap its palm to attack.