Daniel Lye's Portfolio

Conceptualisation Phase

The team was highly inspired by games such as Mirror's Edge and Mirror's Edge Catalyst which boasted clean and crisp aesthetics with a very futuristic, elegant tone. We wanted to make a game that was focused on the storyline and building of the characters with this kind of art direction in mind.

A screenshot from Mirror's Edge Catalyst.

Simple, "one-colour" palettes was something that we had already focused on during the early stages of the project's development.

Two concept artworks from Mirror's Edge Catalyst.

Blocking Out

However, besides the clean, futuristic aesthetics, the team had also wanted to go towards a direction where gargantuan structures would tower over the players and give them a sense of wonder and awe.

The blocking of the layout of the map really shows the kind of scale the team was going for.

The team frequently drew inspiration and reference from real-world examples, such as Singapore's business district.

The team had also planned for the game to take place in a really packed Business District, and thus we had to block out a large number of buildings and skyscrapers.

The blocking of the buildings and skyscrapers in a zoomed-out view of the map.

An indoors level was also planned pretty early on in the development of the project, which ultimately became the tutorial for the players to learn the controls and mechanics of the game.

The blocking of the indoors level. The team had taken reference from the floor plans of a real office.

The blocking of the elevator lobby of the indoors level. Certain events had been planned for it but were ultimately removed in order to maintain the pace of the gameplay.

Prototyping Phase

Experimenting with the colour palette of the game.

We decided to make the buidings' glass black instead of blue. We also experimented with using Bloom to enhance the aesthetics of the game.

Smooth, reflective surfaces was a big focus for the aesthetics of the game's environment.

Screenshot showing the scale of the world around the character.

End product

With the help of the Programmers and Designer, we were able to push the Unity Engine further and ended up with an amazing product that fits our initial vision. Below are some in-game screenshots:

What appears to be a simple street is actually the culmination of everyone's efforts over several tiring months, and our proudest product.

Below are also some screenshots of the indoors level:

Phase was a project I had a lot of fun working on. I had learnt a lot working and learning alongside with my friends; as the game grew, so did we! Overall, it was a really valuable experience for me, and I would like to thank Acre Studios for that.