Vinespire is a 3d speed-based platformer with a heavy emphasis on fun movement. I focused on making an engaging and diegetic main menu with an emphasis on vertical movement. It’s a solo project where I designed every aspect of the game from the ground up.

My work

  • Created project from scratch, learned how to use Unreal Engine

  • Created title art from scratch using photoshop

  • Created and implemented all screens in the game

  • Created animations for each of the button states which included audio

  • Created a dynamic background with audio to keep players engaged

Links to each section

Prototype

1.0 title screen

1.0 options screen

Evolution

First pass button animations

Final

1.10 title screen

1.10 options screen

Final button animations

Prototype

  • Created a design document

  • Created a to-do list of features for the game

  • Using tutorials, implemented each feature into the game

  • Stopped development after reaching goals

The original idea behind the game was to help me learn a new game engine while trying to work on something new. It was primarily focused on implementation first, and presentation later.

Reboot

  • Picked up development after a year of new experience

  • Completely shifted the core of the game away from level to focus more on UX and UI, especially animations

  • Tore down the 1.0 starting and pause screens to start from scratch and reimplement a new menu system

  • Added a new in-engine background scene to better suit the themes of the game

With the new redesign, I focused a lot of my effort to use what I had learned from past projects to improve this one. In particular, I had grown to understand the importance of animations and feedback in UI

Iterations

The various iterations of my title art. this was my first time using photoshop and it taught me a lot I still use to this day.

The various iterations of the options menu, the big lesson here was around my color choice, which initially was unreadable for anyone with red-green color blindness.

The various iterations of the title screen. Initally I had made it with a very spiky set of buttons, but I realized that it didn’t fit the overall theme of the game, and the concept of plants, so I changed it.

Small Details…

to me are very important, its one of my favorite parts about design. To make sure my project felt complete I added camera transitions for all of the menus and gusts of wind to help add some motion to the scene. There is also a not so subtle secret hidden in the vines.

My process

Final Thoughts

  • Worked on a prototype of the project, where I mostly focused on functionality over presentation. This project was also my first time using Unreal Engine 5

  • After a year of development, I rebooted the project and changed the project focus to be more about the UX/UI and implemented a full title screen with a background

  • After implementation, came lots of Iteration, where I cleaned up the overall look and added in animation feedback and audio for all of the buttons and screens.

Features

  • A fully functional title screen

  • A custom background scene with dynamic movement

  • A working options menu

  • Custom button animations for every button in the game

  • A credits menu with links to all of the resources I used

  • Camera transitions for each of the menus to emphasize the upward movement of the game

  • A fully functional game with 3 levels that was a part of the first draft

Reflections

I had a blast working on this project. It was a perfect starting point for me to get my foot in the door with Unreal Engine 5, which is now my preferred engine of choice for game development.

It was quite interesting to look back and see the journey this project took: from my initial focus on level and systems design to over a year later completely shifting gears to UX/UI design, my new focus. Taking all of the skills I had learned and completely reshaping the game was a wonderful experience that taught me a lot about how I design.