David Céré portfolio - Wick of Despair

What is Wick of Despair? :

"Wick of Despair" is a game created as part of the collaborative project course. The goal was to develop a game and compete with 11 different teams. Following the technical proof, only two teams will have their game officially released on Steam, with a team size ranging from 25 to 30 people.

"Wick of Despair" is an immersive horror game. In this game, players will have the opportunity to explore an underground laboratory overrun by corruption, a force with the potential to drive them insane and make them see and hear things that don't exist, even leading to loss of control. In this context, light is very limited, and the player's only companion is a lighter. This lighter is ignited using mimetic techno commands, such as the mouse wheel.

My role :

In "Wick of Despair," my role was to design a portion of the level, specifically the second part, which involved a chase sequence. My goal was to create a horrifying experience where the player, armed only with their lighter, had to explore the underground environment. Light played a crucial role in guiding the player through the level. Therefore, I was responsible for placing light sources in the level using the art provided by the artists. In collaboration with other designers and artists, we established specific metrics that I had to adhere to in order to conceptualize my portion of the level.

What I've learn:

During this work, I learned the importance of giving a purpose to each section of a level, especially in horror games and environments where everything can easily look alike. I discovered that players can easily become disoriented if the rooms lack distinctive features. Therefore, I decided to create eye-catching events that players could use to describe the rooms in their own ways. For example, in "Wick of Despair," there is a room with a hanging figure that players discover when lighting a candle in the room. According to playtests, this became a memorable moment for the players.

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