Games Development - Final Compilation & Reflection
Picture Source: Vanaheim in God of War Ragnarök | Developer: Santa Monica Studio | Screenshot by me (via PS5)
20/04/2026 - 06/08/2026 / Week 1 - Week 16
Aquela Zefanya Soares / 0374377
Games Development / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INSTRUCTION
TASK
For this module, we were required to create a game using PlayCanvas. We decided to form a group of four members:
- Cindy Noverin (0376409) – Team Leader
- Aquela Zefanya Soares (0374377)
- Celine Christabelle Patricia (0374872)
- Jennifer Michelle Hiendrawan (0374682)
For this semester, the theme is about mental health: "Where healing meets fun."
Story development
Week 1-2
After knowing the theme and listening to Ron's briefing, we began discussing ideas as a team. Initially, we decided to create a game about Hoarding Disorder. Once we had chosen the main theme, we continued with brainstorming, conducting research, and developing the game concept in more detail. The following is the FigJam link that we used for brainstorming and drafting several sections of our Game Design Document (GDD) during Weeks 1-2.
Figjam link: https://www.figma.com/board/giSW3PFB0eQO18v7hlCKHz/gamedev--BRAINSTORMING?node-id=0-1&t=Eolcneymm0cd7Kos-1
Our initial concept was to create a mental health game that focused on grief, moving on, and emotional healing. The game explored how people cope with grief after losing someone they love by collecting the objects and memories left behind. The story followed a protagonist grieving the loss of their beloved dog and blaming their parents for its tragic death, causing them to isolate themselves from the outside world. One day, a mysterious white dog appears outside their room and leads them through a doorway that opens onto a beautiful island instead of their home. Determined to uncover the truth, the protagonist begins a journey across the island while gradually learning to heal from their grief.
Week 3
However, from Week 3 onwards, we decided to completely change and redesign our game concept because we feel that the story initial idea was hard to explore, too niche for a mental awareness when all of us does not really have a basic understanding on it, we decided to change the entire story, something that is more relatable to our daily lives.
After several days of discussion, we carefully considered what game theme would be both meaningful and engaging. In the end, we decided to create a game about Anxiety Disorder. This was the first concept after brainstorming our new game idea.
This is the final concept of our game
Game executions
Week 4
On Week 4, We started to divide our task and make these game assets to start proceeding on making the game assets.
Because I chose to work on the background creation, I decided to use a photobashing approach to save time. This is the timelapse:
After each of us completed our respective tasks, we created a wireframe to provide a clearer overview of the game's flow and mechanics. The wireframe also included a visual representation of how the game mechanics would work, allowing us to better plan and refine the overall gameplay experience.
FINAL RESULT
GDD
Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UA189eQJ_gLUksD5vcVN0osW7ZxzkdmE/view?usp=sharing
Presentation/Walkthrough
Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yQCqwAJB5ILI_5yf_BlKeG_XKmsUfcjF/view?usp=sharing
Game
Link: https://playcanv.as/p/qEd6dIE2/
FEEDBACK
Week 1
In this week, Ron briefed us about our upcoming project, and gave some game recommendations to look up to.
Week 2
Idea wise, this is too mild to make it into a hoarding disorder, can be
milden. Still haven't get so much visualization about the story on how it
will go. Narrative wise, there are no unique mechanisms on it.
Week 3
no class
Week 4
- discuss with teammates how the clicking mechanic will help players understand the experience and feel immersed
- maybe use a microphone mechanic in the inhale and exhale scene
- mix 2D and 3D elements
- add another color palette when the anxiety is completely gone
Week 7
Week 9
Ron helped us create a script for displaying different dialogue texts sequentially in PlayCanvas. Using the Display Sequence script, we can edit the dialogue through the Properties panel by entering each line into the available text fields. We can also use Gemini to help generate or modify scripts when needed. A useful tip is to prompt AI in English, as it generally produces more accurate results.
We also learned how to use the SuperSplat Editor to crop and clean up SOG/point cloud assets. Unnecessary points or dots can be deleted to reduce the asset size, which helps improve the game's loading time and overall performance.
Week 12
Ron said earlier that if we want to put all the assets in, don’t put them under the 2D Screen because apparently when we render the game, the camera will behave differently and it won’t be responsive. Instead, we need to create an Empty Entity, then put all the assets underneath it, so basically group them together.
Also, if we move the assets out from the 2D Screen, some things will change and need to be adjusted again. Some of the scripts might also be affected because we’ve been setting everything up under the 2D Screen this whole time, so some things will have to be changed.
Week 13
Week 14
REFLECTIONS
This module has been really difficult for me to get through. I do play some games, but I don't really have a background in using game engines or even Blender, so I had to learn everything from scratch. Among all four members, only one of us had tried Blender before, and even then, she had forgotten some of the functions and had to relearn them through trial and error. So, there were a lot of trials and errors throughout the process.
Using gsplat was also incredibly difficult for me. I had only seen people use gaussian splatting in After Effects for editing, but I had never really tried using it myself. Then, we also faced some problems, such as some of the gaussian splats having holes. Because of the time constraints, we eventually decided to change from gaussian splats to 3D assets to save time.
Well, because of all these trials and errors, I feel like I can apply the experience I gained from this module to my future projects.
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