Intuitive Onboarding

Software Used: Unreal 5, Microsoft Word, Figma, Whimsical

Genre: Metroidvania Platformer

Referenced Games: Hollow Knight, Celeste, Ori and the Blind Forest

Itch.io Link

Gameplay:

This project is a 3D Metroidvania designed to address an issue related to onboarding: new players getting overwhelmed by several mechanics interlocking with each other. It was inspired by Hollow Knight’s ability-gated exploration and Celste’s bite-sized mechanic teaching. The focus is on gradually expanding the player’s move-set through playable challenges, not walls of text.

Problems I encountered:

Across development, many issues were encountered. A recurring one brought up by play testers was the jump being floaty and the dash feeling jerky as the burst of speed is applied instantaneously. The former was addressed by tweaking air control and the gravity scale, while the latter was solved by using a Timeline for smoother dash acceleration.

Another recurring piece of feedback was the possibility of getting lost. A change made to improve guidance was influenced by Ori and the Blind Forest: the player cannot leave one of the earliest sections once they enter it until collecting both upgrades inside. This process of limiting options increases linearity to some degree, reducing the need to backtrack.

There was also a problem with the wall climb ability: left/right input would be reversed if facing a certain direction. It was fixed by replacing a get control rotation node with a get actor rotation node, a solution found in a comment under the tutorial used to implement the wall climb.

What I implemented:

For this project, I used extensive Blueprint to implement a full player movement system, interfaces for ability pickups and checkpoints. The player character was animated with animations taken from Mixamo. Most assets were taken from online sources (materials and VFX from FAB and itch.io, music and SFX from freesound.com) but some VFX and objects (particularly level elements like springs, spikes, and enemies) were made by me. Some VFX was inspired by Hollow Knight. namely the particles that appear when performing a ground slam and picking up an end key.

Plans I changed/cancelled:

Some features that were initially planned were removed, usually due to scope reasons. The Camera Zoom, implemented to control level visibility, was ultimately scrapped as playtesting data never brought it up as an issue. Likewise, the conveyor belt (inspired by Hollow Knight) was removed as it did contribute meaningfully to the wall climb ability. On a different note, the overall theme was intended to be a mechanical city, akin to Hollow Knight’s City of Tears, but time constraints meant there was little time for environmental polish and set dressing.

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