BVW Worlds

From September to December 2022, I took Building Virtual World during my first semester in the Entertainment Technology Center program at CMU. I participated in five rounds of group project (normally 2 weeks long for each), worked as a sound designer and a game designer. I mainly focused on designing interactions and game mechanisms, and also did a little bit of narrative design in round 4.

Round 1:

I participated in designing the interactions in this game, such as using laser to cut down metal strips and pushing button to stop the conveyer. Interactions were designed in a way that fits the world setting of the game while also being simple enough that did not confuse the guests.

I also came up with the idea of creating a 'black out' as a plot twist. The main purpose is to introduce change in the game world and shifts the guests' interest curve up in the middle of the gameplay. Since the game only has a few interactions and the gameplay is short, a plot twist like this provides additional information for the guests to absorb and could extend their playing time a little bit.

Round 2:

For this round, my design was a lot more focused on creating a fantastic and peaceful atmosphere through sounds. I mainly used acoustical instruments with large reverb to create the sense of

I participated in designing the core interaction (catching butterfly) and play testing to help the development process.

Round 3:

This round was only one week long, and the team decide to make a simple rhythm based game. So, the feeling of rhythm became my main focus so I decided to make the music to have a fast-paced rock groove.

Round 4:

This round we mainly focused on storytelling, and I participated in designing the gameplay and all three important interactions the player need to perform in order to drive the story forward.

For sounds, sound effects played a more important role compare to music in this project. I directed and recorded a lot of voiceovers and created suitable sound effects for all the in-game interactions. In addition, I made a dissonant version of the wedding march to be used in one scene of the game.

Round 5:

For this round, the background music was the extend version of the background music I created for round 0, which was not listed yet. This game generally has a Sci-fi setting and a fast gameplay, so a fast-paced electronic music should fit well with it. The sound effects were also mainly created with synthesizer to fit the theme.