Forgotten Will
Developed at Kennesaw State University, Forgotten Will is a two person Capstone project developed by myself and my classmate Luke Crowley. We had many ambitions and ideas for the game, and while many of them had to be cut, we learned a lot from taking on this Dark Souls and Zelda inspired action-adventure short project.
Dungeon Delving
Most of our work went into making our dungeon: The Crypt of the Damned. My primary focus was creating a dungeon experience that gave the player both a new tool and taught them how to use it. To do this, I created a trap door in front of a lever that is needed to progress. Players would then fall in, which would lead them to a safe space for the players to acquire and acquaint themselves with the grapple hook. Afterwards, they would return to this trap door and be able to use their new tool to pass! The grapple hook would then be used for the platforming trials throughout the rest of dungeon.
Challenges and Learnings
My primary learning from this project was the importance in making a space valuable. Because we tried to make the area above our dungeon very wide and spacious, there was a lot of gameplay area with no true purpose. If I were to make this project today, I would put a lot more quests, pickups, and interactables to add value to the exploration and different paths. There’s a lot of different elements that were cut that I would also implement, such as new biomes and dungeons! In terms of gameplay elements, I would definitely focus on adding more vertical traversal and climbing!
