Пустошь (Poustosh): Narrative Video Game
Sound Design, Music Production, Narrative Writing, Game Design, Concept Art, Programming
Unreal Engine 5 | Ableton | Audacity | Procreate
Project created for a video game creation course. In collaboration with class collegues, we created Пустошь (Poustosh), a narrative game where the player embodies Anatoly, a man determined to reach his hometown after being deported due to a nuclear catastrophe. I mainly contributed to the project by creating a dialogue system, writing the script and creating the music and the sound environment.
Credits to Viki Nevzorova, Mélodie Bélisle and Alexia Chapdelaine for their contribution to the creation of the game
Available in French only
Making an OST
I decided in the beginning of the project to take on the challenge of composing the music for our game, while I had barely any musical knowledge. I learned how to use Ableton and a MIDI keyboard to create it, and the result is as expected; a grim and heavy track that would accompany the player and Anatoly all through his adventure fueled on hope. I wanted to experiment with adaptative music in game, each instrument representing one of the many characters encountered.
Desolation
Main soundtrack of the game
Adaptative Music in Game
The integration of music in game was somewhat complicated to figure out, but it was successful for a first time. The different tracks add on every time the player goes through a Box Collision. It’s a system that permits all the layers to play simultaneously but to be activated only when necessary.
How the sound system works
Layer activation
Sound Effects
All sound effects were managed with Sound Cues to easily modify them when necessary. The integration of sounds for the UI or character actions were implemented in respective Blueprints.
Dialogues and scripting
I was in charge of writing dialogues and the unfolding of the story, as well as programming the dialogue system. The goal of the narration was to illustrate the unhealthy hope that comes with abandonment and loss. Each of the characters represent the stages of grief. I let the player choose their dialogue options, as specific options may influence Anatoly’s morale.
Dialogue Cycle