Introduction
You are an agent of the Polish Security Compact. Someone is buying missiles on Pluto. Find out who.
Private Eye Pluto is a first-person, open-world adventure game with JRPG elements set on Pluto in the 24th century. In the game, you will talk to various locals friendly to the Security Compact to gather information about the case. The game was built in Unreal Engine 5.3 based off a JRPG template provided by Purdue University.
The Design Process
With this game, my goal was to create the feeling of a dangerous and strange frozen planet with advanced technologies and odd personalities based on historical figures. For this game, I constructed the following Game Design Document to guide my ideas, figure out the worldbuilding, and track bugs and features present in the game.
I started with a basic whitebox and landscaping, where I created a small, mountainous valley where the majority of the gameplay would take place. One mistake I made was that the world was far too large, and traveling from one location to another took far too long. I ended up fixing this by reducing the distance between buildings, reducing gravity, and adding some additional movement and traveling mechanics.
I also dedicated a lot of time to writing the dialogue for the game, for three characters. PolaskAI, the protagonist's AI assistant, Olga Kasperksy, a jaded local with former ties to the compact, and Percival Lowell, the game's antagonist.
The template also proved insufficient and cumbersome in some respects, with having to manually place waypoints and a very strict mission structure, so I had to modify that. I also implemented several environmental hazards such as mines, turrets, and gas plumes, as well as an item and inventory system to reward player exploration.
Art Pass & Polish
For the game's art, I found some free assets on the Unreal Engine marketplace, as well as some Humble bundles that included sci-fi aspects. For cleaning up the user interface, I found some free futuristic PNGs on Google Images. One of the bundles I purchased included sound effects and VFX, which I glad I was able to include.
Polishing the game also required hunting down many bugs and issues, which are included in the game design document. Those simply required patience and google searches to solve.
The End Result
I am proud of the game created, given that I only had a couple of months to work on it and limited experience with Unreal Engine. I think in retrospect I would've liked to dedicate more time to the mechanics of combat, as currently attacking every turn is always the correct choice. I would've also liked to add more environmental puzzles, side quests, and minor dialogues. But still, combat should've been my central focus, and in the future I will prioritize making core mechanics engaging.
Below: Private Eye Pluto GDD
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