Syn of the Order

Level, Narrative, & Mechanics Designer

From May 2022 to August 2022 at Abertay University, I worked as the level, narrative, and mechanics designer for the game Syn of the Order.

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As designer for multiple disciplines, my combined role had me responsible for a variety things, ranging from:

• Level design & layout, from concepts to final product.

• Mechanics design testing and refinement.

• Narrative design and implementation to fulfill the vision of a science-fantasy meets cult horror.

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Made under the mentorship of members of Sumo Digital Studios while at Abertay University, Syn of the Order is a fast, action-packed game of parkour. Playing as Syn, an alien Justicar of the Order of Balance, the player must escape the wrath of an eldritch horror named Vanduul as the entity attempts to stop them from escaping Vanduul's prison.

Syn of the Order was made from our client's design challenge of making a game all about the psychological phenomenon of "flow," as described in the studies of Mihaly Csikszentmihaly. We met this brief by creating a game that got players into a hyper-competitive mindset; the "just one more run!" after each failure, making them want to try again and again in a pursuit of mastery, as so commonly found by games like Temple Run, Hades, The Binding of Isaac, and many more.