Rings of Lies
Developer: Knockaine Games
Role: Project Lead, Foliage Artist, Level Designer, Cinematic Artist, Environment Artist
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Official Website: Rings of Lies
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Synopsis:
Rings of Lies is a puzzle platformer with elements from Irish folklore, and is inspired by games like Little Nightmares and Unravel 2. Players travel through a magical yet eerie forest as siblings Abner and Orla as they search for power and acceptance. Switch between characters to utilize their abilities and collaborate through the game.
Older brother Abner is strong and outgoing while his sister Orla is meek and shy. Each of them have unique abilities they use to aid each other while overcoming hardships and tribulations of the Fae-inhabited forest. Abner's great strength allows him to move and destroy objects, and Orla can harness magic from a strange, forgotten bracelet.
Contribution:
During my time working with Knockaine Games, I was the project lead for Rings of Lies. I put a lot of effort into pushing our team to produce the best product we could make. As a project lead, I kept constant connections with different teams to maintain cohesion and keep everyone on track to meet project deadlines. I also provided feedback on work so that members were confident in their efforts towards the project.
I also worked as a level designer, collaborating with others to ideate mechanics and how each level should be laid out to make gameplay as interactive and interesting as possible. Our level design team worked hard to create gameplay that was balanced for both of the characters that the player could be. We focused on making the main characters, Orla and Abner, have distinct abilities from each other. Having Orla use magic to traverse the level while Abner used his strength, and both aiding each other to make it further through the level. Once we established their abilities and how they interact with the world, I focused on laying out each level. I created blockouts that utilized both characters abilities in an interesting and balanced way, aiming to keep players engaged and enabling our main mechanic of switching between characters as much as possible.
Another role I performed was as a foliage artist. I created an array of trees to set dress the forest that the player ventures through. I aimed to create trees that would provide enough variety to make the forest still have contrast while not making them stand apart too much from each other. I also created a few trees that incorporated the more magical feel of the game, making them twist in a spiral form to coincide with the games theme of rings. As well as trees, I provided plants to dress the world with as well.
I acted as our cinematic artist for the game, creating cutscenes for each level. I edited our opening scene, as well as all gameplay shots for our trailer, and transition scenes for each level. I worked closely with our level designers and tech team, ensuring that cinematics played at the correct times, and helped to convey the right information for players.