Book of Bhanu
- jblancharddesign
- Feb 12, 2023
- 3 min read
Book of Bhanu is a story driven exploration, puzzle game that draws inspiration from the 2D game Fire boy and Water Girl as well as the Last campfire.
I aimed to create a memorable short experience lasting between 3-4 hours in total; players should be able to connect with characters throughout the narrative and immersive themselves in engaging puzzle game play.
This is currently an on going project and more will be added as it develops.
Narrative:
Book of Bhanu leans heavily into its narrative allowing the users to take control of Bhanu and their companion. I aim to portray the journey of Bhanu, a young Inuit child coming of age. Tasked by their parents to travel deep into the mountains to their family temple as a rite of passage. Bhanu will meet a wide range of characters on this journey and will have to overcome many hardships and challenges.
To demonstrate the narrative it will be a series of interactions with character dialog telling the story of Bhanu and the characters that reside on the mountain. When demonstrating this I drew inspiration from Hades and Undertale
Mechanics:
When desiing or adding to Book of Bhanu our three pillars of design are all considered. These being: Exploration - dose this add any form of exploration for the player, Puzzle - dose this add to the puzzle, Narrative dose adding this give or detract from the narrative.
Book of Bhanu use two main mechanics within its gameplay:
Torch is Life – The health of Bhanu is represented by the light from their torch. From a narrative point this is symbolic as when the light is gone Bhanu has become lost on her journey. From a gameplay point this allows us to add tension and risk to the game so players cant spend all the time in the world solving the puzzles. Further more by having the light gradually go out it gives us a more Diegetic UI.
Dual Character – Players will be able to control Bhanu and their companion. From a gameplay point this allows us to create a varity of interact but basic puzzle designs that a player can engage with. From a narrative point I wanted Bhanu not to be completely making this journy on their own but insted having a guide / friend that players can connect with and see the relationship grow between the two as they overcome hardships and struggles on their journey.
Level Design:
Our levels through out the game will follow the same structure, taking inspiration from dark souls and similar games. The inspiration comes from interlocking maps, a player will be able to navigate around the map finding short cuts and hidden passage ways.
One main feature with our maps that I had to keep in mind was player navigation. Players may easily become lost and to counteract this we use points of interest - these are significant pieces or NPC that are around where the player can go "Oh I know where I am now" which negates the need for a map as a player can instead begin to make their own mental map.
Dotted through out the level are varies puzzles, narrative points and collectables that all stimulate and engage the player to explore the environment and really take in the atmosphere.
The image to the left shows the planning phase of the level layout. Blocking it out 2D allowed me to see where all the connected corridors, shorts cuts and key narrative pieces could be placed.
Audio:
Audio will play a large part in Book of Bhanu I aim to create a calming atmosphere. By using ambient sounds, we can bring in wind, crunching of the snow and crackling of the fire to create this tranquil experience for the player and underlay a soothing / somber melody behind it.
