We'Minder

Trailer

Context

During my third year at ICAN Lille, we developed an advanced prototype of a narrative co-op puzzle game over the course of five months. The theme of the project was: “How can Game Design integrate collective behavior groups in a video game?” The objective was to draw a parallel between swarm-like collective behaviors and two-player gameplay, where player interactions evolve dynamically throughout the cooperative experience.

My Work

In this project, I was responsible for the game design and the mechanical impact of each system within the game. I handled all aspects of environmental modeling, texturing, and level design. I also took care of the lighting setup with Antoine Vermesse to enhance the overall atmosphere and player experience.

Creation of the concept

At first, we were really struggling to come up with a concept everyone liked and that was a good fit for the theme. I realized the concept of what became We'minder after a week of struggle, and the whole team agreed to try this concept of a cooperative horror experience focused on communication without a word.

Camera

After deciding on local co-op due to time constraints, we knew both players would share the same screen. This limitation led me to design a set of camera rules, based on two behaviors: a fixed camera and a side-scrolling corridor camera. Both camera types required invisible wall systems to encourage players to wait for each other and progress together without leaving the camera’s view. For the side-scrolling camera, if players move in opposite directions, the camera locks in place, making it impossible to go off-screen, reinforcing cooperation and synchronized movement.

Controls

When designing the controls for the game, I kept our target persona in mind. Our goal was to create an experience that would be accessible to a casual audience, while still offering enough depth to engage midcore players. We iterated on the controls multiple times throughout development to simplify them and create a more intuitive and natural way for players to interact with the world.

Then, I worked on the behavior of our enemies: the aralux. Since the core mechanic for players revolves around using instruments and producing sound, the Aralux are also attracted to sound. By doing so we created a mechanics loop that was interresting for the game. Their lightbulb-shaped bodies serve as both a visual indicator of their current state and a way to enhance the game's atmosphere. As the game progresses, rooms become darker, and the Aralux contribute to the lighting, reinforcing the tension and ambience.

This full gameplay video showcases the core mechanics, level progression, and cooperative interactions at the heart of the experience. It offers a complete look at how the systems, level design, and player dynamics come together in real-time. I was also responsible for the Game Design Document, which includes all technical details of the project from core and extended gameplay loops (OCR) to system diagrams, design rationales, and development processes.

Level design

We planned the game in 4 main phases with different priorities. We did this to make sure the game was complete by the end of the deadline, and we could expand on the game, divided into phases (sprints). Our main priority was the tutorial for the characters and the tutorial for the Aralux (the monsters).

Here are some of the room puzzles I made :

Level Art

My second main role was the level art; I was in charge of every aspect of the visual for the environment, from the modeling to the texturing, including the placement in the Unreal scene and the optimisation.

Characters

In this project, I also tried to exercise my character design skills by making one of the first drafts for the characters that Léa Bocquet (2D concept) and Kevin Dezitter (3D modeling character) reworked to make the characters of our game.

I did those sketches :

And I was also in charge of the texture for the characters :