False Vacuum
My most ambitious project to date was born shortly after my playthrough of Outer Wilds, where I was enchanted by how the narrative blended seamlessly with gameplay elements and puzzles. I, together with a gifted creative, Camden Dyer, wove an intricate story about extraterrestrial intelligence, first contact, and a universe-obliterating weapon.
The project is still in very early days, but I have put together some short clips of scenes and sequences from the game that have been made so far.
Most environments are just grayboxed at this time, but I did all of the modeling, music, sound and programming for the prototype.
Abstract Sequences
In this clip, the player enters a simulation created by the story’s antagonist. The simulation makes the user believe they are an alien, and evaluates their response to finding extraterrestrial intelligence. Should they protect themselves by destroying it, or risk sending a greeting?
An Open World
As articulated by Outer Wilds Creative Director, Alex Beachum, an open world is critical for creating the sense of adventure in Outer Wilds. Wanting to evoke a similar feeling, we designed the environment of False Vacuum to be openly explorable from the get-go. However, many areas are locked behind knowledge based puzzles that the player must explore to find the solution to.