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Role
Project type
Tools
Game Designer and Developer
First-Person Game
Unreal Engine 5
P
DURATION
May 2024
DESCRIPTION
Inspired the rise of religious horror in 2024 in cinema, I created a fully playable horror game directly inspired by the gameplay of The Mortuary Assistant. In this game, you play as the assistant to a crime scene cleaner. When your boss unexpectedly bails, you're left to handle a gruesome, ritualistic cult crime scene alone. Can you finish cleaning before your shift ends, or will you become part of the crime scene yourself?
GAME DESIGN
Setting
The game takes place in an eerie, abandoned church, its floors stained with blood and remnants of a gruesome ritual. As a young crime scene cleaner, the player is tasked with restoring order, working alone through their shift. With only a checklist for guidance, they must navigate the unsettling environment and complete the cleanup before time runs out.
Core Mechanics
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Exploration & Interaction – The player moves through the environment, picking up and interacting with objects.
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Checklist System – A dynamic checklist tracks progress, guiding the player through the cleanup process.
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Time Management – A shift timer adds urgency, forcing the player to balance efficiency with attention to detail.
Unique Mechanics
At its core, the game functions as a crime scene cleanup simulator, requiring precision and strategy. The player must:
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Prepare to dispose of hazardous materials and do it safely
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Find and mix correct cleaning chemicals to create a cleaning solution
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Scrub away bloodstains and biohazards.
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Document new evidence that may have been overlooked.
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Ensure the site is spotless, leaving no trace behind.
Choice and Consequence
While the player has freedom to interact with objects as they choose, the correct sequence of actions is critical. Straying from the checklist or missing key steps could have dire consequences—only those who work methodically will make it through their shift alive.
World building
The original environment was a simple abandoned church with a small room containing a fridge, computer, and locker. Using assets and decals from Fab, I transformed the space into a detailed crime scene, adding blood splatter, candles, and a sacrifice scene. I also added assets to inside the fridge and locker, a switchbox, while personally creating the model and textures for the calendar.
Opening Sequence
Death SEQUENCE
Mechanic 1 : Light Switch
Upon entering the church, players head to the small office based on the instructions of their boss. Before they can find the instructions for clean-up, they must first switch on the lights.
Mechanic 2 : computer UI And BLUEPRINTS
Players must unlock the computer to find the instructions for clean-up. The password is hidden in plain sight in the calendar above the computer. I wanted it to look quite realistic and so I set my my desktop to look like what I wanted and took screenshots for the background. I also asked my partner to pose for the background for some humor. I created separate widgets for each different computer screen and added interactions to the buttons I wanted to be functional and would lead the player to the next clue. I also added a close button to each that would close the computer for which I had to switch the controls from on screen to first person again which was initially challenging. Below, all of the UI widgets for computer screens can be seen as well as the corresponding blueprint for each.
Mechanic 3 : Object Pickup and wear
The first instruction the player is given is to put on gloves and a mask. I wanted the mechanic to be that when the object is picked up - specifically the gloves and mask only - they are put on and essentially disappear from the world. The fact that they are put on is signified through sound. I made them "disappear" by resizing them to basically invisible.
Mechanic 5 : Inventory system and dISPOSAL
I set up an inventory system for the player to keep track of what items and chemicals they have. I also created a widget blueprint to showcase the inventory. The disposal mechanic allows you to pick up object but only allows you to dispose of the inventory ones in the bin, only when the bin is open, where they fall to the bottom. I set this up by creating boolean variables to check if the bin is open, a vector that checks for the right bin position and another boolean that checks if you're at the bin in which case when you drop an item it lands in the bin.
Mechanic 5 : MIXING CHEMICALS and damage
The next step in my game is to find, acquire and the mix the right recipe of chemicals to clean the crime scene. If the wrong chemicals are mixed, the player will take damage and lose time. I set up integer variables for all chemicals and checked the count and set branch statements which connected to set chemical count. I made two sequences to play based on if the chemicals were right or wrong.
Mechanic 5 : Cleaning Crime Scene
The next step is to wet the mop in the bucket and clean the blood.
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