Currently in development

Current Development Phase: Prototyping 

Active Focus: Currently refining main character's movement physics and ensuring that the abilities integrate seamlessly with the gameplay loop.

Overview

Echoes of Deepcrest is a dark fantasy metroidvania developed in Unity, currently in prototyping phase. The player controls a wandering forest spirit navigating a dying kingdom corrupted by a cosmic entity that has possessed its Mother Tree - spreading a sap that grants power at the cost of sanity.

The use and exploitation of the tree have caused the sap to spread throughout the kingdom, polluting water, environments, and creatures, most of whom have now been consumed by the entity that resides in the tree.

Key features:

• Challenging gameplay loop that rewards exploration.

• Multiple combat systems.

• Covenant based side quests system that unlock secret endings and areas.

• Profound narrative centered on pollution and human nature in which lovecraftian horrors meet woods elements.

My contributions include:

• Developed worldbuilding and narrative design for a world with 5 interconnected macro-areas, including a complete lore around the Mother Tree and a covenant-based secret ending system;

• Designed core mechanics: combat system with switchable playstyles, covenant side-quest system, and 4 acquirable abilities integrated into the gameplay loop;

• Conducted target audience analysis using Nick Yee's player taxonomy and estimated player type distribution (PDF linked below);

• Designed the Berry resource loop mechanic and the Strange Lantern item, which unlocks The Veil - a hidden explorable layer of the world;

• Currently refining character movement physics and ability integration in Unity.

Here are two of the mechanics I'm working on for the game:

Berries

Berries are harvestable and replantable resources that serve for temporary buffs, heals or for certain NPCs.

Harvesting yields multiple units, one of which can be replanted to grow a new bush over time.

This resource loop is simple but weaves well with the main themes of the game and could be quite satisfying once it is fully utilized, especially during the end game.

Moreover, some berries are area-specific, tying cultivation to exploration.

Across the world the player can also find up to three Weird Berries, unique items that cannot be consumed or replanted and whose purpose is left to the player to discover. Giving them to different characters leads to different outcomes, one of which permanently alters an NPC.

Design Rationale

The replant mechanic was designed around two principles. First, it gives players active control over their own resource economy: rather than depending on fixed pickups distributed across the world, the player can choose when and where to invest their berries to grow more, creating an investment/reward loop that transforms resource management from passive (gather what you find) to active (plant, wait, harvest). Second, it reinforces the game's core theme of nurturing nature rather than exploiting it - harvesting every berry without replanting is a viable short-term strategy, but leaves the world depleted and the player with less resources. The mechanic asks the player to make a choice that mirrors the game's narrative tension between consumption and care.

Strange Lantern

The strange lantern is a rare item obtained by completing the questline of one of the covenants. When equipped, it passively can reveal a secret area of the game, otherwise completely invisible and unreachable. The lantern illuminates only the area surrounding the player, making its terrain, enemies, and secrets tangible and interactive.

It is one of the many ways the covenant system ties directly into exploration, other than with missions involving the retrieval of objects or the hunt of dangerous enemies.

Moodboard

Audience Analysis