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QUIET IS THE EYES

2023 | Lead Game Designer, Lead Engineer, Lead Narrative Designer | Unity 2D

After falling asleep on the job, Adeline awakens in an abandoned laboratory with an unknown entity chasing after them. Explore different rooms to gather clues and solve puzzles as you try to escape, but beware of the monster that lurks outside.

 

There’s something outside the window, watching you, and it might just get in.​

PROJECT DETAILS

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Quiet is the Eyes is a 2D pixel side-scroller where the player interacts with objects, finds clues, and solves puzzles to escape an abandoned laboratory, all while hiding from the monster lurking outside and uncovering the secrets of the facility.

EXPERIENCE GOALS

The player is constantly on edge, knowing that something is out there, just not what it is or when it’ll appear. As a result, the player bounces between moments of respite and apprehension as they progress through the unknown. However, the player also feels curiosity as they explore new and uncertain environments.

DESIGN GOALS

  • The game evokes fear through unpredictability (behavior) and the unknown (design). 

  • With only a single character, narrative is conveyed through environmental design and diegetic worldbuilding.

  • The game influences the mood and anxiety of the player through speed, sound, and rhythm.

  • Game progression is achieved through exploration, observation, and reaction. 

CORE MECHANICS

  • INTERACT with objects

  • Uncover clues and SOLVE puzzles

  • HIDE from the monster

CONTRIBUTIONS

I contributed as a Game Designer, Engineer, Narrative Designer

MY CONTRIBUTIONS

  • Developed game mechanics and experience/design goals

  • Designed and coded three prototypes exploring heartbeat and monster mechanics

  • Iterated upon and implemented monster behavior and warnings

  • Iterated upon and implemented puzzles

  • Iterated upon and implemented hiding functionality

  • Iterated upon and implemented quick time events

  • Implemented dialogue system and cutscenes

  • Developed narrative and wrote dialogue

TOOLS

  • Unity 2D (C#)

  • Yarn Spinner

  • Perforce

TEAM MEMBERS

  • Sakura Perry - Game Designer, Engineer, Artist

  • Ali Tahir - Audio Director

  • Xiaohe Zhao - Composer

  • Sophia Drozd - Sound Designer

GAMEPLAY DEMO (missing Steam release updates)

DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

INITIAL IDEA

In its earliest stages, the game that would eventually become Quiet is the Eyes was supposed to be a narrative-driven mystery-horror game based on rhythmic elements. Potentially in a sci-fi setting, the player would talk to various NPCs to gather information, reading their emotions and detecting lies by tapping in time to the NPCs' heartbeats. The player would also have a heartbeat of their own, which would influence how they could interact with the world. Most of the game would be in a 2D pixel RPG format, but the conversations would be more visual novel-esque.

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We drew inspiration from games like Undertale, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Ace Attorney, and Japanese horror RPGs like Ib. We also took inspiration from the film The Thing for the setting/premise.

PROTOTYPING

To explore the ideas we'd brainstormed, Sakura and I both began making and playtesting prototypes (six total). Although players mostly enjoyed the heartbeat mechanic itself, many found using it to manipulate conversations and keep track of clues to be confusing. As a result, for the final two prototypes, we decided to explore an entirely new mechanic of hiding from a "monster" instead. However, we still wanted to include conversations with NPCs between monster sections.

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Below are the three prototypes I made.

VERTICAL SLICE

While working toward creating our Vertical Slice, Sakura and I settled on our core game loop. In each level, players would interact with objects to find and solve a puzzle in order to unlock the next room. Meanwhile, a randomized timer would count down the moments until a monster appears, preceded by a growling sound to alert the player. Players would need to hide behind "hideable" objects and successfully complete a rhythm-based mini-game to "calm their heartbeat" in order to prevent the monster from finding them.

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For the Vertical Slice, we implemented:​

  • Player sprite and animation

  • Environment art for Lab 0

  • Dynamic lighting, interactables, and dialogue

  • A sliding puzzle mini-game (to find the key to unlock the door)

  • Monster appearance

  • Ability to hide behind "hideable" objects

  • Heartbeat mechanic

ALPHA MILESTONE

While working toward our Alpha Milestone, Sakura and I attempted to refine our game loop. We iterated several times upon the sliding puzzle mini-game, as many playtesters found it too difficult to complete, but ultimately decided to cut it. This was because we realized each of our game mechanics (interacting with objects, the heartbeat, the sliding puzzle) felt completely separate from each other, almost like we had three disparate games instead of one cohesive one. From there, we decided to create new puzzles that required the player to interact with objects to find clues. We also adjusted the heartbeat functionality and UI to make its purpose more clear. In this way, we better tied together our three main mechanics into a cohesive game loop.

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For the Alpha Milestone, we implemented:​

  • Splash screen, main menu, options menu, pause menu, credits

  • Environment and UI art for Labs 1-4 and Level 1

  • Changes to the monster, hiding, and heartbeat mechanics

  • New clue-based puzzles and password system

  • Cutscenes in Level 0 (tutorial) and Lab 4

  • Chase sequence and modified heartbeat quick time event for Level 4

BETA MILESTONE

While working toward our Beta Milestone, Sakura and I focused mainly on replacing stubs with final assets, polishing, and fixing bugs. However, we still made many major improvements, such as redesigning all of the puzzles, and I created several new monster warnings (as opposed to just the growl audio). Additionally, based on player feedback from our Alpha build playtests, we changed both the hiding and heartbeat mechanics. Instead of needing to find a "hideable" object, players can hide at any time by ducking under a box (Solid Snake style) with the down arrow key. Furthermore, although players enjoyed the heartbeat mechanic itself, repeating it every time the monster appeared became tedious. As a result, we cut it from the standard levels and instead only use the heartbeat in the Level 4 quick time event.

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For the Beta Milestone, we implemented:​

  • Bug fixes

  • Environment art for Level 2 and Level 3

  • Miscellaneous art assets (chase scene monster, hiding box, puzzle clues, character portrait adjustments, etc.)

  • New cutscenes

  • Polish to the dialogue system (e.g. multiple dialogue boxes for different purposes)

  • Changes to the hiding and heartbeat mechanics

  • New monster warnings (flying past the window, stomping, lightning)

  • New puzzles (flower color, dinosaur math, butterfly venn diagram

RELEASE CANDIDATE

While working toward our Candidate Release, Sakura and I were again focused mainly on replacing stubs with final assets, polishing, and fixing bugs. However, we spent some time reevaluating the narrative, and I ended up completing a 1,795 word free write (essentially adapting our game's narrative into a short story) in order to better organize our story. Based on that, I rewrote all of the game dialogue to better convey our narrative and message. Additionally, I created two more monster warnings: handprints and sliding goo.

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For the Candidate Release, we implemented:​

  • Bug fixes

  • New dialogue

  • New monster warnings (handprint, sliding goo)

  • More final art assets (monster, chase scene heart)

  • Final audio assets from Berklee collaborators

UPDATES FOR STEAM RELEASE

For the Steam release of Quiet is the Eyes (in December 2023), we made the following changes. My main areas of focus were improving the monster timer and behavior; redesigning the puzzles for level 3 to be more on-theme, varied, and interesting; and redesigning:

  • Originally, the timer that counted down the monster's appearance wouldn't decrease when dialogue was active. This prevented the player from needing to skip the dialogue in order to hide in time; however, it also meant that the monster didn't appear very many times during each level.

    • We decided to change it so that the timer decreases during dialogue except for the final five seconds. That way, the monster still won’t appear during the dialogue itself, but it will appear more frequently.​

  • Originally, the three puzzles for the third, bug-themed level were all the same structure and pretty repetitive, and many playtesters found it confusing.

    • We decided to redesign all three puzzles for this level to add more variety, as well as improve worldbuilding by theming them as science experiments.

  • Originally, the button-mashing quick time event in the final level could be inaccessible for players with motor disabilities. It's also generally unengaging and repetitive.

    • We redesigned the quick time event so that the player instead presses a sequence of arrow keys at the correct time to help Adeline "navigate" through the hallways, with success being based on accuracy + speed instead of just speed.

  • Additional polish to the character sprites

    • Adding additional poses and facial expressions​

    • Adding new dialogue boxes and character portraits

  • Revisions to some of the sound effects

GALLERY

  • Phone Number
  • Email
  • LinkedIn

Ally Guo

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