Creator
Unreal Engine 5
Third Person, Platformer
2025
OVERVIEW
‘TORN UP’ is a 5 -10 minute long 3D physics platformer where you play as a small paper ball who must navigate their way through a house to reconnect with their owners journal.
It was developed in my final year of university alongside a larger team project over the course of 8 weeks using Unreal Engine 5, and was designed to explore how level design and combining different gameplay mechanics can affect new player onboarding.
The game contains a short playable level which opens with a linear platforming sequence to introduce the player to the games mechanics, before opening up to a larger, more non-linear level wherein the player must locate 3 journal objectives before being able to complete the level.
Gameplay wise, I chose this project as an opportunity to explore different player movement abilities as well as their effect on level design. With the player having access to a host of movement options such as a grapple and glide ability.
This project also serves as a means for me to experiment with new player onboarding and tutorialisation, with each of the separate movement abilities being introduced and taught to the player in isolation before later being required to be used in unison in order to complete objectives.
Development Contributions
The rest of this page goes over the various features I contributed to this project, for a more detailed look, including documentation of my process and design goals, please look at my associated game design document here
Level Design & Building:
Create the level concept and story
Design and build all level geometry, including locale appropriate textures, decals, etc…
Decorate levels with various props decals, personal markers to illicit player emotion
Several 3D platforming challenges designed to test skill of various abilities (Grapple, Glide, etc…)
Several hidden secrets and collectibles for the player to find across the level.
Gameplay & Mechanics:
Implementation of a 3D physics based player controller
Several movement abilities (jump, double jump, grapple hook, glide, towing/drag mechanic)
Collectable items, including coins, objectives and power ups
Notable Moments:
Non-linear level design, allowing player to tackle objectives in any order they want.
Progression of difficulty, with early platform challenges teaching the player basic mechanics, and later ones requiring use of multiple different abilities to succeed
Scripting:
Scripting of all the games content, including player controller and gameplay mechanics
Playtesting & Iteration:
Conducted various playtests with people who were both experienced and inexperienced with 3D platformers
