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(A mod for Outer Wilds)

Downloaded by over 8,000 players.

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Team Size: 5

Tools: Unity, Visual Studio, GitHub, Blender, Krita, Audacity

Development Time: 1.5 years

Designer, Programmer, Technical Artist, Writer:

  • Started and led a multidisciplinary project from inception to completion over a period of 1.5 years

  • Designed and implemented an interconnected puzzles and locations to fit as naturally as possible within the game

  • Wrote dialogue and ship logs to effectively communicate narrative and key puzzle information

  • Ran playtests and an open alpha to iterate upon and improve every aspect of the mod

"It was phenomenal!!"
- Jon Oppenheimer, 3D Artist at Mobius Digital

A mod for Outer Wilds about a mysterious probe from the distant past.

GOAL

  • To create a high-quality fan expansion for Outer Wilds that fits naturally within the existing game

PUZZLES

  • When developing a puzzle, I first identify the context it must fit within. What is the player trying to achieve? What information do they have at this point in the mod? What information should they have after completing this section?

  • Puzzles in Astral Codec are designed to utilize existing mechanics that are not normally required for puzzles in the base game so the next step is to then determine what mechanic or other aspect of the game this puzzle centers around

  • I then lay out the puzzle on paper, identify what assets, scripts, or text it might require, and implement it within the game

  • Finally, the puzzle is given to playtesters and refined based on their play experience. Most puzzles go through several iterations before reaching their final state

  • Since the mechanics used by puzzles in Astral Codec are not explicitly shown to players in the base game, the mod features several new locations designed to teach players these mechanics

  • Interconnected puzzles are designed to lead players through the mod in a pseudo-nonlinear fashion and are tightly integrated with the narrative

NARRATIVE

  • The narrative of Astral Codec is carefully integrated within the existing story of the game

  • The story is expressed via both written and visual mediums, including via the custom LIDAR hologram system seen below

  • The narrative is used as a vessel to provide key clues and is designed to match the tone and writing structure of the rest of the game

  • Ship log entries are provided to help players keep track of their discoveries

TESTING

  • Over the course of development, multiple playtests were run to improve the puzzles and narrative

  • An open alpha was then conducted to expand the scope of testing midway through development

  • A large number of sequential version updates were released throughout the alpha for iterative improvement

  • Several patches were released post-launch to resolve bugs and address player feedback

Release Trailer

Related Projects:
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1st and 2nd place entries in the January 2023 and March 2024 Outer Wilds modding jams.

Evacuation and Reflections both took top spots in week-long modding competitions against some of the best developers in the Outer Wilds modding community. They can be found here: Evacuation, Reflections

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