CEPHALOPHORIA
ROLE
Game Designer
Technical Game Designer
DESCRIPTION
Cephalophoria is an experimental first-person horror game offering a unique and disturbing gaming experience. The player embodies a decapitated head with the ability to possess bodies and other entities.
His objective is to ascend from inside a god, from where he has been sacrificed, to save his partner imprisoned in his heart. The game offers unique environments, reversals of conventions and original gameplay centered on the controllers and the staging of the various levels.
YEAR
2022 - 2024
TYPE
Experimental Horor Game
PLATFORM
PC
Engine
Unity
My main work sites
Main Mechanic and GPE
I had the opportunity to be the team's only GD on Cephalophoria. Thomas, the game's developer, was able to help me with certain aspects of the game design.
I'll start by explaining the game's main mechanics.
Cephalophoria is a game that centers its gameplay on controllers and staging. The whole point of the game is to control elements remotely.
Each GPE has its own way of controlling itself, and it's in this way that we're able to create an intriguing and disturbing gaming experience.
The player plays a decapitated head that is separated from its body. Here's a diagram to explain how to separate each part of the 3Cs.
Finding a balance between controller complexity and gameplay fluidity was a real challenge for me. The controllers aren't the only thing to do in the game, and I didn't want the player to take too long to figure them out.
Each GPE has its own functions and operations, as illustrated below with the example of the tongue GPE :
Level Design and Staging
As for the level design, I drew a lot of my inspiration from what was done in Poppy Playtime (part 1).
The level design in Poppy Playtime is still very simplistic: you wander through a factory and your progress is strewn with events and puzzles that block your progress.
The puzzles are simple, with different types of gameplay depending on the puzzle. This is to leave room for the setting. But also to give the game a powerful dynamism: you never have time to get bored, because you're always doing something different.
As for the balance between the staging and the puzzles, it's often alternated between the two. You'll rarely have two puzzles that follow on from each other without staging.
That's what I wanted to do in Cephalophoria, add some narration between two puzzle parts. I think it's the best way to keep the player entertained, especially for our game, which has fairly complex controller, but also an offbeat universe that's hard to get to grips with.
Naration is therefore very important in our levels, as it allows us to manage the player's intensity curve so that they get a real gaming experience.
For each level we've thought of a specific setting that will gradually give the player clues as to how the world around him works, but also how the GPEs are used, etc...
In Cephalophoria, we've taken the decision to minimise the UI and narrative elements that could detract from the player's experience. We use GPE, staging, feedback, etc. to explain how to play the game, and to give clues as to what happens next in the level.
World Building And Narrative
I also put a lot of work into creating a rather unique WorldBuilding, which gives the game real narrative weight. The world we're in overturns established conventions, creating a feeling of incomprehension, but above all a feeling of wanting to know more, because it's so new to the player.
For in-game storytelling, the GPE and staging that allow us to give information on how to solve the levels also serve to convey the story to the player. Not least thanks to the heads scattered throughout the levels.
Support Tech Design
Thanks to my skills and the tools I've developed for other projects, I've had the opportunity to implement some of my tools to help create prototypes quickly.
For example, I was able to implement a tool to move objects very quickly by saving their position (platform, door etc...).
Want to see more?
Watch the latest gameplay video : https://youtu.be/CcMKdVL1kxU
The game is still in development, so certain elements can and have changed.