The Tale of Oath

Platform: PC

Tools: Unity, Adobe Suite, Perforce, Blender, Maya, Figma

Role: Producer, UI/UX, 2d artist, 3d artist, narrative designer

Context:

The Tale of Oath is a third-person action-adventure level design
project inspired from the Rifts Universe, bringing players into the mystical
landscapes of England.

Developer Site

Contribution & Design Breakdown

GAME dESIGN

Contributed with core game design with the group.

ART&narrative

Directed and created concept, in game art assets, UI/UX and Narrative.

pRODUCTION

Produced a 15 - minute finished game demo in 14 weeks.

Art & Narrative

From the art and narrative side, I took on the roles of art director and lead artist, contributing across multiple areas: from early concept development to UI/UX design, narrative writing, and the creation of key 3D hero assets. This experience taught me how visual and narrative elements must evolve in harmony with gameplay and design. As the core artist and narrative designer on a small production team, I learned to stay adaptable and open to feedback. I revise my work based on the team’s evolving needs. Frequent iteration was essential throughout our 14-week development process, and I gained a deeper appreciation for how storytelling and visual design shape the player's experience.

Narrative Design

Starting with narrative development, I began by researching the existing IP we were required to reference for our project. After identifying its core themes and elements, I crafted an original story that aligned with both our level design and the tone of the source material. This experience allowed me to practice designing a new narrative within the constraints of an established universe. This was an invaluable challenge as both an artist and storyteller.

Through this process, I gained a deeper understanding of how essential narrative is to visual design. Strong art direction doesn’t just create visual appeal. it reinforces and reflects the story behind the world. Rather than relying solely on dialogue or exposition, I focused on integrating narrative elements directly into the visual environment. As both a narrative designer and artist, I strived to show the story through environmental cues, design choices, and character moments, creating a richer, more immersive experience for the player.

Early research on the original IP: Rifts England

Narrative Documents

UI/UX

Throughout this project, I had the opportunity to design and implement UI/UX elements that enhance player experience and support gameplay clarity. I focused on creating intuitive visual prompts, in-game tutorial cues, and interactive feedback systems that guide players without disrupting immersion. By observing playtest behavior, I iterated on UI design to improve readability, timing, and player comprehension—particularly in introducing new mechanics and abilities. This experience deepened my understanding of user-centered design in game environments and taught me how to align interface clarity with narrative and level progression.

Start & End Flow

Start Game Screen: Presents title, player options (e.g., "Start Game"), and initial background world atmosphere.

Loading Screen: Maintains aesthetic continuity with ambient lighting and spell-related environmental visuals.

End Game Screen: Displays a closing message with a personalized thank-you note.

Credits Screen: Rolls out contributor names on a darkened backdrop for thematic consistency.

In-Game HUD and Spell System

Battery & Mana Display: The player’s current energy status is clearly shown, reinforcing the one-bar HP+Mana system.

Spell UI: Includes visual feedback for spell selection, cooldown, and availability.

UI elements are color-coded to align with the game's color direction palette, enhancing readability and player recognition of spell types.

Onboarding & Tutorials

Tutorial Pop-Ups: Provide contextual learning with image + text-based instructions.

Tutorials appear during relevant gameplay moments, avoiding information overload while reinforcing mechanics (e.g., ability usage, environment interaction).

Instruction Sheet: Presents a static reference for control mapping with a gamepad, offered during the early stages of gameplay.

Camera

Camera Logic: Provide Camera logic for cinematic feature

Cinematics appears during vistas and important narrative plots, serving as visual storying telling and environmental showcase.

Concept Art & Directions

As the art director and concept artist on the team, I was responsible for establishing the visual tone of the game from the earliest stages. I created 2D concept art to guide our environmental design, character aesthetics, and in-game mood, helping align the team's creative vision.

Early in development, I focused on defining a cohesive color direction that supported both the narrative tone and gameplay pacing. To further refine our atmosphere, I used photo kitbashing techniques to rapidly prototype key scenes, providing visual references that were directly translated into our 3D environments.

This process allowed us to quickly test and iterate on visual ideas, ensuring a consistent look and feel across the game. Throughout development, I collaborated closely with level designers and narrative designers to ensure that every visual element, from lighting to layout, supported the emotional beats and player flow. This experience strengthened my skills in visual storytelling and taught me how strong art direction can elevate both gameplay and narrative immersion.

Final concept art

Concept Art & Iterations

Concept Art & Early Iterations: Created an initial concept art piece to establish the overall tone and atmosphere of the game.

Version1 vs Version 2: Refined the color palette and redesigned the main character in response to evolving design requirements and narrative changes.

Graphic Design & Promotions: Designed multiple visual assets for promotional use, including posters, half sheets, and playtest flyers. Each version was tailored to different phases of development to effectively communicate the game's theme and attract player interest.

Color Directions & Photo Kit bash

Environmental Art: Developed art direction guidelines to support the environment artists, focusing on overall color schemes and lighting to ensure visual consistency across scenes.

Level Designs: Provided color palette guidance for level designers to help establish clear visual cues, define distinct areas, and enhance player navigation. These references also streamlined collaboration and improved workflow efficiency.

Initial draft and initial version

Graphic Designs for promotional usage

Color direction for level design& Environmental lightings

Level Design map with color: Better visual guidance

Photo Kit-bash concept for Environment Artist

In-game Environment screen shots

3D Art

As part of the art pipeline, I created and implemented key 3D hero assets that aligned with our narrative tone and overall visual direction. These assets were carefully designed to match the style and scale of existing assets sourced from the Unity Asset Store, ensuring visual consistency across the environment.

The hero assets served as focal points during key gameplay moments and cutscenes, reinforcing story beats and worldbuilding. I collaborated closely with environment and level designers to integrate these models seamlessly into the game world. Additionally, I worked on optimizing materials and lighting within Unity to maintain performance and visual fidelity. This experience deepened my understanding of how custom 3D assets contribute to both storytelling and gameplay clarity within a cohesive art pipeline.

Game Design

Throughout this project, I had the opportunity to collaborate on design ideas and gameplay mechanics alongside our team during the 14-week production cycle. I contributed to aligning design decisions with the game’s narrative and visual direction, while also offering feedback during playtesting and QA sessions. In the early phases, regular design meetings allowed us to establish a cohesive game flow shaped by everyone's input. This experience deepened my understanding of game design and taught me the overall workflow and responsibilities of a designer within a collaborative team environment.

Game Beat Map

Initial Beat concept

Final Beat Map

Level Quest Design

Side Level Quest Design

Production

As the producer of our team, I was responsible for coordinating day-to-day development and ensuring clear communication across all disciplines. I organized and facilitated regular standup meetings, led sprint planning, and maintained task tracking to keep the team aligned and on schedule. I created and maintained our developer blog, documenting weekly progress and reflecting on our process and team growth.

Beyond internal management, I led our promotional efforts, organizing events such as Playtest Week, coordinating our participation in Playtest Day, and representing the team during the GCS Showcase Event at Carnegie Mellon’s main campus. I also handled the release pipeline, including pushing our final game build to Itch.io and preparing materials for public release.

Currently, I am reaching out to publishers and exploring the possibility of launching the game on Steam, as well as preparing submissions for student game competitions and festivals. This role gave me hands-on experience managing both the creative and logistical sides of game production, from development to release and promotion.