About
Be Water is a 3D platformer made in 9 months as a capstone project for the NYU Game Center by a team of 7.
I owned our game concept, gameplay design, visual direction, 3D art, and co-owned our level design.
The software I used included Unity, Maya (Modeling), Substance Painter, Visual Studio (C#), Google Docs, Google Slides, Jira, Trello, and GitHub Desktop.
Media
![Play as a teensy drop of water.](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/fba385ce-ec0a-4cd9-8075-b89865a9b8ce/6fdd6b8c-4a80-4c51-9ed9-34a6bef97213_rw_600.png?h=f09b97b9dc2dc8e64cc7a361c4d3026e)
Play as a teensy drop of water.
![Switch between solid, liquid, and gas to solve platforming puzzles.](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/fba385ce-ec0a-4cd9-8075-b89865a9b8ce/a21dabac-04af-4f04-83b3-8d556072bf86_rw_1920.png?h=79399c1060ecee66949c8a99008e0d68)
Switch between solid, liquid, and gas to solve platforming puzzles.
![Explore a vibrant kitchen countertop.](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/fba385ce-ec0a-4cd9-8075-b89865a9b8ce/f4929439-aee2-4156-855d-eee8ba4a0b5d_rw_1920.png?h=0b4ec7c3ab74022d283bbed13cec4c28)
Explore a vibrant kitchen countertop.
![Brave the sinister air vent.](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/fba385ce-ec0a-4cd9-8075-b89865a9b8ce/dbe1d4f7-6116-4beb-9e6e-db2fdbdd80e5_rw_1920.png?h=92096abdd3c53bcc2a8bef99a6c4becd)
Brave the sinister air vent.
Process
Be Water has always been more than just my team's capstone project—it was also a personal game concept I'd been sitting on since high school. And at the beginning of the semester, when I had the chance to pitch it to the team, you can bet I took it.
![Concept I used to pitch the game.](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/fba385ce-ec0a-4cd9-8075-b89865a9b8ce/43689fa3-b188-4b2b-8289-709594e567ae_rw_600.png?h=495a8c1abcc8738ee002433d558edaf1)
Concept I used to pitch the game.
![Screenshot from our final build!](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/fba385ce-ec0a-4cd9-8075-b89865a9b8ce/054415f4-c57e-4c63-9f59-0f72e863bc51_rw_600.png?h=1933ff67cd8bee202cb8b160559e22f9)
Screenshot from our final build!
From the start we wanted the game to take place on a kitchen countertop, we just needed to find the right inspiration.
After scouring listings on Zillow, the team really liked this elongated, U-shaped kitchen we kept seeing. It can be hard to tell in-game, but from above the inspiration becomes clear.
![One of the references we used.](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/fba385ce-ec0a-4cd9-8075-b89865a9b8ce/43c64f44-5b51-426c-9807-fddbd3621dd4_rw_600.jpg?h=a804b1fc3c21ca17c344caef56b6c55f)
One of the references we used.
![Aerial view of the kitchen in-game.](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/fba385ce-ec0a-4cd9-8075-b89865a9b8ce/b6d8faf3-baa4-4bd3-bf2b-7ce00e0a06ca_rw_600.png?h=38496f8cf2488a773e8b6930d0a5a47c)
Aerial view of the kitchen in-game.
Despite the look of the screenshots so far, we had actually planned for an entirely photorealistic direction early on. I even modeled the kitchen sink in a realistic style!
![The old kitchen sink, rendered in Substance Painter.](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/fba385ce-ec0a-4cd9-8075-b89865a9b8ce/02de866e-e76a-4882-8c93-2729197d7e9c_rw_1920.jpg?h=6f5a607c6f6614af1fa466a526e1805c)
The old kitchen sink, rendered in Substance Painter.
But while we all loved the look of our kitchen countertop, I was still working on translating the idea of "being water" into game mechanics. It was one of the more unexplored aspects of my original pitch (ironic, right?), so a lot of my early ideation was spent exploring potential abilities for our playable droplet.
![A silly concept for squeezing through tight spaces.](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/fba385ce-ec0a-4cd9-8075-b89865a9b8ce/4446a217-53fd-4f2f-98f2-a23a31991ed7_rw_600.png?h=37bca69b7ff3664969a17dc304f4efd9)
A silly concept for squeezing through tight spaces.
![Big fan of diegetic indicators.](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/fba385ce-ec0a-4cd9-8075-b89865a9b8ce/89f2f259-3e3d-4562-bf98-882ec2eafa0e_rw_600.png?h=def9e0b6cb049016fd86b5dfdedf3871)
Big fan of diegetic indicators.
But none of my designs were sticking. It wasn't until we had a big group-wide ideation session that I finally found a concept the team liked: what if the droplet could turn into steam?
![My initial concept for turning into steam.](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/fba385ce-ec0a-4cd9-8075-b89865a9b8ce/c22104b4-5cb8-4a81-a898-4a2ee8b3cf7d_rw_600.png?h=bf79f612edb3da6810d96a341db82428)
My initial concept for turning into steam.
![How is the player's jump affected?](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/fba385ce-ec0a-4cd9-8075-b89865a9b8ce/dde83a98-9aaa-4f2b-8ed2-2d24340f2400_rw_1200.png?h=8cf3dbfab5088e74393304b442b7b185)
How is the player's jump affected?
After some prototyping and further noodling, we decided to expand on the ability to turn into steam by including ice, creating a sold-liquid-gas style state-changing mechanic.
![The three (sorry plasma) states of the matter.](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/fba385ce-ec0a-4cd9-8075-b89865a9b8ce/8311f876-308e-438a-b49e-fa8958b66183_rw_600.gif?h=d090367b3911e2d2ed04a9185ca643f1)
The three (sorry plasma) states of the matter.
Once gameplay started getting locked in, I refocused my attention to 3D modeling. As the only 3D artist on the team, it was my job to model each and every asset we needed—including the apartment itself.
![The apartment in all its glory.](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/fba385ce-ec0a-4cd9-8075-b89865a9b8ce/52c212eb-6ab9-476a-80da-fc51ed2d22e8_rw_600.gif?h=4b400c2e16c1600ac40a5d18097b82bb)
The apartment in all its glory.
You can download Be Water on itch.io.
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