THIS PAGE IS WIP : Saudade is our master second year project. We're still working on it as I'm writing those words, so everything here is work in progress !
The pitch
Link to my initial pitch for the administration.
The story of Saudade was heavily inspired by my grandfather's life. He grew up in Portugal, but had to come to France at the age of 17. That's also where the name of the game "Saudade" comes from. It's a portuguese word that's not easily translated in french but means something along the lines of : "Deep nostalgic longing for someone or something absent, infused with a melancholic awareness that it may never return".
This story is about having to leave your own country and miss it from afar. But it's also about paving your own way, tracing your path - just like the player will do during the game - and missing home / thinking about what home is to you.
Actual game
The team decided to lean into this direction and actually make the game take place in Portugal. There was a heavy research work done on the post Second World War period (during which Portugal was under a dictatorship).
So the game is actually about Ernestina, an old lady who returns to her childhood memories in Portugal. Each memory is a loop that lasts a few minutes during which the player will re-explore Ernestina's past and her native country. They will need to interact and modify the environment to make their next loop more efficient. "Awaken buried moments, nostalgic emotions, and forgotten secrets to find the person you were".
Our first presentation of the project :
Prototype
For now we are at this state of the game :
VIDEO MISSING
3D Grid tool
Since we are building a game that's mainly relying on a 3D grid for it's level design, we decided that a tool for 3D grid edition would be needed. There are a few already on the asset store but you have to pay for most of them.
I love making tools for the team, so this was a great occasion to make something more complete. I mainly worked with the level designer of the project.
Explanation incoming (editor window).
Level system
Explanation incoming. Level loader and spawn.
Save system
Explanation incoming. We have to save the player modifications to the environment.
We've been working for a few weeks on Saudade, our 2nd year project at @Cnam_Enjmin !
— Alvina (@alvina_dr_) November 20, 2024
The game relies on a time loop, similar to Minit. Below an example of what a path improvement could look like with only 10s.
I've started writing a page on my portfolio, link in my bio :) pic.twitter.com/WPLeQY8FoS