Overview
Overgrown! is a 2.5D Action RPG about plants and family set in an overgrown Natural History Museum. You play as Lily, an aspiring botanist who’s trying to find her father. This is the First ever SCAD project that combined 2 separate majors for a year long collaboration. as such by the end we had almost 100 people that contributed to the project! I was in charge of working on systems that made the environment Feel alive and real as well as creating some of the environments themselves. Watch the Gameplay Trailer here!
Modular Grass System
One of the first things that I Created for the project was the Modular Grass system we have for both level design and the environment teams.
Level designers wanted grass that could
-Could be scaled on mass
-Be tall or short
-affect Player speed
-Be cut down
-have Varied shapes
Level designers wanted grass that could
-Could be scaled on mass
-Be tall or short
-affect Player speed
-Be cut down
-have Varied shapes
All while The art team needed to be able to swap out the grass Textures to fit with different Exhibits
Next to this is a Video of each major stage of Grass From Alpha to Release
Next to this is a Video of each major stage of Grass From Alpha to Release
Level / Wing Transition
Alongside The Grass I was also Reworking the level transitions between each room Making them feel more natural to go through than just fade to black and teleport!
The System went through several iterations before we landed on something that I was happy with.
The first iteration had players stopping and slowly sliding forward since the door was a solid color. so first I created a fog Shader that allowed the player to actually move through the door and have it look more natural.
Next on the list was to make the movement less stiff so I created a new doorway blueprint that would take over your character and have her run into the fog using Unreal's AI navigation tools. I later found out that this code got reproposed for SUCK IT UP when you exit out of the elevator! Its super cool when you get to see something you made built on top of. Honestly its one of the reasons why I love collaboration in the game space.
Finally the camera! this was the most changed thing from development to the final release. The camera initially stayed the same as if you were to normally move into the room. this worked great for large doors like the Garden but we had clipping issues with smaller doors. So I got back to work and created a way to lower the camera and zoom in a bit so the camera watches her fade away
Finally I found the Design team wanted doors that could face Left and Right and obviously a camera pan wont work. I ended up working with another team member Chris (the goat and puzzlemaster) on reuse of his interaction camera component to add support for keeping the camera still while your character moved through the door.
Below is the final Blueprint of the door system in all its glory!
(components not included)
The first iteration had players stopping and slowly sliding forward since the door was a solid color. so first I created a fog Shader that allowed the player to actually move through the door and have it look more natural.
Next on the list was to make the movement less stiff so I created a new doorway blueprint that would take over your character and have her run into the fog using Unreal's AI navigation tools. I later found out that this code got reproposed for SUCK IT UP when you exit out of the elevator! Its super cool when you get to see something you made built on top of. Honestly its one of the reasons why I love collaboration in the game space.
Finally the camera! this was the most changed thing from development to the final release. The camera initially stayed the same as if you were to normally move into the room. this worked great for large doors like the Garden but we had clipping issues with smaller doors. So I got back to work and created a way to lower the camera and zoom in a bit so the camera watches her fade away
Finally I found the Design team wanted doors that could face Left and Right and obviously a camera pan wont work. I ended up working with another team member Chris (the goat and puzzlemaster) on reuse of his interaction camera component to add support for keeping the camera still while your character moved through the door.
Below is the final Blueprint of the door system in all its glory!
(components not included)
GDC
Our game ended up being featured at GDC 2025 At the Savannah College of Art and Design booth. By this point I started to move into set dressing and lighting. Here are the 2 zoology Rooms I Had set dressed and Lit for The Showcase Demo! as well as some Photos of the Booth
STEAM
Steam support is an integral part of any pc video game launch so obviously I was Advocating to have a depot up since the very first day I walked in. and while It was pushed back for a while, We finally got our hands on a App ID and did not put it to waste
I was In charge of putting a new Build of the game to Steam every single Sprint cycle. I also was responsible for The Store Screenshots, awards, and Spec Requirements. while Alejio handled all the Store page Writing and gifs
Another cool thing I was able to do was implement achievements This Reused Code from my other game Residual Christmas and really made the game feel more like a shipped Product
I was In charge of putting a new Build of the game to Steam every single Sprint cycle. I also was responsible for The Store Screenshots, awards, and Spec Requirements. while Alejio handled all the Store page Writing and gifs
Another cool thing I was able to do was implement achievements This Reused Code from my other game Residual Christmas and really made the game feel more like a shipped Product
SETDRESSING/LIGHTING
ASSETS
OTHER TECH
-Breakable Objects
-Checkpoint System
-Checkpoint System
POST LAUNCH SUPPORT
