REN QINXIN's Metaverse
'Classic of Mountains and Seas' -
the depth of clouds
1 Brief Intro
Shanhaijing is a 2D side-scrolling two-player cooperative adventure game. The two protagonists meet through a timeline several centuries apart and join forces to seal the four divine beasts. In the game, players use time differences with each other and the scrolls to decipher the game and cooperate to defeat the monsters and seal them back to Shanhaijing.
Demo:
Project Deliverable
PC Game
Game Design
2D Design
Timeline
Mar 2022
2 month
Tools Used
Unity
Shader Tool
Team
Programmer: Xiaoyue Ma, Yufei Zheng, Yifeng Dong, Qinxin Ren (Me)
Artist: Yuran Guo, Yiyang Zhou
Game designer: Qinxin Ren (me)
Sound: Xiaoyue Ma
My Contributions
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Designed and implemented the decryption levels and the storyline of the game depending on the game mechanics.
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Communicated with programmers and artists in the team to design the UI interface.
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Adjusted the lighting settings and rendering pipeline for better visual effects.
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Be responsible for the boss model design based on the reference to four divine beasts in ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas’.
2 Character Design
Main Characters Background Design
Character in this life
The protagonist of this life is just an ordinary person, working in a cubicle, like other countless office workers. At the end of 2019, his company was in poor business condition and could not support bankruptcy due to the epidemic. He lost his job and then travelled to Tibet to relax. When visiting an uninhabited area, he was chased by an unknown beast, he had no choice but to hide in rubble composed of rocks. In the darkness and fear, a sense of familiarity slowly emerges from the depths of his soul. He had a splitting headache and dark vision. When he woke up, he found a colourful film in front of himself.
Character in the past
His family had been friends with 'Baize' for generations, living in Kunlun. Under the guidance of 'Baize', they dealt with the world of ghosts and spirits and human conflict, and also became able to communicate with ghosts. They were mainly responsible for taming ghosts and demons and teaching people how to ward off evil spirits when they encountered evil spirits. The family could transform the spirits that exist in the mountains and seas into their own "chi", and thus achieve the magic power.
Monster Design
Guo
Shan
Join the
Program
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Description based on 'Classic of Mountains and Seas':
“its shape is like that of a bee, and it is as big as a mandarin duck”
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Mechanics in this game
It is summoned from a void hole and rushes towards the player, who needs to use magic stones to destroy or avoid it.
Demo
Join the
Program
Qing
Yuan
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Description based on 'Classic of Mountains and Seas':
“its birds are full of fables, resembling rats with bird’s wings, and its sound is like that of a sheep, which can defend the army.”
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Mechanics in this game
Shake down stalagmites in the cave by screaming to attack the player. Players need to use light to destroy it.
Demo
Boss Design
Taowu
Tao wu is one of the four divine monsters in the book, it is the beast guards the west. It is like a tiger and long hair dog. The face resembles a person, the legs resemble a tiger, the long mouth resembles a boar's fangs, the tail resembles Zhang’s eight feet. It has the superpower in shaking the mountain in this game.
Taotie
Tao tie is one of the four divine monsters in the book, symbolizes greed. It was shaped like a sheep with a human face, eyes under its arms, tiger teeth and huamn hands.It has the superpower in manipulating time and space in this game.
Qiongqi
Qiongqi is one of the four divine monsters in the book. It is the size of an ox, looks like a tiger, wears the fur of a hedgehog, and has wings. Qiongqi's bark is like a dog, and he eats people for living. It has the superpower in swallowing fire in this game.
Hundun
Chaos, also known as Hun Dun, is one of the four divine monsters in the book,. His appearance is like a dog, but much bigger than a dog. The hair on the body is long; It had four feet like a bear but no claws and could not move; Have eyes, but cannot see; They have ears, but they cannot hear; An abdomen, but no viscera. It has the superpower in turning around the world in this game.
3 Decryption Design
Match cards demo
In this part, players need to flip and match the corresponding cards in their scene. The players need to jump on the stage to flip the cards. If wrongly matched cards are flipped, the cards will flip to the original position automatically. The card images are based on the book 'Classic Mountains and Seas'.
Mirror demo
In this part, players need to flip the mirrors' angle, the light and the roller's position to let the light shoot to the destination. The direction of light reverts when going through the roller. Players should also be careful not to touch the water.
Sketch
This is a sketch of the decryption. The players need to cooperate to decipher.
4 Design Details
One page Design Doc
Game Mechanics
This game is combined of both puzzle and action adventure. Due to the game's mechanics, the two players are placed in different time and space, separated by the scroll in the center of the game screen, and can not interact with each other directly. However, the scroll can be moved to a certain extent (1/3 of the game screen), and players can also collect game props to open the time travel portal to the other player's space for a short time. Players can collect game props by pushing scrolls and traveling through time, then use the pros to cooperatively defeat the bosses of each level.