Genre: First-person narrative walking simulator/experimental interactive fiction
An Individual Project. Built with UE5.6.
Weird Fishes
Weird Fishes is a playable monologue, consists of a series of experimental narrative level built in Unreal Engine 5. It serves as a psychological exploration of "potential" as a burden, framing the act of game creation—and life itself—as a series of irreversible paths that lead away from an idealized, unrendered dream toward a finished, imperfect reality.
A project initiated in CTIN544 at USC.
Key Features
Narrated first-person psychological exploration:
A voice-guided experience (Stanley Parable-style) about “potential,” using narration to frame meaning and tension, where the narrator functions as an anxious inner voice.
Space as the second narrator:
Level layout, sightlines, lighting, and sound reinforce or contradict the voice, turning traversal into interpretation.
Minimal mechanics, clear pacing:
Mechanics stay minimal so pacing, readability, and timed narration can carry the emotional arc from control to release.
Clear goals and guidance without cluttered UI, with iterative tuning of beats, escalation, and feedback.
Decisions & Progressions
Origin & Purpose
I started Weird Fishes as a first-person psychological exploration about “potential” — the uneasy gap between who you are now and who you could become. I wanted to make that theme playable through space: curiosity pulling you forward, hesitation slowing you down, and moments of clarity arriving through movement rather than exposition.
Design Thinking
I treated the environment as the main narrator. Instead of heavy dialogue, I focused on pacing, sightlines, and environmental cues to guide attention and mood. The core loop is: observe → approach → interpret → reframe. I iterated on how each area introduces a question, then answers it with a small shift in perception (lighting, framing, scale, or sound), so the player feels progression internally as well as physically.
Difficulties Encountered
Keeping the experience readable without explicit objectives.
Maintaining tension and direction in a low-mechanics walking format.
Avoiding “vague symbolism” that feels arbitrary.
Solutions
Add light “anchors” per area (a consistent visual motif + a clear interaction affordance) to reduce ambiguity.
Use a stronger escalation plan (each zone changes one variable: distance, visibility, sound clarity, interaction frequency).
Add micro-feedback (subtle audio stingers, camera/lighting confirmation) when the player makes the “right kind” of observation.
CREDITS
Music: “Reliquia” (sections) — Rosalía
AI: Used for 2D&3D-model generation, and for Blueprint tutorial assistance
Sound Effects :Various sound effects sourced from Freesound.
Assets: UE5 Nanite Foliage — Wheat Field
All third-party works remain the property of their respective creators and are used here for non-commercial purposes.