You have been left home alone on a Saturday morning by your single working mother. She has breakfast and lunch all set up for you, all you have to do is eat, finish your homework, and don’t make a mess. You can do that right?

CONCEPT

Kitchen Disaster is a first person interaction game where the player inhabits a thirteen year-old who has been left home alone. The Game functions primarily through gaze mechanics. When the player looks at the interactive objects they can read or use the various items. This gives them information about where they are, the life they lead, and hopefully how to properly use the hydrophyer. Then again, most 13 year-olds can’t cook, even if it is the future.

Built in Unreal Engine 5 with a three person team. I worked on the narrative game design, interaction design, sound design, and blueprint support.

GAME MECHANICS

Controls:
Mouse for Look, Gaze
Mouse Scroll for Zoom In and Out
WASD for movement
or
Arrow keys for movement
“E” key for interactions (“E” for examine)

Setting: Futurist Home, 31st century.
First Person Character: Age 13
Low Poly Art Style

Gameplay

The Player will attempt to make breakfast, finish their homework, and not make a mess, but with no idea how to cook it’s more than likely that this is going to be a disaster.

LEVEL DESIGN, IDEATION SKETCHES

INTERACTION DESIGN

The interactions are primarily to provide backstory to the character the player is inhabiting, and provides information that has varying usefulness.

Interactions are centered around buttons that can be pressed, and information that can be read. The interactions are triggered by a raycasting and gaze blueprint which will prompt the player to press “E” to read the item, or push a button. Each item for the interactions was made in Photoshop and imported as a texture.

Examples:

Interaction Planning:
Item: Paper on Thermogenics
Job: Homework, shows that this is a future setting and briefly talks about the future technology.

Interaction Planning:
Item: Tree Book
Job: This is the cover of a book that the character uses for school(it will be placed over one of Ekin’s existing book models.)
Location: Bedroom desk

Interaction Planning:
Item: Secret Letter
Job: Makes the setting of the future more interesting, what does the letter say? What does the crest mean? These are things that make it seem more interesting.
Location: Beside mom’s notepad on living room table
Easter Egg: Real morse code that can be decoded to reveal more about the world and the mother’s occupation.

Troubleshooting

– Redesigned the Panel to allow button animation


– Changed from Unreal Lighting to Light Maps in Maya


– When the Unreal Gods Abandoned Us and We Prevailed with a 2T Drive

NEXT STEPS

The game is playable and is currently being optimized so it can run on online servers. Possible platforms are itch.io, or our individual portfolio sites.