1) Tell us about the submission challenge you completed when you registered for DAU. What did you learn from the experience?
On the theme "The more you have, the worse it is", I developed the game Miss Neville: a 2D top-down horror game inspired by the occult and the paranormal. You play a detective investigating the mysterious disappearance of a noble English family, the Nevilles, in their mansion now cursed by the population.
The game is centered around solving various puzzles which will allow the player to get ever closer to the truth and which will unlock new narrative and gameplay elements. Thus, the more the player progresses in the game, and the more the scenario will be strange, the more the paranormal events will intensify and the more the puzzles will be challenging!
2) What has this mentoring program brought you?
This program helped me develop both my programming and soft skills!
My goal was to improve my C++ skills by going beyond what I was used to and develop a fairly complete game from start to finish, adding a whole bunch of varied features (inventory, puzzles, NPC, dialogues, VFX, SFX, …). But the programming is not the only point where I improved: all the work in Game Design allowed me to create a coherent universe with a monochrome artistic direction to immerse the player in an atmosphere as creepy as it is rhythmic. It's also a lot of work that made me aware of the time and practical constraints of not seeing too big in my case!
I also improved on reporting on my progress: I had a weekly meeting with my mentor where I explained what I had done and for what purposes, as well as future features that I wanted to integrate into the game so that we could brainstorm and decided which were the best solutions.
Finally, being able to present and do a live demo of my game in front of professionals in a Ubisoft studio was a great opportunity for me to have an impactful experience in the video games industry, and I got to improve from the feedback I received throughout the program..
3) What would you like to say to people who would like to take part in the next edition?
Go for it! The game is well worth the effort: it is the opportunity to be supervised by caring and committed professionals who will guide you and share their experiences in the video game sector. This is also an opportunity for you to express your creativity by developing the game that suits you and to set goals to achieve. The feedback that the supervisors will give you is valuable and useful to improve the game obviously, but also to improve yourself on a personal level! Finally, keep in mind that regardless of your level, you advance at your own pace, however chill, to (re)discover video game development!