Mind Within (10/24-05/25)

This is a Single-player 3d Psychological Thriller puzzle platformer game.

Releasing on Steam May 2025!

Base concept: A young girl is kidnapped and creates a fantasy world in order to help her cope while trying to escape the house she is being kept in. The world constantly switches between reality and fantasy where the player must solve puzzles in order to progress to the next level.

This project would not be possible without the contributions of Team Vortex Game Designers--Vedang Chauhan, Francisco Fortanet-Vasquez, myself--and the Vortex Media team--Simran Joshi, Halima Awan, Vaishakh Gopakumar Nair.

Vortex Youtube Channel: Here

Vortex Instagram: Here

Trello Board link: unable to share link as I have signed an NDA

Steam Link: Here

Playtesting videos: Here

My Contributions :

As Game Designer, Lead Level Designer, Puzzle Designer, and Narrative designer I have an integral role in the design and development of Mind Within. I have contributed to new player mechanics which have since been implemented in-game that has impacted the amount of perceived control the player has over the outcome of the game. The game will have six total levels split into two phases per level so it is essentially twelve levels. Each level has a puzzle that must be solved in order to progress to the next phase or level and a new mechanic is introduced in each Reality level of the game to slowly allow the players to become comfortable with the mechanics already presented while adjusting and becoming comfortable with the new mechanic being introduced.

As a puzzle designer I like to implement that require the player to actively use critical thinking in order to solve the puzzle and as a game designer it is important to also guide the player to certain areas or hints to the solutions. I aim to have variation among the puzzles in each level but to a comprehendible degree as the puzzles presented in the game build off of the previous with variations. This is not only to maintain player interest in the game but to give the player a sense of accomplishment while maintaining a Flow state. Once a new mechanic is introduced it expands the possibilities for puzzle work which is another contributing factor to the increasingly difficult puzzles.

Most of my narrative design work is presented through in-game dialogue and player relationship to objects within the game. This can be characterized as creating the personality of the player while expressing her emotions which gives the player insider information into the emotional state of the character they are playing as. I have also drawn assets that contribute not only to player mechanics, hints foreshadowing upcoming puzzles, as well as scene change screens that depict the little girl's thoughts while switching between reality and fantasy levels. I also stream the level design development on Vortex's Youtube channel.