Abort: The Exile
2024 Silver Winner at the MUSE Creative Awards
Overview
Abort: The Exile is a 3D horror adventure game that takes you to the early 2000s in China, where you'll unravel the unsettling mysteries of the Zhang family.
Blending environmental puzzles, non-combat stealth, and nerve-wracking QTEs, the game twists family trauma into an unsettling journey that echoes the silenced struggles of women through the shadows of Chinese folklore.
The Story
Debao, the long awaited only son of the Zhang family, returns to the ancestral estate for his thirteenth birthday. Strange whispers wake him in the night and lead him into a place where spirits linger. As he walks through the dark halls, he uncovers the family’s hidden past and the forgotten lives of the two sisters he never met.
What did I do
As the lead game designer, I created the core interaction loop and narrative-driven puzzle structure. I co-led an 8 person design team, authored the Game Design Documents, Testing Plan, and cross-department Feedback Packets for Art, Programming, and Audio.
I also consolidated team ideas into cohesive quest flow and level design.
Key Mechanics
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Movement - walk, run, crouch
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Interact - collect, use, QTE (environmental enemy), inspection
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Save/load
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Camera
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Diary
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Backpack Inventory
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Enemy
Camera
Players use the mystical camera to expose haunted artifacts.
The red light flashes faster as you get closer to the object, and the viewfinder in the center turns green when you’re facing it.
Scale Puzzle
On the main hall table sits an old scale. One side is forced down by a heavy gold ingot, the bride price that persuaded the Zhang family to trade their daughter away.
To bring the scale back to balance, the player must use camera to search the hall for three hidden objects that hold the last traces of the sister, Ruonan's life.
I took account for all of the possible interactions and edge cases for this puzzle.
Tracing Puzzle
This tracing prototype places players in the perspective of Ruonan the sister, who secretly practices calligraphy, hoping to enter a competition. Despite her parent's belief that girls shouldn’t waste time studying, writing becomes her act of resistance.
The design goal is to let players feel her determination and vulnerability through the mechanics:
each stroke must begin carefully, follow the proper order, and stay within gentle boundaries that reflect the pressure she lives under.
I made a diagram to validate logic, and further communicate the inputs and the feedbacks.
Level Design
