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Sonar

This game was created by 9 game designers (developers), 3 artists, and 2 sound designers from the University of California in Santa Cruz. In the beginning stages of the game, I was one of the lead game designers and helped flesh out many of the core ideas with two of the other lead game designers. As development started, I worked primarily as a Producer to keep the game on track and meet deadlines for each sprint of Agile Scrum. Toward the end of development, I worked closely with the artists to fine-tune the assets and designed all the levels, play-testing them continuously to make sure they were perfect.

Once the year was completed at UC Santa Cruz, we presented the game at the school’s Sammy’s Awards in 2012, receiving the Best Audio Award.

What is Sonar?

Sonar is a top-down 2D stealth horror game that relies on the player’s use of a microphone as a tool to aid them in navigating out of an underground research facility. The player plays as the blind protagonist, Kadyn, and speaks into their microphone to simulate echolocation. They use this to navigate through a maze of labs and office spaces to finally escape through the ground floor garage.

Besides simply navigating through the maze-like environment by making noise, players must move stealthily through the environment to safely pass by dangerous creatures that can possess them. To avoid these creatures without making sound, players can hear enemies through 3D sound and turn on radios to see them further away.

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