Momentum

Momentum is a first-person parkour runner designed to be a kinaesthetic experience. This is a solo project. I chose the experience as a reference to Miles Morales from Into The Spider-Verse, who takes the 'leap of faith' from a building, which gives him a sense of fear, transformation, and freedom. The goal of this experience is to mimic that feeling and inject it into a less than a minute prototype.

To create a sense of fear, I made the Main Menu establish the course of the run, understanding that the player needs to make his way through to the highest building provided by a linear path and neon signs that guide him. To feel the sense of momentum, the emotional weight, the player can hear his surroundings of the city, feel the air, and the wind going against him. The music also creates a tone of determination and willingness to overcome his fears. When the player jumps off the highest building, the transformation and freedom are projected by a spectacular change in visuals using post-processing like chromatic aberration, bloom, and field-of-view change.

In retrospect, creating a kinaesthetic experience has taught me that game controls, atmosphere, timing, audio, and the emotional weight of the level impact immersion.