Lumini

Lumini was a two year project that we started during our time at college.

It’s a relaxing flow adventure game in which you control a swarm of creatures called Lumini. It’s the players job to navigate them safely through their journey to safe their homeplanet and restore balance to the world. The game relies heavily on environmental storytelling through emotions and events. Lumini is an emotional, relaxing and immersive experience that lasts about two hours and is available on Steam for PC/Mac and Linux.

Lumini was/is nominated for several international competition.

– Nominated for best student art direction at the Dutch game awards 2014
– Finalist at the first annual Momocon indie award showcase 2015
– Nominated for excellence in audio at IGF 2016

– Nominated for Best emotional music at the Emotional videogame awards 2016

For this project I was the lead designer and marketing director.
My task was to keep the gameplay, art and audio in harmony with eachother to create a wholesome experience that conveyed emotion and a sense of relaxation, without losing the core elements that would make it a game.

I extensively tested the game for it’s user experience and incorperated feedback from these playtest in to design elements fitting for the game. I designed the level lay-outs, puzzle elements and was part of the decision making regarding the pacing of exposition elements in the game.

I did research on how to communicate a game mechanic involving the use of bi-dextrous control of the player with the aim to minimize confusion for the gamer.
By looking in to the workings of the two brainhalves during audiovisual tasks and how to influence these workings.

When needed I also worked on the composition of the world in cooperation with the art direction.

I was also responsible for the marketing and communication of the game. I wrote pressreleases with the goal to communicate the strong points of the game to local (Netherlands) and international press. I handled social media communication through Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and several development communities. Keeping people up to date about the development and news regarding Lumini. While also answering questions about the game and several subjects regarding the development. I did several interviews for websites and TV and did a few guestlectures about ‘developing a game while still attending school’.

I attended several events, showcasing Lumini (Gamecom, Momocon, Indigo, Firstlook, etc).