Ævi

Download

Download the latest build (0.2.3. Alpha) from Google Drive (2.65GB).

Development process

Read more about the development in my portfolio.

Game

Ævi is a 3D first-person game focused on exploration and decentralized “pull” narrative that takes place on a hypothetical island in Norway and lasts for 24 hours of game time.

At the start, you are introduced to a treasure hunt game prepared by two kids playing as pirates, Jakob and Sara, that involves clues scattered around the island and should eventually lead you to the pirate crew. You must explore your environment and use various spatial features to find clues and learn more about the context of the world, the children and their motivations. On your journey, you come across small "storytelling vignettes" that, if explored further, provide more context to the main story arch.

Tha game takes ~25 minutes to complete. 

Narrative 

The narrative revolves around the contrast between childhood and adulthood, escapism, and how different generations react to feeling like an outsider. It explores characters that are simple but humane and relatable. In doing so, the narrative aims to make players reflective of their own selves and their past.

Project goal

Ævi was developed as an Honour's thesis research project submitted for BA (Hons) Game Design and Production at Abertay University. The goal of the research was to investigate the role of spatial communication in incentivizing exploration and providing navigation, and propose a design approach to crafting non-linear spaces focused on these 2 aspects. 

The development took 4 months and was preceded by 3 months of context research and pre-production. It is unlikely that the development will continue unless any Environment artist and Sound designer would like to take over :) The game is free to download if anyone is interested in my uni work, no donations are accepted.

The project was created using multiple 3rd party assets, the complete list can be found here. 

System requirements

The game allows you to switch between Low, Medium, High, and Epic setting presets. Playing on High requires at least an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 3GB or equivalent, although at least 4GB of VRAM is recommended. 

DO NOT try to play the game on the High or Epic settings unless you have at least 3GB of VRAM - these presets were programmed to force high-resolution textures and do not catch exceptions. Running the game with low VRAM is likely to cause crashes. Use medium or low settings instead. Please note that these presets sometimes decide to choose the worst mip maps to save memory - this is a known bug. 

If you have a 1080 or equivalent, choose the highest settings :)