Will McDonald

Synopsis

A short, first-person, narrative-driven game set inside a prison where the player must use all their tools to solve puzzles and overcome obstacles to escape. The main mechanic in the game is the baseball. The ball can be thrown (and recalled) at buttons to open doors, dropped near enemies to distract them or even electrified to kill drone guards. The game features short platforming parts along with stealth sections where the player has to evade ominous patrolling robots. The game is around 10 minutes in length.

Project info

Developer Will McDonald
Showcase year 2025
Programme Game Design and Production

What has been a highlight of your time at Abertay?

Dare Academy! The overall experience was so fun and insightful with the mentors coming in and giving us great advice while we continued development on our game, which we had brought into the competition from one of our 3rd year modules. In particular though, it would have to be when we went down to London for EGX/Comic Con. The experience of being stood amongst industry professionals and showcasing our game that we had all worked so hard on and were all so passionate about is something I will never forget.

What motivated you to develop/create this project?

I've always had a passion for first person games and it felt like the right fit for me going into planning my Honours project. While I wasn't always sure about the fine details of my project, I knew that Valves approach to creating these sorts of game would have a large influence over what I would create. I think you can see some big inspiration with some of the drone design, level design and overall atmosphere being very similar to the Half-Life franchise and especially the Portal series. I was also motivated to work with Unreal as I hadn't had much experience with visual scripting so that was another main focus for me going into development.

What are your hopes and future ambitions for after graduation?

Working in the industry for years to come, hopefully! I'd love to work on some of the biggest games in the industry and continue alongside extremely talented individuals like the ones I've had the pleasure of working with at Abertay.