Souls of the Wind

Souls of the Wind is a unique puzzle-based platformer set in a magical world that lives in balance with the four winds. But one day, the winds suddenly stop blowing - and you're the only one who can figure out why. Using your inborn powers to control the wind, you must save the Four Guardians who maintain the balance from an unknown corruption that creeps across the land before it is too late. Learn more about the game here.

Release Year: 2021 // Platforms: PC

Contributions as a Producer and Game Designer

As the sole producer of this project, I saw this project through from concepting to shipping over the course of 10 months. Along with managing the sprint and product backlogs, onboarding new team members and collaborating on marketing efforts, I was also actively involved in deciding the direction and mechanics of the game. The game not only went on to have more than 20,000 downloads on Steam but was also a part of the Fall 2021 Student Showcase by Unreal Engine.

The game was developed entirely remotely due to COVID-19 and survived several rounds of cuts and prototypes to become one of the five games produced by the graduating Cohort of 2021 from the University of Utah.

Producer

  • Created the sprint plans, maintained Jira boards, and drove stand-up and retrospective meetings
  • Planned and managed sprints, product and sprint backlogs through task tracking in Jira leading to periodic quality checks and bug-free builds
  • Ensured collaboration between 17 artists, technical artists and engineers by promoting transparent communication through Jira tickets and charts (Gantt and Burndown)
  • Technology: Jira, Confluence, Excel and Google Suite
  • Ran extensive QA sessions within and outside the cohort leading to consistent feedback and iteration
  • Maintained the week-to-week planning through reports making sure progress over time was documented and presented to relevant personnel
  • Collaborated in a small strike team with a marketing specialist outside the cohort to drive marketing efforts leading to the game being part of "New and Trending" on Steam

Game Designer

  • Ideated the world concept, game mechanics, and core gameplay loop at the nascent stage of the game with 4 other core members
  • Programmed prototype mechanics and test levels in Unreal Engine through Blueprints to get a "feel" of the flow and usability of the design
  • Technology: Unreal Engine and Maya
  • Created custom hero assets - the windmill and the town square fountain in Maya which were textured by team members for the final look
  • Actively involved in the decisions leading to the area design, asset requirement, boss mechanic and the Steam achievement system

Screenshots and Other Media