Manitou

The intent

With this " Manitou " project, I aimed to create an immersive narrative experience, using most of the tools and knowledge I picked up during my studies. My goal was to make everything myself, from code through the art and story to all the way to the music.
I chose the genre "visual novel" to accomplish my goal. This allowed me to focus on storytelling and art, while still trying my skills in coding and the technicalities of game development.

What is it about?

For the theme, I decided on something that piqued my interest at that time and still stands close to me to this day: native American mythology. Narrowing all the beliefs and superstitions down to the northern tribes, I took inspiration from a rite of passage ritual; the young tribe members have to find their Spirit animal in the Spirit world.
The game takes this journey to the realm of the Spirits and guides the player through it.

Main gameplay elements

I chose 3 mechanics to serve as the backbone of my game:

• Dialogues with options to choose from
  
• Visions with two possible solutions, that determine the ending
  
• Riddles that serve as obstacles

Dialogues:
The player engages in dialogues with various NPCs. These characters present problems, philosophies, and questions throughout the journey. The player can choose from 3 options to answer these characters.

Visions:
These Visions arrive as premade animatics, showing a segment of the main character's life. The events don't have a fixed solution, this is left up to the player. They have to choose from 2 scenarios, and this decision directly influences the ending of the whole game.

Riddles:
The player encounters riddles from time to time as a barrier they have to break through. They can't progress until they find the answer. If they really struggle, there is a Help option that gives some clues.

Endings

There are 2 main endings and 1 secret, that is harder to unlock.
The goal of the main character is to find their Spirit animal, a Guide, who will help them through their life. The endings are different spirits who take this upon themselves, based on the player's choices.
To reach one of the main ones, the player has to make the right choices when presented with a Vision. To unlock the secret one, they have to be careful with some dialogue options as well.

The game was created entirely in Hungarian.
Engine: Unity
Average playtime: 40 minutes