Game Designer, Story Writing, Cenimatics
PC
1
Ongoing
Genesis: The Forbidden Fruit
Genesis: The Forbidden Fruit is an ongoing personal passion project focused on narrative design, cinematic direction, and exploring how games can communicate meaning through mechanics rather than exposition. It is not a commercial project, but a long-term experimental space where I iterate on storytelling systems, symbolic gameplay, and cinematic presentation.
Overview
Research Focus & Narrative Design Exploration:
This project is a research-driven exploration of narrative design in games versus traditional storytelling methods.
Key areas of focus include:
• Character development and thematic structuring
• Emotional storytelling through gameplay systems
• Cinematic language in interactive media
• How mechanics can communicate meaning instead of relying solely on dialogue or cutscenes
The goal is to design experiences where players do not simply follow a story, but experience meaning through interaction — often realizing the emotional or thematic significance only after reflection.
Project Status:
The story is currently ~20% complete, with approximately 10 chapters written so far. It remains an active work in progress, continuing to evolve through ongoing research and iteration.
Technical Break Down
Contributions
Cinematic Storytelling & Visual Direction:
As part of this project, I created a cinematic trailer as a focused case study in visual storytelling.
This involved exploring:
• Cinematic composition and framing language
• Camera movement and shot structure
• Color theory for emotional and thematic direction
• Lighting design for mood and narrative contrast
Tools Used:
• Unreal Engine 5 for rendering and scene creation
• DaVinci Resolve for post-production and color grading
This process helped deepen my understanding of how cinematic direction in real-time engines can reinforce narrative meaning without relying on dialogue.
Character Creation & 3D Workflow Exploration:
Used DAZ 3D to study character creation and explore realistic skin rendering techniques.
Experimented with importing assets into Blender and optimizing them for game-ready pipelines.
Learned and applied core fundamentals of:
• Character creation workflows
• Character rigging
• Character posing and animation setup
This process helped build a practical understanding of how high-fidelity characters are prepared, adapted, and optimized for real-time game engines.
Emotional & Systemic Narrative Design:
A major focus of the project is designing gameplay around emotional and psychological themes expressed through systems rather than direct exposition.
Key themes explored include:
• Addiction vs control
• Loyalty vs betrayal
• Friendship vs dependency
• Paranoia vs trust
• Identity vs self-deception
These themes are not presented explicitly, but embedded into gameplay systems so players experience them through interaction, consequence, and emergent behavior.
A core design direction is consequence-driven gameplay, where short-term player actions can lead to longer-term structural changes in the game state. This creates tradeoffs where immediate rewards may introduce future disadvantages, encouraging players to learn through experience rather than instruction.
The goal is to create experiences where meaning is not simply explained, but discovered organically through play and reflection.
Interactive Narrative Research & Story Structure:
Through this project, I have been studying and experimenting with the differences between traditional storytelling and interactive narrative design.
Key areas of research include:
• Structural frameworks such as the Three-Act Structure and The Hero’s Journey
• How to embed narrative meaning directly into gameplay systems
• How player agency affects pacing, tension, and emotional delivery
• How mechanics can function as metaphor rather than simple interaction
The project focuses on designing stories that are played rather than told, where meaning emerges through player interaction and systemic design.
Mythological & Symbolic Research:
A significant part of this project involves research into historical mythological and symbolic systems as inspiration for game design.
This includes:
• Comparative study of mythological and symbolic traditions across cultures
• Focus on historical Arabian mysticism and broader archetypal systems
• Study of how cultures encode meaning through symbols and structured belief systems
• Research into systems such as grimoires and magic squares as examples of structured symbolic logic
This research is not used literally, but instead serves as inspiration for:
• Metaphor-driven gameplay mechanics
• Thematic worldbuilding
• Symbolic systems that reinforce narrative structure
Mythological & Symbolic Research:
A significant part of this project involves research into historical mythological and symbolic systems as inspiration for game design.
This includes:
• Comparative study of mythological and symbolic traditions across cultures
• Focus on historical Arabian mysticism and broader archetypal systems
• Study of how cultures encode meaning through symbols and structured belief systems
• Research into systems such as grimoires and magic squares as examples of structured symbolic logic
This research is not used literally, but instead serves as inspiration for:
• Metaphor-driven gameplay mechanics
• Thematic worldbuilding
• Symbolic systems that reinforce narrative structure
Key REsults
Key Learnings & Outcomes:
• Learned how to structure interactive narratives around themes rather than plot alone
• Developed an understanding of symbolic and metaphor-driven game design
• Explored emotional storytelling through mechanics instead of exposition
• Gained experience with cinematic composition in Unreal Engine 5
• Improved understanding of how lighting, camera, and color grading influence emotional tone
• Built systems for translating abstract research into structured game design references
• Strengthened ability to design narrative-driven gameplay systems with thematic consistency
Tech Stack
Technical & Creative Skills:
• Unreal Engine 5
• DaVinci Resolve
• Narrative Design (interactive & systemic storytelling)
• Cinematic Design (composition, lighting, camera work)
• Symbolic / Thematic Game Design
• Game Design Theory (structure, pacing, emotional systems)