A solo horror prototype
I designed and developed El Snowman in Unreal Engine 4 as a second-year final assignment. It is a first-person horror adventure set inside a house, where the player solves puzzles and tries to activate the central heating before an enemy catches them.
My contribution
I handled the project’s design and development as a solo student creator. The prototype includes interaction, a flashlight, sprinting, hiding, and vaulting alongside its puzzle and pursuit loop.
The project uses third-party environment and prop assets. The original itch.io page contains asset credits; my role here is design and development, not authorship of every visual asset.
Designing the pursuit
I designed the house around a collection-and-return loop: the player searches for fuel and brings it back to the boiler while avoiding the Snowman. Moving between floors brings the player back through previously explored spaces under the threat of pursuit.
Narrow corridors and limited flashlight visibility were intended to create tension. Collecting supplies, managing the flashlight battery, and finding opportunities to hide give the player competing priorities while navigating the house.
