Facing My Demons: Designing 7 Sins
7 Sins: The Unborn Project
A deep dive into a psychological horror game that never saw the light—yet shaped my growth as a game designer and narrative thinker.
🧠 Overview
*7 Sins* was conceived as a narrative-driven survival horror game exploring the embodiment of the seven deadly sins. Although never finished, it represents a major creative milestone. This post-mortem outlines the vision and the work done across design, storytelling, and team collaboration.
📖 Narrative Design & Vision
I designed a structure where each chapter focused on a single sin, experienced through a traumatic memory. The world was stylized, symbolic, and heavy with meaning. Key narrative goals included:
- - Emotional resonance over shock horror
- - Environments tied to the protagonist's psyche
- - Visual storytelling over dialogue
## 🎮 Core Gameplay Idea
At the heart of the experience was the **light/darkness mechanic**, used both as a gameplay constraint and a metaphor:
- - Light = safety. Darkness = danger.
- - Puzzles and actions changed the amount of available light.
- - Sacred and profane objects altered the environment.
- - Every level had multiple solutions, some more “sinful” than others.
## 🧩 My Role & Team Coordination
While leading the project, I took charge of both the creative and structural design:
- - Crafted level structures and interactive logic
- - Guided animators, 3D artists, set dressers, and writers
- - Developed the moodboard and narrative bible
- - Aligned story and gameplay across departments
This was not just about *making a game*, but about creating a system where theme and interactivity served each other.
## 🎨 Screenshots / Concepts
## 📚 What I Learned
While the game remains unfinished, I gained critical experience in:
- - Designing narrative systems with emotional weight
- - Balancing symbolic meaning and gameplay clarity
- - Managing a small, multi-disciplinary team
- - Prototyping meaningful mechanics from abstract concepts
🔗 Related
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