Something’s off
Can you find all Anomalies?
This project was made in 4 weeks with a team of 6.
Something’s Off is a spot the difference game where you work as a house broker. At night, subtle changes appear in the properties, and your job is to document them by comparing daytime photos to the current state.
Created during a four week Unreal Engine project with a team of six, this slice strengthened my skills in level design, pacing, and environmental storytelling.
My work included creating two playable levels and a tutorial, shaping believable spaces, decorating environments, building visual scripting systems such as the shop transition, adding interactive secrets, gathering assets, and producing the trailer.
This project let me blend gameplay, story, and environmental design while sharpening my Unreal Engine abilities.
Here is some gameplay!
My work
I was one of four game designers on a six person team working with two programmers. My focus was level design, content creation, and helping shape the overall structure of the game.
I planned and built the main level layout, guiding players through the environment in a clear and intuitive way. I also created several anomalies, using environmental storytelling and small gameplay twists to keep the experience fresh.
I contributed heavily to the Game Design Document. With no dedicated artists on the team, defining goals and features early was essential. I also wrote the main premise and setting, which helped us lock down the game loop and direction.
Across the project I designed four levels, decorating two of them and filling them with gameplay content. The main level includes around one hundred anomalies for players to find. Two I created were a physics based coin that produces a perfect flip sound for nearby players and a lamp that signals a morse code message as a small joke referencing our producer.
I added subtle easter eggs as well. During shop menu transitions, the camera passes an office where minor details have a small chance to change each time.
I created all in game sounds, sourcing clean audio and editing it to fit the experience. I also produced the game trailer using tools in the engine and external editing software. Finally, I helped test and balance the game to ensure smooth pacing across all levels.
Here are some beauty shots from the final level
Here is a short video showcasing the prototype level.
This is the morse code lamp i created in blueprints
Level design
My goal for the level design was to create believable apartments. Since we had no 3D or VFX artists, I pushed early for a low poly style that gave the game a clean, cartoony look.
I began each level with a paper sketch to set room sizes. After a quick team review, I built the blockout directly in Unreal. I used a standard Unreal character for consistent scale and placed door frames as actors to keep measurements accurate. This also let me test travel distance between rooms so the game never felt slow.
Blockouts came together quickly and became playable with only light polish. Midway through development we cut our largest level. The blockout was done, but adding the same level of detail as the main level would have taken too long. After that I focused on polishing the main level and replaced reference objects with purchased assets that fit the project.
Getting scale right stayed important, so I compared furniture and objects to real dimensions. The low poly style allowed small exaggerations without breaking the look.
As the level took shape, I added environmental storytelling. I designed an apartment for a couple and placed hints of a darker story through subtle changes as the player explored. I did not get time to decorate the second level but would have used the same narrative approach.
One small easter egg came from my old student apartment in Skelleftea. The tutorial level is a simplified version of that room. It gave players a small space to learn the mechanics while adding a personal touch that matched our available assets surprisingly well.
This was the original sketch for what would be the layout
Challenges
TThis project came with several challenges, but our small team communicated well and solved problems together. Working without artists or VFX specialists meant I had to make early calls on the low poly look, scale, and readability to keep the game coherent.
Time was another major constraint. We cut our largest level halfway through development and shifted our focus fully to the main level. Making those choices kept the project realistic.
Balancing the anomalies was also demanding. Some behaved unpredictably or needed precise timing, so careful testing was necessary to keep the experience fun rather than frustrating.
I also created all sounds and the game trailer, which made time management and clear task division even more important.
If I improved the game today, I would refine the balance of certain anomalies and add small quality of life fixes to make the experience smoother. The project strengthened my skills in problem solving, iteration, and working within a small cross functional team.
This is was the begining of the blockout
Reflection
Looking back at this project, I think it is where I’ve learned the most. I had a wonderful time working with a great team, and like all school projects, I would have loved to do even more, but time was limited. This is probably the most finished game I’ve worked on so far.
I also feel that this project is where Unreal really started to click for me. It is an incredibly powerful tool, and I now better understand how much can be accomplished inside the engine.
I can easily imagine this game with a full team, but given the resources we had, I am impressed with what my team and I managed to create. I am very proud of the final result.
Because I got to work on multiple aspects of the project, I had the chance to do a little of everything. While level design was my main focus, placing small fun details and making the spaces feel believable was both challenging and rewarding. Designing levels that felt alive and guided the player naturally taught me a lot about pacing, storytelling, and iterative design.