Blume by Team VEX

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Best Awards 2014 Silver Award Winner

Blume is an explorative, narrative-driven game focusing on retrograde amnesia and the impact it has on relationships. Entering the world of Blume, the player navigates through the darkness with their ethereal light companion, exploring the landscape in search of lost memories.

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We developed Blume as our 4th year Major Project here at Massey University Wellington. The project comprised of a Research & Development paper that took place during Semester One, followed by an intense Production phase during Semester Two. The game was created using the Unity game engine.

This game is the result of 14 weeks of work by us, Team VEX.

For our complete written report, click here:

Blume Report

Game World Design

The structure of Blume’s narrative was framed around the stages and emotions a victim of retrograde amnesia would experience. The layout of the game world has been constructed in a similar manner to reinforce the narrative’s themes.

The game world has been divided into five distinct sections: the opening cavern, the beach, the swamp, the forest, and the final cave. The attributes of each level reflect a different emotion that an amnesia victim (and in turn, our protagonist) would experience. This is portrayed through the type of environment, colour palettes, and atmospherics used to enrich the game space.

In order to visualise what the game world would look like before production, concept art was developed for each of these stages. This process aided in developing a visual aesthetic, which gives the game consistency and cohesion. The game’s aesthetic utilises simplified, abstracted forms with painterly textures throughout. This aesthetic made the creation of assets easier, considering our technical limitations with this, whilst emphasising the textural work and interactions objects have with light in-game.

As an example, the second section represents the feelings of confusion and sickness. These are depicted through its manifestation as a swampy environment, its maze-like layout, along with the purple and green colour palette.

Concept Art

Characters

The characters for Blume underwent many transformations, initially as literal representations
of a human couple; they have evolved to become an abstract and fantastical motherly guardian figure and dependent child.

Guardian

Protagonist

The character which the player controls is nameless, a blank slate character who isn’t provided with a backstory. Throughout the game, the story of the Guardian is revealed as you recover each of the memory fragments. The Guardian’s caring nature is uncovered through interactions with the child.

This transformation from “blank slate” to “established” helps to create a strong bond between
player and character.

We wanted to create an appealing and attractive character, so the design is organic, inspired by flowers and plant-life. This helps to integrate the character within our game environment, reinforcing the world as a representation of their mental state.

The Guardian

Child & the Light

Supporting Character

The child character is a pint-sized version of the guardian character, reinforcing their bond and family ties. It is presented as helpless and needy, with each puzzle requiring you to aid it in some way or another.

Once reaching the story’s conclusion, the child comes to you holding the light in the form of a lantern. This is symbolic of the ethereal light that has guided you through your internal journey to lucidity.

The Child

Mr Amnesia

Antagonist

Originally we intended on having a wide range of enemies to combat, from placid jellyfish to an
enormous angler fish, but we distilled the essence of these creatures into one affectionately known as ‘Mr Amnesia’.

Mr Amnesia is the embodiment of one’s fears and anxieties which can bring you down when dealing with amnesia. It hunts down light, extinguishing it as it goes. It especially hates your light companion and will work to take it down and bring you back into the dark and depressing spiral of memory loss.

Mr Amnesia

Environments

Awakening

The Beach

The Swamp

The Forest

The Cave

Home Tree

The home tree is a recurring feature throughout the various stages of Blume. It acts as the main stage for puzzle-solving and storytelling.

The four zones are representations of the different emotional states the protagonist is going through, whereas the home tree is the literal environment, working as a place of remembering where these emotions are played out through the puzzles and story.

Its recurrent nature works to communicate to the player that it is separate from the rest of the game world and holds some significance in the main storyline.

The Flora of Blume

There were a number of game mechanics that we wanted to include in our game. This was to assist in making the puzzles functional, the navigation through a dark world more accessible, and to help make the gameplay experience more engaging.

This need lead to the growth of a family of plants which would fit with the games aesthetic and fulfil these mechanics.

The family of flora in Blume plays an important part in the game, each plant with their own function to help the player progress, as well as bringing the game world to life.

Light flower

The light flower lights up as the player moves within a certain distance of it, illuminating the area around it. This function helps to enrich the environment visually, but these light plants also act as breadcrumbs, indicating to the player where they have already been.

Lantern

Lanterns have been placed in each section of the world. When triggered, the lantern opens up and displays a projection of the child performing an action. These projections recall memories of the child and provide clues for the puzzle ahead.

Fruit flower

The fruit flowers lay dormant in areas away from the main path. Their fruit hold special properties that, when consumed, allow the sentient light to gain more power. The player must shout to awaken the flower, causing it to release the fruit within.

Healing flower

The healing flowers lay scattered around the home area. With the right ingredients these can be used to create a herbal remedy, which can be used to cure poisoning.

White flower

The white flower is the rarest of all plants in Blume. Like the healing flower it holds special properties, only on a much grander scale.

Bug plant

This cluster of large leaves is the Bug plant, named after the fact that glowbugs are very much attracted to it. The size and shape of their leaves act well as shelter or sails, should one wish to take to the water by boat.

Bamboo

These bamboos are scattered throughout the beach and home environments. The thicker sections on each piece are actually hollow, meaning these bamboos can float on water. The older weaker bamboos are able to be knocked over with the right amount of force, and used to start a fire or assemble together to create a reliable base for a raft.

Balloon plant

The balloon plants inflate and deflate with air and, like the bamboo, work as good floatation devices. The force from their “breathing” can cause water levels to constantly rise and fall, as demonstrated in the swamp.

Mushrooms

There are two kinds of mushrooms in the world of Blume. The darker mushrooms grow only in the swamp, whilst the toadstools cultivate in the forest and around the home. They too act as lights to guide the way.