Silent Spire
Project Overview
Silent Spire is a first-person shooter (FPS) time-trial game where players must navigate dangerous environments, avoid enemies, and rescue non-player characters (NPCs) as quickly as possible.
Project type
FPS Game
Year
2026
My Role
Co-Lead Game Developer
Client
Game Jam
Core Mechanics
Slide: Allows the player to move faster while lowering their profile, enabling them to slide through gaps, hidden doorways, and under obstacles. Sliding can also break specific barrels containing additional “Saving” bullets.
Kinetic Push Shot: A rechargeable alternate shot that pushes enemy NPCs away without dealing lethal damage.
Saving Shot: The primary weapon, featuring a “one in the chamber” mechanic used to save friendly NPCs.
Enemy AI: Enemies remain stationary until the player enters their detection range and line of sight, then pursue the player until they are either caught or escape the chase radius.
Timer: Begins when the player enters the level and counts down until they reach the exit. The exit only becomes accessible once all friendly NPCs have been saved.
My Contribution
Game Design: Core mechanics, gameplay loop, and creative direction.
UI Design: UI layout, visual direction, and asset integration.
UX Design: Designed and implemented UX systems in-engine.
Audio Design: Implemented music and non-diegetic audio.
Level Design: Player navigation and greybox level development.
Game Design
Core Gameplay: Defined a realistic scope focused on competition, replayability, and player decision-making.
Enemy & NPC Count: Balanced difficulty through 20 enemies and 12 friendly NPCs.
Ammo Allocation: One-in-the-chamber system with breakable barrels for extra Saving Shot ammunition and a cooldown-based Push Shot for enemy avoidance.
UI/UX Design
Below are screenshots of the different UI elements within Silent Spire.
• Main Menu | • Pause Screen |
|---|---|
• Controls Screen | • Damage Overlay |
• Credits Screen | • Death Screen |
How I Designed the UX
My UX design was guided by two core principles: reducing cognitive load and maintaining thematic consistency.
Reducing Cognitive Load: A key aspect of good UX design is making interactions as effortless as possible. Menus and overlays should be simple, easy to read, and intuitive to navigate so players can focus on gameplay rather than figuring out the interface.
Stylistic and Thematically Consistent: While this is often influenced by UI art, games such as Dead Space demonstrate how UX can also reinforce a game's atmosphere through a thematically appropriate interface.
If either of these principles is overlooked during development, the overall player experience can suffer. For Silent Spire, the goal was to create a menu system that was both visually engaging and easy to use.
One challenge was deciding between a diegetic and non-diegetic interface. Although diegetic menus can improve player immersion, Silent Spire is a fast-paced time-trial game, so a non-diegetic menu system was the more practical choice for maintaining speed and clarity.
The only diegetic element of the UI is the damaged screen effect, where the player's hands appear on the screen. The death screen is designed as a trans-diegetic element, blending gameplay and interface to enhance the experience.
How I Built the UX
I developed the UI and UX using Unreal Engine 5, which streamlines interface creation through Widgets, Blueprints, and the Details panel. Creating menus and assigning button functionality was a straightforward process thanks to these built-in tools.
Using my existing experience with Unreal Engine, I was able to build the foundation of the UX system. Initially, it consisted of the core menu functionality without sound effects or animations, as I needed to research the best way to implement those features.
Through personal research and trial and error, I successfully added button sound effects, which turned out to be much simpler than I expected. The biggest challenge was creating animations for the Damage Screen and Death Screen, as I had previously only worked with player and NPC animations. Learning Unreal's UI animation tools allowed me to bring these interface elements to life and make them feel more polished and responsive.
Audio Design
Although I did not have a massive part in finding the audio used within Silent Spire I was the one who implemented it within the user interface. Adding sound to hovered buttons and clicked buttons as well as finding theme music and background music. The backing tracks were audio I added into Silent Spire but the diegetic sound was not.
Level Design
Majority of the work was done buy our level designer but due to leave I stepped in and aided in the redesign of the grey box ensuring that the games design and vision was fully realised within the level.
Adding in extra pathways and elevated platforms to add points of interest for the player to navigate. Adding roofs to the level also ensured the space didn't feel like it was a floating island.
