GAMES DEVELOPMENT/THE LAST TRAIN DEVELOPMENT

23/09/2025 -   /  Week 1-  Week 14

Marsya Arisa Binti Mahmud / 0359684

DST61105 Games Development / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University

The Last Train Development

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INSTRUCTIONS

<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/177YQyb7wjnWntB_Uwt0v2C30Jhdt5XWX/preview" width="640" height="480" allow="autoplay"></iframe>

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THE LAST TRAIN DEVELOPMENT
For this module, a collaborative team of nine members was established to facilitate the production of "The Last Train," a project transitioned from the initial Game Development Document (GDD) phase. The project selection was finalized through a democratic vote between two competing game proposals developed during the preliminary research stage.

Figure 1.1: 

<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ww_5wyReJaRICSTXGJmdBstJQVCS9pgf/preview" width="640" height="480"></iframe>

Team Roles and Responsibilities
To ensure a streamlined development process, the following core roles were assigned based on individual specialisations:

• Creative Director (Leen): Responsible for maintaining artistic and narrative cohesion across all game segments and spearheading asset creation to ensure a unified visual style.
• Game Writer (Iman): Collaborates closely with the Creative Director to draft in-game narration, monologues, and dialogue triggered by memory shards.
• Lead Programmer (Yun Yue): Oversees the technical integrity of the codebase, ensuring logical consistency throughout the project and managing the final game compilation.
• Audio Director (Marsya): Manages the entire auditory landscape, including the composition of musical themes and the integration of all sound effects across every scene.

Level Architecture and Assignments
The game’s narrative progression is divided into six specialised "Carriages," each assigned to specific sub-teams for focused development:

• Abstract Carriage: Wunyee
• Childhood Carriage: Lina and Ouyang
• Adolescence Carriage: Iman and Marsya Arisa 
• Adulthood Carriage: Yun Yue and Hee Thong 
• The Last Carriage: Wunyee and Areeya 
• The Truth Carriage: Leen 

Personal Contribution
My primary contributions to this project are two-fold: I am responsible for the technical development of the Adolescence Carriage puzzle in collaboration with Iman, and I serve as the Lead Sound Designer for the entire production. This dual role involves balancing complex logic implementation with the creation of a responsive, state-aware audio system.

Figure 1.2: 

Adolescence Note Puzzle and SFX Process

Figure 1.2: 

<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uAA9tnfZ1vaZiSUBISQL6nwjayQNVmaJ/preview" width="640" height="480"></iframe>

Audio Planning Process
To ensure the soundscape matched our narrative, I followed this workflow:

• Narrative Mapping: I extracted the storyline from the flowchart created by our Creative Director to understand the emotional requirements of every level.
• Sound Guide Development: I created a centralized sound guide table for the team. This helped my group members easily integrate the correct audio assets into their respective puzzles, maintaining a consistent atmosphere throughout the experience.

Figure 1.3: 

<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bZinKyzb7UqQQwuhCiNJFk6aMwYWtdi2/preview" width="640" height="480"></iframe>

I discovered that MP3 files are unsuitable for background ambience because the export process introduces a millisecond of silence at the end of the track. This creates a noticeable "hiccup" that breaks player immersion.

The Solution

• Format Switch: I converted all project audio from MP3 to OGG format, which supports true gapless looping.
• Workflow Efficiency: I utilized Audacity to handle the conversion, taking advantage of its ability to batch-export multiple tracks simultaneously.

ALL AUDIO FILES IN THIS GOOGLE DRIVE

Final Presentation Video

PRESENTATION VIDEO GOOGLE DRIVE