RAIN HEART is a psychological horror experience exploring identity, vulnerability, and life within an emotionally oppressive environment.

As a Systems Game Designer, I focused on designing gameplay systems that reinforce the narrative through realism, player vulnerability, and environmental interaction rather than scripted horror sequences.

One of my primary goals was creating gameplay where mechanics and narrative constantly support each other.

Instead of separating storytelling from gameplay, I wanted every system to reinforce the player's emotional state and create tension through believable interactions with the world.

Key design priorities included:

emotionally grounded gameplay

systemic immersion

environmental storytelling

continuous player vulnerability

realism over scripted spectacle

One of the biggest challenges was creating believable immersion within a stylized pixel-art world.

The game needed to feel authentic without relying on cinematic sequences or heavily scripted events, while still maintaining a strong emotional tone.

To support these goals, I helped design the project's Live City System - a framework focused on making the environment behave according to consistent real-world logic.

Rather than existing as static scenery, the city reacts to player actions through systemic rules.

Examples include:

vehicles stopping at crosswalks,

environmental hazards affecting the player,

interactions following intuitive real-world expectations,

consequences becoming part of the gameplay experience rather than scripted events.

These systems reinforce vulnerability and encourage players to think about the world as a believable place instead of a traditional game level.

I also contributed to designing a minimalist interface intended to stay out of the player's way.

The goal was to reduce unnecessary visual noise, keeping attention on exploration, atmosphere, and environmental storytelling instead of HUD elements.

Systems game design

Gameplay systems design

Live City framework design

Environmental interaction design

Narrative design

Gameplay prototyping

UI / UX design

Game Design Documentation

RAIN HEART is currently in active development.

Core gameplay systems have been prototyped, the project's systemic framework has been established, and the Steam page is now live as development continues.