Way Back Home.
Way Back Home is a narrative VR escape game in which the player wakes aboard a damaged spacecraft and must bring the ship back to Earth.
What begins as a journey home gradually becomes the discovery that far more time has passed than expected — and that the world waiting below is no longer the one the protagonist remembers.
Watch the project
Trailer.
My contribution
My role.
- Game Design
- Narrative Design
- Puzzle Design
- Level Design
- Writing
I worked as game designer, narrative designer, puzzle designer and writer. I structured the narrative around player discovery, designed the puzzles, wrote the dialogue and environmental storytelling, and connected narrative beats with the player's progression through the ship. I also took part in level construction and balancing, and directed the voice actors.
- Narrative structure
- Dialogue writing
- Environmental storytelling
- Quest and scenario structure
- Knowledge and discovery states
- Puzzle design
- Gameflow
- Collaboration with level designers
- Level construction
- Voice actor direction
- Balancing
- Tone and narrative consistency
Project overview
The project.
Way Back Home was designed around a simple emotional idea: the desire to return home.
The experience combines environmental storytelling, audio narrative and manipulation-based puzzles inside a retro science-fiction spacecraft. Narrative and puzzle progression help the player understand what happened through exploration rather than exposition.
01 / Design breakdown
Narrative through discovery.
The narrative was designed around knowledge states and triggered discoveries. Rather than directly telling the player what happened, information is revealed gradually through the environment, audio elements and interactions.
Understanding the story becomes part of the player's progression: each discovery connects a narrative beat to their journey through the ship.
02 / Design breakdown
Puzzle design & gameflow.
The project's puzzle-design process connects individual interactions with the overall rhythm of exploration. The process included:
- Categorising puzzle types
- Analysing references
- Evaluating difficulty
- Separating puzzle sequences
- Defining micro and macro gameflow
- Developing interaction concepts
03 / Design breakdown
A melancholic atmosphere.
The visual direction combines retro science fiction and post-apocalyptic influences with a worn, aged atmosphere. The intended tone is melancholic rather than horrific.
The gallery includes project prototypes, a production model and my visual reference board, made of external inspiration.
Collaboration
The team.
- Pierre BoussinProject Lead · Game Design · Programming
- Corentin MichonGame Design · Narrative Design · Puzzle Design · Writing · Voice direction
- Adel Ait-BriimGame Design · 3D · Concept Art · Animation
- Chouchane Ozcelik3D
- Florent DebuchyProgramming · Integration
Documents
Design documents.
World & narrative — concept note
1 / 2Original document in French
Visual archive
Media.
Media / Gameplay
Gameplay / In-game.
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