In The Ground — Project

Overview

In The Ground is a high-stakes decision-driven experience set completly in the bunker, after the end of civilization. It's a multiplayer social game, where up to 6 players compete against each other, while having to cooperate to save the bunker.

The core focus was emotional weight. Every action costs something. There are no clean victories.

My Role

Developing the visual side or the project
UX and UI Design
Designed core gameplay systems
Built narrative structure
Implemented decision and consequence logic
Handled audio direction and atmosphere

Art Direction and Visuals

I handled the game’s visual implementation pipeline. Below are selected technical breakdowns.

Starting Point

This is how the game looks without lighting, post processing, shaders, or effects. At this stage, I was also responsible for the room design, as well as the nameplates, track displays, computer, tape player, and meeting table.

Lighting

Here the scene uses lighting and rendering techniques. To push strong contrast, I kept the environment very dark and used extremely bright light sources.

Post Processing

Post-processing uses almost every available effect in Unity. The most important one is color lookup curves, for which I created over 20 custom palettes to choose from.

Final Result

The final look combines full-screen outlines, dithering, pixelation, VFX, and custom shaders. In addition, I created dedicated screen shaders for all in-game screens, featuring noise, scanlines, and their own post-processing volume.

UI Design and Implementation

I was the one behind the game’s UI. My goal was to make everything diegetic, with no exceptions.

“Document UI”

The document UI is the player’s diegetic way to interact with the world. To increase immersion, I programmed a system that lets players draw or write any check, sign, or signature, the same way you would in real life.

Computer UI

I designed and implemented the diegetic main/pause menu, and lobby. The computer features slide in/out animations, along with the full interaction logic.

System Programming

I worked on multiple systems tied to the core gameplay loop. I also worked on secret objectives, keyword and the victory points system. Overall, I acted as a secondary programmer under our lead.

Audio Implementation

Implemented all in-game audio systems, including event logic, spatialization, mixing, and runtime control. I Also Integrated audio files, created by team member. Besides this, I also created some of my own sound FX.

Networking

While my contribution to networking was smaller compared to other areas of the game, it remains one of my biggest achievements. I had no prior experience with networking before this project, yet I still implemented several networked systems. That said, the core networking solution was designed and implemented by our lead programmer.

UI Design and Implementation

I was the one behind the game’s UI. My goal was to make everything diegetic, with no exceptions.