Adventure Game - Barrel Tumor (In Progress)

A interactive walking simulator with various puzzles where a doctor explores both a hospital and the symbolic “inner body” of his “mother”, uncovering emotional trauma through puzzle-based medical metaphors.

type
Post
status
Published
date
Jan 16, 2026
slug
barrel-tumor
summary
A interactive walking simulator with various puzzles where a doctor explores both a hospital and the symbolic “inner body” of his “mother”, uncovering emotional trauma through puzzle-based medical metaphors.
tags
Walking Simulator
category
Games
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password

Overview

Barrel Tumor is a 10–15 minute UE5 walking simulator exploring the emotional impact of war and family trauma through symbolic medical spaces. The player navigates between realistic hospital rooms and metaphorical inner-body environments, uncovering memories and meanings embedded in objects, dialogue, and environmental transitions.
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Role: Gameplay & Systems Designer, Blueprint Implementer
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Team: 3 Members from NEU, TsingHua, SVA
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Timeline: Jun 2025 — Sep 2025, Dec 2025 - Present

Design Goal

  • Deliver an 15-20 minute emotionally grounded walking-simulator experience through symbolic patients and medical interaction.
  • Use environmental storytelling and gradual reveal to unmask the hospital, the patients, and the doctor’s inner truth.
  • Design multi-stage interactions and puzzles that merge gameplay and narrative to convey themes of grief, responsibility, and trauma.

Challenge

1. How to tie the metaphorical inner-body world to real medical procedures?
Player must feel grounded in realism, while still accepting symbolic imagery.
2. Balancing emotional storytelling with gameplay pacing
Too slow → player loses engagement
Too fast → emotional beats feel shallow
3. Representing trauma without falling into stereotypes
Feedback from teammates emphasized avoiding clichés.
4. Maintaining narrative clarity across multiple symbolic layers
Doctor’s motivation must stay consistent.

Progress

barrel tumor GDD
barrel tumor 弹道瘤 By Yi Zhong Fili Ricky Date: Jul 2nd 2025 logline： 玩家扮演医生在废弃医院中为一杆病入膏肓的机...
barrel tumor GDD
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OPyZ09_mUFQx2SQwBz9ke1b0pB7ZVQnyZVohM7eBa9w/edit?usp=sharing
barrel tumor GDD
BT Task Tracker (1) | Notion
没事干就来看看，同步下进度
BT Task Tracker (1) | Notion
https://sakuraigenshin.notion.site/2bf54dea22a181f39fdefc2846e1db9d?v=2bf54dea22a181e78840000c86422b10&source=copy_link
BT Task Tracker (1) | Notion
Game Design Macro (1) | Notion
Reference：linhanli.webflow.io/games/donut-duel UNTRANSLATED VERSION 将游戏整体流程微分至每一个小关卡进行描述
Game Design Macro (1) | Notion
https://sakuraigenshin.notion.site/2bf54dea22a1814e9ffcf191f7f49b5b?v=2bf54dea22a181b6a61c000ced098168&source=copy_link

Solution

Images
Pre
Pre

Demo video coming soon

Outcome & Impact

  • I was responsible for all gameplay systems, puzzles, level flow, emotional pacing, and 80% of Blueprint implementation.
  • Developed a fully playable first half of the experience, showcasing emotional storytelling through mechanics.
  • Established the foundation for a complete narrative walking simulator with puzzle integration.
  • Strengthened expertise in UE5 system design, Blueprint scripting, emotional pacing, and scene composition.

Tools

Unreal Engine 5, Miro, Notion, SVN
 
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