Ray Hernaez — Spirit Camper

development summary.

Spirit Camper began as a full game project in Unreal Engine 5, combining engine practice with a focused narrative direction. The result leans into a forest adventure built around exploration, dialogue, and the search for a cure rather than unnecessary complexity.

design and gameplay.

The design keeps the story readable as the player moves through the world. Blocked paths, invisible walls, simple prompts, and notes guide progression without making the game feel overly restricted. The result is a light adventure structure where exploration, collecting, and the next story beat stay easy to follow.

technical and creative work.

Environmental assets such as trees, flowers, and other props shape the forest mood and make the world feel more immersive. The gameplay includes NPC interaction, teleportation, keys and doors, and the main collectible flow. AI-generated voice lines add more presence to the dialogue scenes and help the prototype feel complete.

reflection.

The project became a lesson in scope, iteration, and flexibility while working inside a new tool. It also clarified how environment building, interaction, and story structure can work together. A future pass could expand the narrative, refine the pacing, and introduce more mechanics while keeping the same atmospheric tone.