Broken Alice

It all started with a spark—a random idea. A fleeting thought about old-school level design spiraled into something far deeper, something darker. I didn’t plan on making a game like Broken Alice but sometimes, you don’t choose the project… it chooses you.

Inspired by the oppressive tension of games like Escape from Tarkov, the pacing of Metro 2033, and the eeriness of Call of Duty Zombies, I wanted to capture the feeling of being hunted by the world itself. Not enemies. Not bosses. But rules you couldn't break. Move too slow? You die. Stop too long? You die. Beat the system? You live… for now.

🎮 How It Was Built This project was made using Unreal Engine, built with mostly Blueprint scripting. I used a mix of free and accessible assets, skeletal meshes, and AI-generated voices. Much of the UI and audio were self-recorded or mixed from gameplay experiences using OBS and NVIDIA tools.

Here’s what I built into the game:

A nighttime mountain level, moody and filled with tension.

Two anomalies: one that launches you randomly, another that blinds you while altering your health.

A unique heartbeat system that kills the player if their in-game heart rate drops below a target threshold.

Damage Over Time mechanics that cannot be healed unless certain criteria are met

A basic cutscene-style ending with static player control and NPC dialogue, like an homage to Medal of Honor: Allied Assault.

A fully working main menu, pause menu, and polished exportable build.

🧠 What I Learned The power of inheritance in Blueprint scripting (eventually… took me way longer to click than I’d like to admit).

How to use timers, custom events, and clean UI animation triggers for immersive feedback (blood screen, heartbeat, camera shakes).

That even simple mechanics like “don’t stop moving” can lead to extremely immersive survival gameplay when tied to visual and audio feedback.

⚠️ Challenges Faced Sleep deprivation. Let's just say... trying to debug logic with one hour of sleep is like asking a blindfolded samurai to defuse a bomb.

Fighting with event loops and healing mechanics, I had issues with logic getting stuck in loops, or healing triggering endlessly.

Lack of energy and burnout toward the end. I pushed hard to finish this, and while it was satisfying, it drained me mentally.

Getting export builds working correctly with all assets and functionality took more time than expected.

💭 Final Thoughts This wasn’t a perfect project. It wasn’t meant to be. But it became something meaningful through the process. A prototype filled with eerie mechanics, unique survival tension, and a very personal flavor.

And like a fleeting memory from a forgotten dream… once submitted, I’ll let Broken Alice rest.

Built With

• by-being-a-dreamer-dummy
• delusion
• hope
• some-math
• stubbornnes
• unreal-engine
• voice-ai