Qasir al-Wasat
a night inbetween
Producer - Sound Designer
Developed by: Aduge Studio
Platform: Pc, Mac, Linux
Developed on: Unity
Qasir is a stealth action-adventure that takes place on an ominous night inside a wondrous palace, in-between worlds, on 12th century Syria. It features an invisible character, that needs to assassinate 3 targets and recover their weapons, while trying to avoid detection whenever possible. The character is fragile, and a single strike of a sword is enough to take it down. The game employs simple mechanics and conceptual sounds and visuals.
Release Trailer
The Process
As a producer:
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Defined the schedule and milestones of the project
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Planned and controlled sprints
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Proposed creative solutions to design
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Conducted weekly meetings with the team
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Took care of bureaucracy and contracts
As a sound designer:
The game has a very strong concept in all areas, and audio was produced with that in mind. Our protagonist sees and hears in a very particular way: the less he cares or understands a subject, the less realistic is its representation. That's why, visually, human enemies are vector caricatures and the scenario is digitally painted.
Regarding audio, human enemies emit random musical notes, and the ambiance was more realistic (but not completely).
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Planned the soundscape of the game
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Produced and mixed all sounds in cockos reaper and logic studio.
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Implemented all sounds in unity
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Added reverb zones to all levels
I was also responsible for all trailers, created promotional materials, helped to test the game and gave inputs to the game design.
genie sample
scenario object sample
enemies sample
announcement trailer music
We decided to use positional sounds. That led to all audio being mono, and Unity handled the spacialization.
Reverberation was made by Unity, through reverb zones that I placed in the levels.
Promotional poster, depicting Farid ibn Abihi, the villain who summons our protagonist, and his genie.
Qasir is a top-down game that resembles Zelda, but in its core, it is a stealth game.
The main character is invisible, which at first glance may seem as an overpower feature, but...
... not only every sound he makes alert the enemies, if he kills one, but he also gets covered in blood and makes detection pretty easy.
Since you are very fragile, one hit is enough to kill you, making it a very challenging game.
The game has a big focus on narrative, and the story is inspired by the one thousand and one nights and occultism elements.
One of the many puzzles.
The game is a historical fiction inside a mystic palace in-between dimensions. For that reason, actual floor plans of ancient palaces in the region were the foundation of the level design.
Qasir al-Wasat literally means The Palace in the Middle.
The complete map.
A gameplay video made by the community.