BEYOND THE JOURNEY HOME / A GAME PROPOSAL
✷HOME.
FAR FROM HOME.
A deep-space narrative
A SHORT SCI-FI NARRATIVE GAME

BEYOND THE
JOURNEY HOME

HOME · EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT · BELONGING

SPECIAL EDITIONNo. 001IDEA PRESENTATION
02 / MOTIVATION & INTERESTS

A short sci-fi narrative game set in deep space, exploring the meaning of home, emotional attachment, and the formation of belonging.

What is home?

UNITED KINGDOMCHINA
CHINA · Familiar streets / Beijing
CHINA · Familiar streets / Beijing
✥Two places.
One unfolding life.
AN ILLUSTRATIVE JOURNEY
UNITED KINGDOM · A new everyday / London
UNITED KINGDOM · A new everyday / London
FIELD ATLAS / 01   ↔   BELONGING ACROSS PLACES

Illustrative locations, not personal photographs. Beijing: Daniel Case, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0. London: photo and licence. Images shown with a warm print effect.

RESEARCH DOSSIER / 01 · PSYCHOLOGY

Nostalgia: Content,
Triggers, Functions

Wildschut, Sedikides, Arndt & Routledge · 2006

Across seven studies, Wildschut and colleagues examined what people remember nostalgically, what prompts nostalgia, and what it can do psychologically.

Content. Nostalgic accounts often centre on the self together with close others and significant events. They contain more positive than negative emotion; difficult beginnings can develop into positive, redemptive endings.

Triggers. Negative mood and loneliness can prompt nostalgia. Remembering meaningful experiences is therefore connected to present emotional needs, rather than simply an interest in the past.

Functions. Experimental findings showed that nostalgia can strengthen social connectedness, positive self-regard and positive affect.

Design interpretation. Home can be represented through remembered relationships, familiar sounds and shared experiences—not only geographical coordinates. This is a creative application of the research, not a tested claim about this game.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(5), 975–993.
DOI / publication ↗ · Read the full paper ↗

How does an unfamiliar place gradually become home?And how does a new sense of belonging reshape our understanding of our original home?
01

Title & idea

THE LEAD STORY

Beyond the
Journey Home

a short 3D sci-fi narrative game
created in Unreal Engine

The game follows an astronaut on a deep-space mission who is forced to land on an unknown planet due to a spacecraft malfunction. Confronted with an unfamiliar ecosystem, limited survival resources, and the loss of contact with Earth, the player initially has only one clear objective: to repair the spacecraft and return home. However, as exploration progresses, the player gradually discovers that the planet is inhabited by intelligent life with its own distinct culture and social structures. Through observation, communication, and shared experiences, the player begins to understand the behaviours and ways of life of the local inhabitants while becoming increasingly familiar with the planet's environment. Previously unfamiliar sounds become recognisable, once unsettling places begin to hold personal memories, and the base initially established solely for survival gradually transforms into a space of emotional significance.

TARGET PLAYERS

Players interested in indie narrative games, science fiction and emotionally engaging interactive experiences—including those who have experienced migration or living away from home.

03

Inspiration & reference

LITERATURE · SPACE · INTERACTIVE WORLDS

From surviving a world
to belonging in it.

From conventional space-survival narratives towards the formation of place attachment and a sense of belonging.

Andy Weir · The Martian (2011); pictured: Young Readers Edition
Andy Weir · The Martian (2011); pictured: Young Readers Edition
LITERARY REFERENCE / 01

The Martian

Mark Watney’s struggle to survive and return to Earth establishes a familiar space-survival objective. This project begins with that urgency, then asks how the meaning of “returning home” might change.

Publisher / book ↗
Andy Weir · Project Hail Mary (2021)
Andy Weir · Project Hail Mary (2021)
LITERARY REFERENCE / 02

Project Hail Mary

Cross-species communication and friendship suggest that emotional connection can develop beyond familiar environments. The reference shifts attention from physical survival to relationships and a possible new home.

Publisher / book ↗
NASA · Pale Blue Dot · Voyager 1 · 14 February 1990
NASA · Pale Blue Dot · Voyager 1 · 14 February 1990
A HOME SEEN FROM AFAR

A small point.
An enormous meaning.

Earth’s physical scale contrasts with its emotional significance. This image frames the distance between the astronaut and the home they remember.

NASA Science / image source ↗
GAME REFERENCE / 01 · DESBORDE GAMES

Control, I’m Not Coming Back

Simplified forms, unfamiliar spaces, colour and sound provide a visual reference for isolation, hope and gradually growing familiarity.

Developer’s game page ↗
Outer Wilds · Supplied reference image
Outer Wilds · Supplied reference image

Outer Wilds

Exploration and learning change how the player understands the same place. This informs revisiting environments as their meanings become familiar.

Official game source ↗
SEASON: A letter to the future · Supplied reference image
SEASON: A letter to the future · Supplied reference image

SEASON: A letter to the future

Recording sounds, objects and everyday details offers a reference for environmental memory: small observations can accumulate into emotional significance.

Official game source ↗
Heaven’s Vault · Supplied reference image
Heaven’s Vault · Supplied reference image

Heaven’s Vault

Interpreting an unfamiliar language offers a reference for communication through uncertainty, observation and gradually developing understanding.

Official game source ↗
RESEARCH DOSSIER / 02 · ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Defining place attachment:
A tripartite organizing framework

Leila Scannell & Robert Gifford · 2010

Scannell and Gifford organise place-attachment research around three connected dimensions. This is a conceptual framework synthesising existing literature, rather than a single experimental test.

Person. Attachment can be personal, grounded in experiences and memories, or shared through cultural and collective meanings.

Process. Psychological bonds involve affect (feelings), cognition (memories, knowledge and beliefs), and behaviour (actions that maintain connection or proximity).

Place. Attachment concerns social and physical characteristics, across different spatial scales. Relationships and environmental qualities may matter together.

Application to this project. The player’s shared experiences with inhabitants address the person dimension; recognition, memory and repeated visits address process; the survival base, landscape and gathering place address place. These are design choices informed by the framework.

Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(1), 1–10.
DOI / publication ↗ · Read the full paper ↗

04

Pathway & plan

FROM A QUESTION TO A WORK

This project follows Pathway C — AI-driven Game and Interactive Experience, combining a relatively linear narrative with limited free exploration across three stages: Survival and Isolation, Exploration and Connection, and Reflection and Belonging.

WORK IN
PROGRESS
CASE FILE / 004FOLLOW THE THREADTHREE NARRATIVE STAGES / ONE PLAYABLE EXPERIENCE
01 / SURVIVAL

Survival
& isolation.

A malfunction forces a landing on an unknown planet. Limited resources and no contact with Earth make returning home the immediate objective.

STAGE 01 · CRASH SITE
The initial objective +

Repair the spacecraft. Establish a base and learn to survive.

02 / CONNECTION

Exploration
& connection.

Observe intelligent inhabitants, interpret unfamiliar behaviour and build understanding through communication and shared experiences.

STAGE 02 · ALIEN ENVIRONMENT
The interaction focus +

Environmental exploration, alien communication and narrative event triggers.

Control, I’m Not Coming Back visual reference
An unfamiliar world.
A possible new home.
CONTROL / VISUAL REFERENCE
03 / BELONGING

Reflection
& belonging.

Familiar sounds and places acquire memories. A base built for survival becomes emotionally significant, changing the meaning of home.

STAGE 03 · A PLACE TO RETURN TO
The emotional question +

How does a new sense of belonging reshape the original home?

THE PLAYABLE SCOPE

5–10 minutes.
A changing home.

A relatively linear narrative with limited free exploration: a crash base, an alien natural area and a civilisation gathering place.

PATHWAY C · GAME & INTERACTION
The final experience +

A complete short narrative, key interactions and ending choices.

● SURVIVAL   ── CONNECTION   ● BELONGINGA SHORT 3D NARRATIVE IN UE5.
05

Tools, production & AI roles

SEVEN WEEKS + CONTINGENCY
Unreal Engine 5 logoUnreal Engine 5World-building · interactions · narrative events
Blender logoBlenderLow-poly environments · character models
Figma logoFigmaInterface planning · interaction flow

Seven weeks of making.
One week to deliver.

01

Week 1 — Pre-production

Complete the narrative script, environment planning, visual reference research, and core interaction flow design, while defining the project scope.

02

Week 2 — Prototype Development

Build the basic environment in UE5 and implement character movement, environmental exploration, and object interactions to establish an initial playable prototype.

03

Week 3 — Gameplay Development

Develop the alien civilisation communication system, environmental memory system, and narrative event triggers, completing the main interaction systems.

04

Week 4 — Narrative Integration

Integrate the narrative, character interactions, and key events to establish a complete narrative flow and ending choices.

05

Week 5 — Visual & Audio Development

Create and integrate Low-poly environments, character models, UI, environmental sound effects, and visual feedback to refine the overall artistic style.

06

Week 6 — Integration & Testing

Complete a 5–10-minute playable sequence, conduct playtesting, and collect feedback.

07

Week 7 — Refinement

Refine interactions, emotional narrative pacing, and game performance based on playtesting results, and resolve technical issues.

08

Week 8 (Contingency) — Final Build & Documentation

Complete the final game packaging, functionality checks, and documentation of the project website and development process.

AI / SUPPORTING RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

AI will serve as a supporting research and development tool, primarily assisting with academic research and organization, visual concept exploration, game asset design, technical solution analysis, and troubleshooting. During development, AI will also help analyze UE5 implementation logic, suggest improvements, and organize player-testing feedback.

06

Questions & challenges

TECHNICAL CONFIDENCE · EMOTIONAL DEPTH
?

Learning
Unreal Engine 5

TECHNICAL CHALLENGE ↗

Limited familiarity with certain Unreal Engine 5 features.

!

Connection
in 5–10 minutes

NARRATIVE CHALLENGE ↗

Establish convincing emotional connections through limited narrative events and character interactions within a 5–10-minute experience.

THE STUDIO SUPPLEMENT

DOCUMENT + DIAGNOSE + CONTINUE

Beyond the Journey Home / references, development and reflection.

HOME · MEMORY · CONNECTION ✦ LOCAL EDITION / 001

BEYOND THE JOURNEY HOME / REFERENCE PLATE