Finding Mosey.
From first idea to a playable world.
Finding Mosey brought design, programming, art, narrative, and sound together in one product. I independently developed an open-world adventure in Unreal Engine, taking responsibility for both the experience and the work needed to bring it to players.
Watch the trailers- Audience
- Adventure game players
- Contribution
- End-to-end independent development
- Tools
- Unreal Engine & Blender
- Status
- Commercial release on Steam
How do you make an open world inviting while helping players understand what they can do next?
I brought Blueprint programming, 3D art, narrative, audio, crowdfunding, and Steam integration together, using playtesting and feedback to inform iteration. The onboarding concept below explores how guidance could support discovery without overwhelming the world.
An independent project connects every design decision to implementation effort. Guidance, world design, and interaction feedback need to work together without requiring a large content pipeline.
See the whole journey.
Explore the key tasks, potential friction, and opportunities across the journey.
Enter the world and meet the central goal.
Too much explanation can delay play.
Introduce the goal through a small, meaningful action.
Move, inspect, and interact with the environment.
Instructions compete with attention to the world.
Reveal guidance where the action becomes relevant.
Follow a clue or investigate a place.
Freedom can feel like uncertainty.
Offer an optional objective reminder.
Complete a step and continue the search.
A completed action can lack useful feedback.
Connect feedback to the next available opportunity.
Read the complete journey
- Arrive — Understand the premise
Enter the world and meet the central goal. Too much explanation can delay play. Introduce the goal through a small, meaningful action.
- Learn — Try the controls
Move, inspect, and interact with the environment. Instructions compete with attention to the world. Reveal guidance where the action becomes relevant.
- Explore — Choose a direction
Follow a clue or investigate a place. Freedom can feel like uncertainty. Offer an optional objective reminder.
- Progress — Recognize what changed
Complete a step and continue the search. A completed action can lack useful feedback. Connect feedback to the next available opportunity.
Make the tradeoff visible.
Persistent instructions
Always available, but can compete with the world and reduce discovery.
Contextual prompts
Quieter and more focused, but must be recoverable when missed.
The exploration uses contextual guidance with a persistent way to recall the objective. The tradeoff to investigate is whether reduced screen clutter leaves returning players sufficiently oriented.
First steps
- 01Read movement controls
- 02Read interaction controls
- 03Read objective
- 04Start exploring
Learn through play
A focused view, with the wider journey one step away.
- →Move toward the clueSuggested next actionNext
- 02Interact when nearby
- 03Recall the objective anytime
Assumption
A front-loaded instruction panel may ask players to remember controls before they can use them.
Proposed change
Introduce a prompt at the relevant action and provide a way to recall the current objective.
Validation plan
Observe first actions, missed interactions, and recovery after a break. Compare onboarding approaches without treating faster completion as the only measure of a good experience.
Discover, act, and keep moving.
A static onboarding study connects the first clue with contextual guidance and a recoverable objective.
- 01 / Player journey
Enter the world
A clear environmental cue introduces the next useful action without a wall of instructions.
- 02 / Player journey
Approach the clue
An interaction prompt appears when the player is close enough to act.
- 03 / Player journey
Recognize progress
The inspected clue points toward another place, while the wider world remains open.
- 04 / Player journey
Recover orientation
An objective reminder lets a returning player recover the purpose of the next step.
Guidance without over-directing
Proposed playtest with first-time and returning-player tasks.
Contextual prompts with an objective reminder support orientation while preserving a sense of discovery.
Tasks to observe
- Find and inspect the first meaningful clue.
- Recall the objective after exploring elsewhere.
- Resume play after a short interruption.
What would count as evidence?
Primary measure
Ability to complete the first meaningful interaction and explain the current goal.
Guardrails
Repeated confusion, missed prompts, perceived freedom, and ability to resume after a break.
Decision rule
Keep the quieter approach only if players remain oriented and can recover when guidance is missed. Use observed behavior alongside interviews, rather than optimizing time alone.
What the work made possible.
Finding Mosey progressed from an independent concept to a crowdfunded, grant-supported commercial release. It demonstrates ownership across design and implementation; the original project artwork is shown below.
For a future project, I would establish a small repeatable playtest loop before expanding the world. Clearer records of each observation, change, and follow-up would make design confidence easier to assess throughout development.
See the world in motion.
Two gameplay trailers from Finding Mosey.