*Before introducing the game, I want to tell everyone why I made it. I once saw a documentary online about a warrior named Nike from the international animal protection organization, the Anti-Poaching Alliance, and his fight against poachers in Africa. The documentary moved me, especially the moment when Nike was unfortunately shot and killed. I felt I needed to do something, and that's how the idea for "Last Subway" came about. I hope "Last Subway" will draw more attention to such people and organizations.
*“Last Subway” is a first-person narrative game. You need to take the last subway home. It's already 11:57 PM, and there are 3 minutes left until the last train departs. When you rush to the subway station, you discover a kitten that has accidentally fallen onto the tracks.
*When you go down to rescue the kitten, an accident happens.
*And then you'll find that many strange things suddenly appear in the subway station, such as disappearing girl graffiti, suddenly appearing graffiti, sounds, and more.
*At this moment, you are gradually stepping into "someone else's" story. Only when you get close to the truth will you hear the voice from the beginning of the game telling you the whole story again. The time is exactly midnight, and the last subway is waiting to take you home.
*Let me talk to everyone about the design concept of "Last Subway". First, unlike other games, the visual window of the game uses a cinematic design, allowing players to feel like they are watching a movie with a story while playing. There is no combat design in the game; it focuses more on story-driven puzzles.
*Many gameplay designs in the game are inspired by my personal experiences in real life. When I was only 7 years old, there was a dog named "Archie" at my neighbor's house that I saw every day after school. However, one day, I saw my neighbor burying it. The neighbor sadly said that "Archie" was poisoned by a bad person. I was very sad and stared blankly at the place where "Archie" was buried. An incredible thing happened: a halo, like an angel, rose from the ground on "Archie's" grass, slowly ascending more than a meter high before disappearing. At that time, I thought that kind and loyal dogs would be taken to heaven after they died. So in the game, you see all animals with a halo like an angel above their heads, waiting for your protection, just like "Archie", to reach where they belong. What this means, I believe everyone has already guessed. In this level, I think it's the hardest of all the gameplay. If you don't find the pattern to avoid danger, the animals will find it difficult to "escape" their fate of being hunted.
*Experiences like this are also reflected in the colorful, dream-like maze box design. This was a dream from my childhood, a terrifying nightmare where streetlights turned into four-legged monsters chasing me madly. I kept running but fell into an endless falling loop. My dream is the box loop you must experience in this level. Only by finding the bedtime music can you successfully pass. Of course, each loop is recorded, and the music's location in the maze box changes. To make it easier, the music symbols disappear from explored music boxes.
*I don't know if I should do this, but during my experience, without markers, I find it hard to get out of this maze box.
*The simplest part of the game is probably the beginning. By following the occurrence of abnormal events, you can correctly advance the story. It's important to note that the sequence of abnormal events is determined by the order in which you take the rides. For example, at the start, whether you take the left train first or the right train first, the outcomes are completely different.
*Let's end the introduction to the game here. Next, I want to talk about myself. That's right, since "Last Subway," I've been an independent game developer. Before this game, I was a photographer, but I handled most of the script, post-editing, and music myself. I love expressing through the language of the camera. Of course, I have a wide range of interests, like kung fu, music, animals, and exploring nature.
*Everything changed at the beginning of 2022 when I discovered VR and experienced my first game, "Alyx." It was as breathtaking as when I first encountered a camera 17 years ago, seeing the world through the lens. So, I used all my savings to assemble a team of 11 people and, without any external funding, began developing my first VR game, "Stellar Echoes.
*You can still see it in my Steam library. Before this work was released, I imagined whether "Stellar Echoes" could be as outstanding as "Alyx." The result was predictable; I was too naive and overestimated myself and the team. But just when I wanted to perfect it, a more tragic event occurred: all the data of SE was maliciously deleted. I had to package and release the remaining project data in groups, hoping to recover some losses from the huge financial failure. However, things didn't go as planned, and the result was even worse.
*I was depressed for more than two years until one day I saw the release video of Unreal Engine 5.4 and was amazed by its powerful visuals and animations. So, I immediately started learning version 5.3, and during this time, my second work, also my first independent project, "Last Subway," was born. Yes, starting with "Last Subway," it was just me, rediscovering my passion. From "Last Subway," I still love telling stories through cinematic language, and you might feel its uniqueness in the game. By the way, in "Last Subway," I didn't write a single line of code; everything was done through Blueprints, so Unreal Engine is truly an amazing creative tool.
*The next plan is to address any issues players may encounter in "Last Subway" and to begin remaking "Stellar Echoes" using Unreal Engine. Finally, thank you all for your attention. I am Song. You can email me at [email protected] to communicate. After a while, I will announce my social media accounts once I have registered them. Please let me know which social media platforms you are using in the email.
