Daoning Cui
Shrewsbury, MA
Advisor: Kenneth Thompson
Artist Bio
Daoning Cui (aka Cody) is a senior Digital Media Design Major at the University of Connecticut. With a concentration in game design, Cody is fascinated by indie game development’s storytelling and interactive aspects. Cody grew up in China and moved to the USA at 12. Knowing little English, he found the mediums of art, movies, comics, and video games which helped him adjust to society and inspired him to become a media creator. Being fond of niche works that are infused in the cultures of both the West and the East, Cody found success in art and video games and eventually was accepted by UConn as a Digital Media Design student. At UConn, he worked in game design, game art, and script writing, and also displayed a strong interest in traditional concept art.
Artist Statement
A Rain Formerly Known is a love letter to a niche era of sci-fi media. It is a narrative game that innovatively mixes up the narrative through cuts of threads that tell a complete story, inspired by works like “Pulp Fiction” and “No Country for Old Men.” I wanted to create a game that has malleable world-building that serves as a “playground for users,” like the complete world settings of Warhammer 40k, Touhou Project, and Dungeons & Dragons. The project’s goal is to prototype a game that could show the very corners of the world that I built, in a way that focuses on the dialogue and environment. It is an action RPG similar to Final Fantasy, with simple combat mechanics to progress the storytelling. While I had the game’s script written, my scope was too big and I decided to include only the first half in the playable build, made unique through its aesthetics and smooth controls so the player could experience the game’s mechanics and atmosphere.
