Lapü — 3D Open-World Game Inspired by Wayuu Culture

Lapü is an ambitious project centered on 3D Game World Building for an open-world action-adventure title deeply rooted in the mythology and environment of the Wayuu people. Built around fluid real-time combat, exploration, narrative progression, and a robust quest system, the game’s core feature is a seamless world-switching mechanic that allows players to transition between two spiritual dimensions to solve puzzles, navigate terrain, and advance the story.

Game Systems & Technical Design

Developing a reactive, culturally authentic open-world presented several technical and design challenges:

• Dimension-Switching System: Engineered around custom observer patterns, state management, and specialized shaders, the world-switching system enables dynamic environmental transitions while keeping loaded assets optimized in Unity.

• Interaction & Quest Architecture: A custom interaction framework was built to support immersive dialogue trees, narrative questlines, and NPC engagements that reflect Wayuu lore.

• Fluid Combat Mechanics: Combat systems were iteratively prototyped with soft-lock targets and aim-assist mechanisms, seamlessly blending fast-paced combat with dimension-based puzzle solving.

Art Department, 3D Game World Building & Asset Pipeline

As part of the multidisciplinary art team, my primary focus was bringing the visual identity, environmental atmosphere, and character performance of the game to life:

• 3D Modeling & Asset Pipeline: Using Blender, I created detailed 3D models for environmental assets, props, and cultural artifacts, ensuring visual fidelity to traditional Wayuu motifs.

• Unity Scene Composition: I integrated modeled assets into Unity to execute scene layout, lighting setups, asset optimization, and spatial world building.

• Motion Capture (Mocap) Animation Cleanup: To achieve believable character movement, the team recorded character performances using motion capture technology. In Blender, I processed, retargeted, and cleaned up raw mocap animation data, fixing mesh distortions and bone alignment issues. This cleanup process was essential to ensure character responsiveness across real-time combat animations, locomotion, and dimension shifts.

Cultural Fidelity & Optimization Balance

A key priority throughout art direction and development was honoring Wayuu cultural heritage while maintaining high performance. Balancing detailed desert environments, authentic architecture, and dynamic dimension transitions required rigorous asset optimization in Unity, ensuring a fluid framerate without sacrificing atmospheric depth.

Check and try our game here:
Lapu

Or check my other interactive projects