The room you were in, the light, the air, the exact feeling that surrounded you at that time.
Human memory is deeply situational. Especially the invisible kind — a melody, a sound, a scent, a texture.
When these subtle sensations intertwine with a specific place, event, or person, even the smallest trigger can bring a memory vividly back to life.
It is these delicate, almost imperceptible details — often ignored in our everyday lives — that quietly weave together the fabric of our existence.
”
Life Sampler
2025
Narrative Exploration / Sound-based Puzzle / Interactive Memoir
Developer:
Nan Shen: Solo Project
Genre:3D Narrative Exploration Game
Engine:Unity
Platform:PC
Target Audience:
·Players who are interested in narratives and experiences centered around music.
·Players who enjoy the process of solving puzzles, but prefer ones that are intuitive and emotionally engaging rather than overly challenging.
·Players who are drawn to immersive, atmosphere-driven games — especially those that explore everyday life through fragmented, emotion-oriented storytelling.
High Concept：
Life Sampler is a 3D narrative exploration game in which the player takes the role of a protagonist returning to an old home once filled with everyday life. By collecting and sampling the sounds of familiar household objects, the player gradually reconstructs fragments of the past — reviving the atmosphere of lived moments and awakening long-buried memories.
Life Sampler tells a quiet and intimate story about love, family, music, and memory.
Main Mechanics:
Sampler
·Sound Sampling – The player interacts with objects in the environment, using the sampler to collect and record the sounds triggered by these interactions.
·Playback / Performance – The player can place and arrange the collected sound clips on the sampler, freely playing or performing with them.
Memory Fragments
·Reconstruction and Expansion – By replaying and performing the collected sounds, the player reconstructs scenes from fragmented memories, expanding incomplete memory fragments and filling in the missing pieces.
·Unlocking – When a memory fragment is completed or a new location is reached, more memory fragments are revealed and unlocked.
Supporting Mechanics:
Environmental Exploration
The player can freely explore unlocked areas of the old house, observe environmental details, interact with various objects, and collect the distinct sounds they produce.
Sampler as Instrument
Beyond story progression, the game includes numerous optional sound sources and interactable objects. At any time, players can use the sampler as a musical instrument, freely experimenting and performing.
Light Puzzle-Solving
To complete certain memory fragments, players may need to make small logical connections or inferences in order to correctly reconstruct past scenes. These light puzzle elements enrich the gameplay experience with subtle challenges and discovery.
Narrative and Puzzle Design
Narrative Medium:
The Memory Fragments serve as the primary medium of storytelling in Life Sampler.
Through each fragment, players reconstruct moments of the protagonist’s past by collecting and replaying environmental sounds, gradually uncovering forgotten emotions and stories hidden within the old house.
Memory Fragments Overview：
1. At My Desk
Unlock Condition: Unlocked at the beginning of the game.
Expand Condition: playing the sampled sounds in the sequence: fan → clock → curtain.
2. Haihai
Unlock Condition: After opening the bedroom door and entering the living room.
Expand Condition: This memory fragment cannot be expanded. The absence of Haihai’s footsteps suggests that many years have passed — perhaps she is no longer around.
3. Just a Usual Morning
Unlock Condition: After opening the bedroom door and entering the living room.
Expand Condition: playing the sampled sounds in the sequence: TV → microwave oven → broom.
To simulate the “soft, steady sweep” effect, the broom sound needs to be played at least three times in succession.
4. In the Kitchen
Unlock Condition: Enter the kitchen.
Expand Condition: playing the sampled sounds in the sequence: washing machine → knife.
Based on the scene context, the sound of knife should be repeated more than four times to reflect the continuous rhythm of cutting.
5. The New Home
Unlock Condition: Both “Just a Usual Morning” and “In the Kitchen” must be expanded.
Expand Condition: This memory fragment cannot be expanded and serves as a narrative bridge.
6. Those Unnoticed
Unlock Condition: Both “Just a Usual Morning” and “In the Kitchen” must be expanded.
Expand Condition: This memory fragment cannot be expanded and serves as a narrative bridge.
7. Echoes
Unlock Condition: After collecting all sound samples in “Those Unnoticed.”
Bedroom + Living Room + Kitchen + Bathroom
Gameplay Flow:
Available Scenes:
My Bedroom
Available Memory
Fragment: At My Desk
Gameplay Flow:
Players begin in the bedroom — the protagonist’s former personal space. By interacting with objects and collecting the corresponding sound samples, the player reconstructs the scene described in At My Desk. Once the fragment is completed, the door to the next room becomes accessible, allowing further exploration.
Inner Monologue
Inner Monologue
Available Scenes:
Bedroom, Living Room, Kitchen, Bathroom
Available Memory Fragments:
At My Desk, Haihai, Just A Usual Morning, In the Kitchen
Gameplay Flow:
After opening the door, players gain access to new rooms — the living room, kitchen, and bathroom. By exploring these spaces and collecting the corresponding sounds, they can unfold the fragments Just A Usual Morningand In the Kitchen, which further advance the narrative and unlock new memory fragments
Available Scenes:
Bedroom, Living Room, Kitchen, Bathroom
Available Memory Fragments:
At My Desk, Haihai, Just A Usual Morning, In the Kitchen, The New Home, Those Unnoticed
Gameplay Flow:
New fragments are unlocked — The New Home and Those Unnoticed.
In Those Unnoticed, the protagonist recalls the final days before moving away, becoming aware of the subtle, accumulated sounds of life that had long gone unnoticed. By revisiting the corresponding locations and interacting with specific objects, players collect all required sound samples to progress the narrative.
Inner Monologue
Part 4: Echoes
Available Scenes:
Bedroom, Living Room, Kitchen, Bathroom
Available Memory Fragments:
At My Desk, Haihai, Just A Usual Morning, In the Kitchen, The New Home, Those Unnoticed, Echoes
Gameplay Flow:
Unlock the final memory fragment, Echoes. As the story reaches its conclusion, the protagonist emerges from the flow of recollection and returns to the present moment — the echoes of memory fading, yet lingering in sound.
Sound Sources:
Every sound sample in the game was personally recorded by me, drawn directly from the details of my own daily life. This approach gives Life Sampler a dual nature — it functions not only as an interactive game but also as a form of everyday documentation and self-expression.
Through the process of collecting and arranging these sounds, the game becomes a medium through which I share fragments of my personal life with players. While playing, the audience is not only exploring the protagonist’s memories but also, in a sense, participating in the lived experiences of the creator.
Wardrobe(2025.10.26,Chengdu)
Glass Jar(2025.11.3,Chengdu)
Saucepan(2025.11.3,Chengdu)
Technical Systems
Core System: Sampler System
A Sampler Manager class is used to coordinate all functions implemented on the Sampler panel.
1. Sound Sampling and Recording:
All interactive sounds are registered in the Sampler Manager. As in-game interactions occur, corresponding sounds are unlocked and recorded in real time, allowing the system to dynamically update the list of available sampled sounds.
2. Sound Assignment and Playback:
Each key on the sampler can be assigned a specific sound. Every playback action (clicking a button) is recorded in the Sampler Manager and written into a list of played sounds. When the Sampler panel is closed and reopened, this list is refreshed and cleared.
3. Memory Fragment Unfolding:
Each memory fragment corresponds to a required sequence of sound playback (an editable list variable in the Inspector, ensuring scalability of the game).
The Sampler Manager checks after each playback whether the target sequence is a subsequence of the list of played sounds. If so, the corresponding memory fragment will unfold, advancing the narrative progression.
Each time the current memory fragment is switched, the list of played sounds is cleared.
Interaction System
An Interactable Item Base class is used to control the functionality of object interactions.
1. Sound Control for Objects:
Every interactive object carries an Interactable Item Base component, with editable sound types defined in the Inspector window. Upon interaction, the corresponding sound type is passed to the Sampler Manager for control and playback.
2. Distance Determination:
Raycasting is used to detect all objects within a certain distance in front of the player. The system filters those containing an Interactable Item Base component and re-sorts them by distance to identify the nearest interactable object.
If a wall-type object is detected first, the system stops further detection to prevent interactions with objects obscured behind walls.
Art Direction
The game adopts a semi-realistic 3D visual style to enhance the sense of presence and immersion.
Post-processing techniques such as lens distortion and RGB separation are applied to create a hazy, dreamlike atmosphere — symbolizing the intangible nature of distant memories and past moments.
Uses a cinematic framing to enhance the game’s emotional tone of restrained melancholy.