London Design Silver

2025

Homeward: A Journey Back to Tranquility

Entrant Company

Rochelle Ruixue Liu

Category

User Experience Design (UX) - Experimental / Innovative

Client's Name

Country / Region

United Kingdom

Homeward is a reflective, scene-shifting RPG designed to help young adults navigate emotional stress and isolation in fast-paced urban life. Inspired by the creator’s personal experience of living alone as a young outsider in a fast-paced foreign city, the game explores themes of nostalgia, homecoming, and emotional refuge through poetic environmental storytelling.



Set across three symbolic environments — a gloomy modern city night, a nostalgic childhood alleyway, and a tranquil forest — Homeward guides players through an inward emotional journey using calming visuals and gentle, intuitive interaction.

The experience weaves minimalist UI, ambient soundscapes, and subtle motion design to simulate emotional transitions between stress, memory, and peace — turning spatial progression into a metaphor for personal healing and reflection.



Through its deliberate pacing and intuitive gameplay, the project transforms digital play into an act of introspection — offering a sense of calm, emotional clarity, and reconnection in an increasingly distracted digital world.

Credits

Lead Designer / Art Direction / UI & UX
Ruixue Rochelle Liu
Developer / Unity Programming
Donghui
Music & Sound Design
Huw & Jack
Visual Effects / Technical Artist
Meng
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