Between Empty
Qiuyao He
Advisor: Sharleen Smith
An narrative game set in a world where beings are made by mirror, and exist only through reflection on their body and rely on light—until you, the protagonist, fall into darkness and must face the ultimate question: without reflection, can you still exist?
Project Description
This is a narrative game—an interactive story set in a world where existence depends on light and reflection..
Mirror beings do not live by breath or blood, but by the images cast upon them. They see the world—and themselves—only through reflection. Shapes, colors, light—whatever touches their surface becomes sensation, becomes emotion, becomes proof that they are real. Without reflection, there is no feeling. No memory. No self.
To survive, they gather in the Domain of Light, digging up vibrant stones to build homes that shimmer with color—desperate to stay visible, desperate to stay alive.
But one day, you—the protagonist—stray into the darkness, where no light, no reflection, and no certainty remains. And there, stripped of everything you once knew, a question emerges:
If nothing reflects you back—do you still exist?
Technical Details
Unreal Engine Development,
3D Modeling, Animation, Motion Capture
Research/Context
I’ve always been drawn to world-building—creating spaces where I can define how existence works and use that to explore the themes that matter most to me. For my thesis, I centered the project around one idea: the feeling of self-disconnection—when the self becomes so dependent on the external world that it loses its grounding. I recalled a story I wrote back in film school about a character covered in mirrors, who could never see themselves—only the reflections of the world around them. That image stayed with me: a mirror being, whose entire identity is shaped by external reflections. In this world, mirror beings can only perceive themselves through what is reflected onto their surfaces. Colors, shapes, and light are not just visuals—they are sensations, emotions, and proof of existence. Without reflection, they fall into darkness, losing consciousness and eventually their sense of self. To survive, they dig for colorful stones, building structures to maintain reflections and remain visible. This world is a metaphor for a real human condition: the overreliance on external validation. Many of us have experienced moments where we can only feel real through external reflections. In this world, that disconnection is the default—stepping into darkness becomes an act of self-erasure. As the world and its rules took shape, it naturally evolved into an interactive narrative game.