A short arcade platformer inspired by the game Ghosts n' Goblins. A 3 person group project created for a Sheridan College Design Week Jam in a span of 5 days.
Role
Artist, animator, level designer
Tools Used
Unity, Photoshop, Spine2D
Finding an Aesthetic
The theme for this Design Week challenge was to create a game that would be played on classic arcade machines. The initial idea came from our project manager who had already started a prototype of a platformer. We wanted to create a Halloween themed game with unique mechanic of being able to shift between a child who could attack ghosts and ghost that can fly through obstacles. I was tasked with creating the aesthetic for the game, where I created mood boards for the team to pick from. We all decided on a classic Halloween look.
Sprites
After deciding on an aesthetic to follow, I created character sprites and animations based on the rough concepts created by my team members. We wanted a soft, paper puppet look to the sprites. After animating in Spine2D, I created spritesheets and handed them off to the programmers for implementation. I was also tasked with creating our menu image (as pictured on the top of the page).
Level Design
The level design for the game was done by keeping in mind player progression. I laid out each part of the map as an Act, and applied the difficulty accordingly. After a rough sketch of the map, I brought it into Photoshop for the game programmers to easily implement into the game with an image as a base.
Challenges and Takeaways
We were initially a 6 person team, but due to personal circumstances half of our team did not participate for the rest of the 5 days so it was only 3 people working on the game for the rest of the working period. We all managed to get our work done by setting up schedules and deadlines for when things should be done. Our team got good feedback by industry guests, who liked our aesthetic, mechanics, and gameplay.