Concepting & Planning

This was my graduation project for Sintlucas Eindhoven. I always wanted to try to create a mobile game so I decided to try that with this project.

 

I wanted to create a game similar to Temple Run but set in a zombie apocalypse setting where you would need to run away from a horde of zombies while dodging zombies coming from all directions.

 

When I started working out this concept I realized I didn’t have any real gameplay ideas, so I decided to come up with the USP first and came up with the idea of incorporating turn based combat into an Infinite Runner.

Temple Run (2012)

The first thing I implemented was the random encounter as I needed that to feel right. 

I had never done any pixel art before so the visual side is still very primitive but it was acceptable for what I wanted to achieve. One important thing that I wanted to achieve was that the battles should be fast and snappy to not make them drag on too long.

 

I achieved this by removing some depth and only allowing the player 2 options:

  • Attack – Deal damage based on your ATK stat and the enemies DEF stat.
  • Charge – Add a 2x multiplier to your next attack (can stack up to 3 times).
Charge would allow the player to deal with enemies with a ton of defense. I hid the enemy stats to make charge a risk reward option, as attacking without charging would make it possible for the player to defeat the enemy in one hit, avoiding any damage.

RPG Random Encounter

Player Progression

 

 

 

I wanted to include the basic elements of the progression of a standard RPG with the player being able to gain levels and become stronger for defeating enemies, this left me with 2 different forms of potential progression, “Distance” and “Level”. I was originally thinking about combining the two somehow but I decided to use the distance to decide the level of the monsters. This made it so the player would want to encounter as many monsters as soon as possible in order to have a better shot at keeping up with their scaling.

 

This ended up being the right choice as this made players want to engage with the USP of my game but I still decided to show distance on the leaderboard.

W.I.P. Highscore Screen

I also decided to add unique pieces of equipment that can be acquired at random from enemies to further differentiate them.

 

I also added the option to run from battles by pressing the X at the top right of the battle screen. This made it possible for players to flee combat encounters they thought were too strong, but the more encounters you avoid the stronger the enemies keep becoming because of the way I handled their level progression.

Demon Tail equipment

Creating the Visuals

I used a combination of 3D voxel graphics with 2D pixel art to create my art style. I used MagicaVoxel to create my voxel models. I originally wanted to create all the 3D assets via this method but ended up downloading an asset pack for some of the harder assets like the trees, bushes and grass as I didn’t have time to create all of those.

 

This is the first project I did where I decided to do all the art myself and it shows, the 3 different styles don’t mesh very well, the UI I created was bland/uninteresting and the way I animated my voxel models leaves something to be desired. This is still what led me pixel art what I still enjoy creating from time to time to this day.

The Boss Fight

I originally planned on having the boss battles take place in an edited version of the normal battles. This ended up not working as I purposefully made the battles fast paced, making them a poor fit for intense boss fights. I decided to do something interesting with the boss fights and have them focus on the actual Infinite Runner aspects of the game with you having to dash into pillars to attack the boss.

 

To make the fights more cinematic and intense I decided to add a cool intro screen for the boss and changed the camera angle to a first person one. This made it easier to see the boss but also made it stand out more from the rest of the game, giving the fight a unique feel.

Closing Thoughts

This was the first big game I created, I didn’t set any goal or deadline for myself so I wasn’t able to finish it and stopped working on it when I got to the second world. I still think I made a lot of good design decisions with how I handled battles for this kind of game and the general progression.

 

The main issues I still have with it is the inconsistent art style, which is especially present in the UI. These UI assets and my pixel art in general looks very unprofessional and distracts from the gameplay experience.

 

This game holds a special place in my heart and I find it an important part of my history and progress as a game developer and I’m still very proud of it, even though I would do a lot of things differently now.

Google Drive