Stone Fall
Project Overview
Stone Fall is a 2D platformer based around controlling the playable character with the mouse. It is composed of two playable levels that the players need to navigate through and avoid an assortment of obstacles, from deadly spikes to slippery ice, that challenges the player along the way
Team Size: Solo Project
Roles: Game Designer, Programmer, Level Designer, 2D Artist and UI Designer
Timeline: 1 Week
Tools Used: Unity, Photoshop
Design Process
Project Goals
The goal of this project was to create a 2D platformer within Unity that was primarily controlled with a mouse
I wanted to explore the creation and implementation of custom 2D sprites
Experiment with animation and how to implement and integrate animations within Unity
Designing the Character Controller
Since one of the main goals for this project was to design a character controller that fully utilizes the mouse, this was the first thing that I wanted to implement to find a controller that felt intuitive and precise for jumping from platform to platform.
After experimenting with a few different methods of controlling the character, I ended up utilizing the character sprite as the determining point for the direction your character would move. If your mouse was to the right of the character sprite, you would move right. If your mouse was to the left of the character sprite, you would move left.
Creating 2D Sprites and Animations
When creating the tile sprites my biggest goal was to eliminate any hard edges that would indicate the beginning or end of a tile. I wanted them to flow together to create one consistent piece of terrain. Since all of the tile textures were stone, they needed to have cracks and grooves to emphasize their age. I used this to my advantage by making sure that cracks on one side of the texture lined up with cracks on the other side. This was perfect, as this allowed for the tiles to blend into the next, creating seamless terrain.
The golem character needed a variety of movement states and animations in order to bring him to life. These states included idle, walking, jumping and crouching. I utilized a character sprite sheet that housed all of the sprites for every animation within them and imported it into Unity. I utilized Unity sprite editor to divide up the character sprite sheet and animate it within Unity.
Implementing Objectives
There are two levels within the game, each having a different variety of challenges and obstacles to overcome. Some of these obstacles include spikes that will damage you if you land on them, and ice that is slippery when walked on.
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Additionally, I implemented a door at the end of each map that players would have to reach to progress to the next level. To unlock the door, there is a key placed somewhere on the map that players have to reach. To teach the player about certain mechanics, the keys are often placed in a way where they have to utilize a mechanic to collect them. The first key is placed in a way where you have to utilize crouching in order to reach it, and the second key can only be accessed if you can break the breakable crates with your weapon.