Splitting

Game Overview

  • Summary: 2D puzzle platform with escape sections and
    a post-apocalyptic setting
  • Roles: Game Designer, Level Designer and Programmer
  • Project Type: Academic
  • Software: Unity
  • Duration: May 2021 - Oct. 2021
  • Team Size: 4
Game Design Image

Contributions

Concept

Everyone in the team was excited by the idea of making a game with multiple playable characters.

Once we decided that the main characters would be robots, I proposed a post-apocalyptic setting for the novelty of combining machines and nature.

Concept Image
Concept Art showing a potential game scenario

Game Design

I wrote game design documents and contributed to the making of a pitch simulation.

I defined some of the game main mechanics, mainly skills and limitations of individual robots. In fact, limitations were a fundamental pillar of Splitting's design, due to the challenge of getting around them with the help of the other robot.

Game Design Image
Ant, Tyr and TyrAnt, realized by our 2D Artist Giorgio Angiolella

Programming

I wrote in C# the following scripts:

  • Character State Controller, which was directly connected with the animators. For example, it was necessary to check if Ant and Tyr were close enough to combine into TyrAnt.

  • Camera Controller, which has proven to be very tricky due to the continuous camera switch between the character.
In-game footage showing the cooperation between Ant and Tyr

What did I learn?

Carefully evaluate the resources and time available.
Our first videogame was an overly ambitious project. We finished it too close to the deadline, and we had not very much time to playtest it.

Don't underestimate the control system role, because it can prevent players from experiencing our game to the fullest. We made an intricate control system, where each action was associated with a different input.