High Concept
A boy awakens in a vast, enigmatic city shrouded in eternal night. As he navigates the shadowy streets, he discovers that darkness lurks around every corner, and the seemingly abandoned city holds secrets waiting to be uncovered. What lies hidden beneath the surface? Can he find a way to escape before the world is able to consume him?
Developement Time
8 months (2019)
Genre
Physics based puzzle platformer
Platform
PC
Team size
4
Engine
Unity
Role
Creative Director / Producer / Lead Programmer
Contributions
First game project and experience with leading a team of 4. Planned and wrote world building documents and technical documentation
Programmed most of the mechanics, player controller, and rehauled unity’s physics engine in order to get specific physics movement needed (check below)
Collaborated closely with Artists and other programmers to make a short tech demo of what the game could be like that aligned with the vision of the project.
Throughout development, our goal was to create levels that provided players with a sense of accomplishment and exploration through their interactions with the environment and surrounding objects. When programming features, we prioritized player agency, ensuring that what they could do with these elements was always at the forefront of our design process.
One of the first abilities I implemented for the player was a "force push" allowing them to effectively and forcefully propel objects within the environment. This mechanic grants players greater freedom in how they approach and solve puzzles. Each object is assigned a different weight, which influences how far players can launch them, including their own character. Additionally, by facing the opposite direction, players can utilize the force push as a form of double jump, providing another layer of strategy in puzzle-solving.
One of our final goals for this concept was to demonstrate the effectiveness of players generating their own velocity and movement. By using blocks as a “vehicle” players can propel themselves forward, facilitating rapid traversal across the level. This mechanic allows them to maintain momentum and execute jumps that would otherwise be impossible, encouraging creative problem-solving and utilizing the environment around them to their advantage.
DarkSide was developed as a puzzle platformer focused on the character's ability to influence the physics of surrounding objects to create solutions and enhance speed. We utilized Unity's base physics system and expanded upon it to implement specific interactions tailored to our game's unique mechanics, ensuring a dynamic and engaging gameplay experience.