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Out of the Abyss (2022)
Game Genre
Platformer
Role
Level Designer
About this game
Out of the Abyss is a side-scrolling action platformer game where the player plays as a bear trying to escape a dark cave to look for it's parents while being attacked by dark creatures
This game was made as a game jam that took us 2 days to finish making it.
Game Created Using:
Other Software:
Photoshop
Stencyl
Ableton Live
Design Process
Concepting
This game was made for our game jam that took place in our school. Me and my friends formed a group of 5 and started thinking about what kind of game we are able to make with our current skill sets.
After long consideration, we decided to make a 2d pixel art style platforming game since it is one of the basic games to make with Stencyl. Which by the way, was the only game engine we learned during our first semester.
Since the duration of this game jam was 2 days, we had to think of a theme and a story fast. So we decided to go with a cute character in a dark world style type of theme. It's something like Made in Abyss.
We also decided to make 3 stages for this game. Which includes: Tutorial, a Normal Stage, and a Boss Stage. As for Boss Stage, we decided to make a chase sequence for the game instead of battling with the boss since it'll take too long to complete the boss battle system.
Here's what we had brainstormed during the Concepting phase:
Pre-Production
We started by separating our tasks for this project. I was tasked to design the game mechanics and compose the soundtrack for this game.
I started out by creating background music for the main theme of the game using Ableton. Since this game takes place in a cave, I decided to add some "cave" sounds to this track. Which includes reverb water sound and a loud ambiance. Here's the track:
Since we have a very short amount of time, we knew that we won't be able to add in all of the things we wanted to add. So we decided to remove the following:
- Bouncy Mushroom
- Snakes
- Health System
Production
After the tasks were assigned to every people, I decided to start working on the soundtrack. Since I'm only done with the Main Theme Soundtrack. I started making the Boss Theme Soundtrack using the same software I had used for making the Main Theme Soundtrack. Here is the soundtrack:
Since the boss battle was getting chased by some unknown creatures, what goes into my mind was something dark and boss songs. So I decided to make Gothic Hardcore, which is a genre commonly known for its dark melody and kicks. A notable artist for this genre would be Team Grimoire.
Now as for the playable character, the character is able to do the following:
- Walk
- Jump
- Throw
- Stomp
Due to that, I started working on its sound effects as well.
Walk:
Jump:
Throw:
Stomp:
Since we were rushing to complete this game, we forgot to add the sound effects for walk and throw which was very unfortunate. But we still have the jump and the stomp sound effects which is great.
Then, for the 3 stages levels. I design it to implement it as it's 3 stages: the tutorial stage, the normal stage, and the boss stage.
Tutorial Stage
Normal Stage
Boss Stage
For Tutorial Stage, I wanted to let the player learn the basics first so I went with a simple design with a little number of obstacles as possible. Telling the players the controls with the background makes the controls more understandable rather than letting them figure it out by themselves was a great way to implement this stage too.
For the Normal Stage, since the player already learned the basics. I tried to spice things up a little bit by adding tons of platforms where the player needs to jump and added more enemies so that the game can be more challenging as well. Not only that, I added the bats so that the player wouldn't know what will they do until they got hit by the bats.
For the Boss Stage, since it is a chase sequence I figure that it would be more intense if the stage is longer. So I added obstacles and some of the obstacles can actually block you so the boss can come closer to you and with the spikes from above you have to run away from them since the spikes will detect you and fall instantly.
After all the 3 stages, our time was up as well and we were instructed to submit the game to the game jam.
Gameplay Screenshot
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