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project-in-memoriam · 7 years

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An age of peace has reigned over the world for longer than any land dweller can remember. The peak of enlightenment has already come to pass and instead the creatures of the world have been lulled into bliss. Creatures and conflict still persist, but encounters have been scarce and easily avoided. Life has been good to all.

An interruption to the peace is all the more concerning for the reality of such a situation being lost to legend and folk tales. When oracles begin to whisper of a disease spreading over the land, all they can do is prepare for the oncoming storm and hope for the best. But will it be enough to weather out the impending tragedy?

Neri is a Scout, one of many, responsible for numerous tasks about the city as set by the Elders. She works both as a protector of the city and its servant.

An emergency meeting is called in the wee hours of the morning one unfortunate day, and Neri, exhausted and sleep muddled, is late to the meeting, unsurprisingly. As her fellow guild members disperse for their tasks, she is pulled aside to be given her task but with little context, having missed the whole meeting. All she knows is that premonitions of danger are spreading like wildfire among the upper echelons of the council these past few weeks and can only assume that is the cause of her task. Given her tardiness, she is tasked to travel to the nearest temple and inform the oracles there to seal away the shards of memory in the inner sanctum.

Upon her arrival, she finds the temple to be unnervingly silent and devoid of its attendants. With little other choice, she must set about sealing the shards away on her own. The quicker she completes her task, the sooner she can seek out the local oracles and find some answers.

Of course, when she stumbles upon a strange parasite infesting the inner chambers of the temple, she knows the answer won't be a simple one.

Project In Memoriam is a 2D action adventure platformer in the vein of a metroidvania. Armed with the best pixel graphics modern machines can make and mechanics fit for the time, Project In Memoriam promises to be an amazing adventure.

Thinking about game play and design, things like Super Metroid, Okami, and Muaramasa are the reference points I’m using to keep on track. You might think hey, uh, one of those is not like the other, and you’d be right, but what I want to achieve here is something with it’s own unique flavor, so crafting the aesthetic of In Memoriam is just as important to me as the game play. If it doesn’t feel good the play and isn’t fun to look at, what the point?

Project In Memoriam starts in a large temple area whereupon, after a short exposition dialogue, the game hands the reins over to the player. You're given the objective to collect the shards of memories that are scattered about the temple and seal them into the inner chamber. After a short tutorial hallway, the environment opens up and you're given full freedom to explore the temple that has seemingly been built into the forest floor, the level expanding both above and below ground, allowing for a beautiful mix of looks to the interior that is just plain fun to explore and experience.

^Mock up of upper areas of temple^

The upper levels are still beyond you’re reach though. Your only path it seems is to fall into the lower levels of the temple and explore there. You do however come across a shrine and a locked entryway that leads deeper into the temple grounds. Here, a strange parasitic enemy is encountered and swiftly dealt death with your sword and you obtain the double jump ability from the altar! Using this, you can now climb back up to the entryway and access the upper area of the level.

^Mock up of lower area of temple^

As you explore the level and grow comfortable controlling the player character, different uses of the mechanics are introduced and increasingly more difficult puzzles or tricks to achieve your objective.

With In Memoriam, you get to experience this first level with detailed and lovingly rendered pixel graphics detailing otherworldly luminescent flora broken up with glimpses of a colorful outdoors in the upper portion of the temple, while the deeper you go, the more constructed it looks, with lights hung up and natural springs spreading water across the base of the level. You play as a dynamically animated character with forward and backwards controls and a double jump to allow incredibly intuitive and easy to pick up air maneuverability. You can then drop through thin platforms by pressing the jump button and down, but cannot fall through solid floors. The character has one basic attack animation that can chain into two more, making for a simple but effective combo with just the right amount of impact and hit stun to make it feel good to play. The controls as of this level are basic, but are likely to open up as the game goes on, giving you more weapons to choose from and unlocking a triple jump ability and more in depth combat mechanics.

By exploring the temple level, you collect all the memory shards scattered about. Only then can you progress to the inner sanctum of the temple and complete the level. Some shards are left in easily reached places, but more of them are cleverly hidden or hard to reach, requiring some creative thinking on your part or careful examination of the environment to pick out secrets.

·Unique and ethereal aesthetic that entices you to never quit playing!

·Action RPG control scheme in a 2D world fraught with puzzles and enemies, making for an immersive play style that feels good and is fun to play.

·A focus on maneuverability and function within the world, making for a smooth, seamless experience.

·Large, sprawling areas that make for few screen transitions, meaning less awkward pauses for loading and more fun to play!

Week 1- Start the Game Doc and fill out as much as I currently can, start familiarizing myself with the Unity engine, and work on base art assets.

Week 2- Work on level design planning like object and platform placement and continue working on art assets

Week 3- Make art of basic UI elements and sketching frames of character animation.

Week 4- Finish up animation sketches and move on to plugging pieces into Unity to make the Alpha build.

Week 5- Work on environment asset art and continue to work on the Alpha build.

Week 6- Work on any leftover art that I hadn’t gotten to like some promotional pieces or polishing off sketches.

Week 7- Pieces have all been plugged into unity and after testing, the Alpha build is complete.

Week 8- Start transferring artwork into pixel graphics for final game application and plug things in as I go.

Week 9-Work on transferring environmental assets into pixel art and plugging them in.

Week 10- Work on any leftover graphics like UI elements, plug them into Unity, and be testing the Beta build.

Week 11- The beta build is finished and from my own observations, start polishing any animations that look choppy or weird.

Week 12- Continue polishing in game graphics and work on anything left out that I still really wanted done.

Week 13- All pieces are plugged into Unity and I spend the week on quality assurance testing.

Week 14- In Memoriam level is complete, polished, and ready to ship!

Yo, I’m Shannara Stetson, a long time Zelda and Final Fantasy fan and I’ve been biting at the bit for a long time now to learn about making games myself. Arm with sleep deprivation and the energy provided to me by pure spite, I’ve sustained myself through the past few years of college to eagerly get here. The dream is to eventually become a character concept artist for one of those big names, but until then, I’ll settle for this.

#project in memoriam #ccad #ccad game art #ccadgameart #game development #game design #platformer #metroidvania #artskls #indie game

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