2D Game Project: DarkShift
Darkshift was a science fiction 2D exploration and environmental puzzle game with an ambitious background concept and heavy narrative motivation. The player has limited combat or movement abilities and must pay attention the the environmental machines and equipment to solve blockages in the path forward.
Being a student project, Darkshift was made with practically no understanding of game engines, and technically counts as the first "completed" digital interactive experience I've worked on.
Being a student project, Darkshift was made with practically no understanding of game engines, and technically counts as the first "completed" digital interactive experience I've worked on.
Start-screen
Environment Design & Production
Storage Module where the player is revived and given their first look at the station.
A connecting service tunnel where players are introduced to elevators, and the more exploratory can find bits of background information about the station.
In this corridor, the player is introduced to the enemy as well as the traps used to avoid death
In this larger area, the player is brought back online after being cornered and attacked before being rescued by a mysterious robot whom introduces itself as Scion. Here the player learns how to deal with more complicated puzzles and more direct approaches while gaining more background information on the state of the station.
The oxygen garden functions as a visual drive to show how this station was in fact a human establishment as well as how it's likely a human hasn't set foot in this space for a long time.
Early Environment Concept Design
Before the game's level design was discussed, crude environment sketches and placeholder graphics were made to find structure and lighting that worked with the concept.
Color coded level design mocks with player and enemy flow diagramming helped to visualize how the player would move throughout the level, and how much would be seen in the progress.
Character-Design Panels.
Characters were created in Photoshop split up into movable pieces with the intial intention of being rigged and animated in-engine. Due to time constraints, the parts were instead loaded into flash, animated, and the total sets were then composited into sprite sheets to be played back in loopable image sequences.
