evolution

itch io

Student project created by 7 UOWM students

Genre: Hack and Slash

Develop Time: 3 Months

Role: Generalist Designer

Focus: Level Design, Combat, Mechanics

Platform: Mobile

Engine: Unity

Description

Evolution is a Hack and Slash Mobile game. The player plays as a Kaiju who can evolve to strengthen its power and fend humans off his planet. The game's main feature is the Kaiju can devour the dead bodies of humans to get evolve points, then the player can evolve to get perks and abilities to fight against humans.

Design Process

When designing Evolution, I referred to the devour and evolve mechanics from Evolve Stage 2, transforming them into a roguelike format for abilities and perks to create a hack-and-slash, smooth-control mobile game.

Inspiration

Inspired by Evolve, an Action Multiplayer game, and Risk of Rain 2, a Roguelike Action game. The main feature of the game, Devour and Evolve comes from the game Evolve, while side mechanics, such as perks, abilities, and controls, draw from the roguelike system of Risk of Rain 2.

Challenge

Creating a 3D Action mobile game posed challenges due to our limited experience. The tech team dedicated time to optimize performance, manage collisions, and refine hitboxes. Despite the low-poly art style, characters required bones for animations. While I need to focus on enhancing UI/UX for smaller screens, minimal control layouts, and simplified methods to ensure a seamless mobile gaming experience.

*Level layout draw with Blender

*Level in game

Outcome

Honestly, in my opinion, the game didn't perform well. The controls were a bit laggy, the design wasn't distinctive, and the art was quite ordinary. But, considering the limited time we had, and the fact that we all have other courses, I see the game as a valuable learning experience. Next time, we can make better choices and decisions, especially if we decide to work on a game in the same genre.

*POV: Die in game

*POV: Die IRL

Self Reflection

If I could travel back in time, I would simplify the game by removing some side mechanics like perks and abilities, focusing on refining the core kit of characters, and improving game controls. Another improvement would be establishing a more realistic timeline for the entire team. Some team members invested a lot of time in side systems that, unfortunately, didn't shine due to issues with controls, UI, and FPS performance.