Project Type: Game Jam Project
Software Used: Unreal Engine, Aseprite, Ableton
Language Used: Blueprint
Primary Role: Game Designer, Assets Artist, Programmer
Play my game here: https://sugarcow.itch.io/mutagenesis
This Unreal engine project was a solo endeavor that took place during the Score Space Game Jam. The theme was mutation and immediately went to the thought of a beast that could mutate based on which enemy its consumes. This idea was primarily inspired by the game Carrion, where the player plays as a monster that takes the form of mangled flesh and teeth that looks to consume and kill any organic matter. The other inspiration was also superhot where the gameplay slows down when ever the player is not moving.
Game Overview
Mutagenesis is a top down action game that takes inspiration from titles like Ape Out, Super Hot and Carrion. The player assumes the role of an escaped science project gone wrong and must consume other scientists. Each level will feature scientists that the player can eat to evolve. There will be different types of scientists that will mutate the player in various ways. Additionally, guards armed with guns/tasers will prevent the player from consuming the scientists. It is an instant kill if the player touches their projectiles or melee attacks. Once the player eliminates all the scientists, the level ends, and the game progresses to the next level. The player will slow down time if there are no inputs; however, if the player moves using either WASD or dashing, time will return to normal.
Personal Experience
This project really tested my knowledge of game dev, design and math skills. I knew it was ambitious to implement a combat system system involving a normal attack and dashing attack as well as having enemies shoot each other within the span of three days. However I knew how to implement each of these mechanics in my separate project before in Godot, so it was the matter of doing it in short time frame.
On the first day I knew that a prototype was in order and that the concept had to work before I delve into the artistic aspect. I dedicated around 10 hours to scripting in blueprint to get the attack mechanics to work. The subsequent day was dedicated to making the art for this project and that was accomplished after 15 hour of work in one day.
The last day was tough since I had to tie in the prototype with the art assets as well as implement addition features such as friendly fire slow motion. Fortunately, the slow-motion feature was relatively straightforward to implement using the time dilation node.
The last day was tough since I had to tie in the prototype with the art assets as well as implement addition features such as friendly fire slow motion. Fortunately, the slow-motion feature was relatively straightforward to implement using the time dilation node.
Audio wise, I used royalty free SFX. I wanted the sounds to be satisfying for the player when ever they kill something. I knew fleshy squish sound would fit best sine they player is a powerful monster that will essentially obliterate any enemies it touches. The gasping sound that the enemies make also adds to the feeling that the player is this horrific force of abomination that is about to end them. It also adds a comedic effect since the gasp are a bit cartoonish.
For the Music I used a free music source by Mike Dijital. The song's license type is CC BY-NC which means that i can only use it for personal project and no commercial activities. It also means that i can alter the source but i have reference where i did it. The music brought a sense of baddassery like in doom when you are killing demon spawns.
Looking back, I'm seriously stoked about what I pulled off with this game given the time frame.I definitely leveled up big time through the whole thing.