OVERVIEW:
Powerbound is a 2D combat platformer that uses a ladder combat system to guide player choice. It is a student project developed by a team of 5 during the VFS Game Design program over a course of four months, and was made in the Unity Game Engine.
In a world where magic is the norm, the game tells the story of Lily, a mage who is yet to completely realize her latent magical powers, and how she ventures into a dangerous cave filled with various monsters and mayhem to seek a means to get stronger. Using themselves as a physical medium to channel their magical abilities, the player can cast various moves and chain them together for jaw-breaking combos as they master each of their skills and the strength to face their foes.
Powerbound is a 2D combat platformer that uses a ladder combat system to guide player choice. It is a student project developed by a team of 5 during the VFS Game Design program over a course of four months, and was made in the Unity Game Engine.
In a world where magic is the norm, the game tells the story of Lily, a mage who is yet to completely realize her latent magical powers, and how she ventures into a dangerous cave filled with various monsters and mayhem to seek a means to get stronger. Using themselves as a physical medium to channel their magical abilities, the player can cast various moves and chain them together for jaw-breaking combos as they master each of their skills and the strength to face their foes.
ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES:
Gameplay Systems Designer
|
|
Level Designer
- Assisted with iteration of the level paper plans created by the other level designer on the team
- Shared the implementation of level assets and elements in the engine
- Did extensive playtests to iterate over and polish the level flow
SOFTWARE USED:
DESIGN THOUGHTS AND LEARNINGS:
Ladder Combat System
- Unity Game Engine - C#
- Microsoft Excel
DESIGN THOUGHTS AND LEARNINGS:
Ladder Combat System
- After multiple iterations of designing Powerbound's core combat system the Ladder Combat system emerged, which at its foundation was a way to layer the different mechanics of the game to build a path of mastery for the players. As can be seen from the image on the right, the rungs of the ladder alternated between a player ability and a type of enemy allowing players to learn and master the tools available to them as well as handle the pressure exerted by enemies as they progressed. Additionally, this system was also designed keeping the projects scope in mind, allowing for abilities and enemies to be plugged in or out.
- One of the biggest challenges with Powerbound was to create an intuitive combat system which allowed for the use of magically induced melee fighting. For this purpose we designed a combo system where by players could embower their normal attacks to have an added benefit by using up mana. The major way we tutorialized this was by diegetic wall drawings which players could interact with and learn how to use their move set.