Taxes and Tenacity

(2023)

Roles: Game Designer, Programmer, Animator

A roguelite game that weaves RPG elements with a life-and-tax system, created during a two-week game jam by a duo. In this world, the player embarks on dungeon expeditions to collect gold from defeated monsters, facing a looming tax deadline. Successfully paying your taxes means earning extra lives; failure leads to losing them all. My partner contributed by crafting the stages, the connecting map, and designing the floor bosses' attacks.

What I Did

programmed player, camera movement, stats and enemy ai.
Developed the enemy waves on each of the nodes
Balanced the in-game economy for upgrades and boosts.
Designed the tax based lives system.

Project Documentation

GitHub

Screenshots

Highlight of the Project

Reflecting on the project, the aspect that fills me with the most pride are the character controls. One of the focuses and ideas behind this project was simplifying things down, focusing in on content and feel. The three-hit sword animation has a satisfying timing to it. I find that moving around has the simple fun to it that I was looking for in ways that some previous projects lacked. That said, this game is also a bit even-keeled—one thing I wanted to expand upon in the future is those moments of excitement.

Team Credits

Cory Schiff - Level Design and Programming

Taxes and Tenacity

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