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. With each dive, both the stakes and the character's capabilities escalate. My partner contributed by crafting the stages, the connecting map, and designing the floor bosses attacks.
What I Did
- Developed the core mechanics, including player and camera movement, character stats, enemy AI, and the overarching game manager.
- Designed attack patterns for enemies and the player's moveset, ensuring a dynamic combat experience.
- Balanced the in-game economy, allowing players to invest gold in permanent stat upgrades or temporary boosts.
Things I Learned
- Data management across scenes
- Implemented state machines for both AI behavior, player controls and animation
Project Documentation
Below are links to the project's documentation:
Screenshots
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
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, focuses 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 it this game is also a bit even-keeled, one thing I wanted expand upon in the future is those moments of excitement.
Team Credits
Special thanks to:
- Cory Schiff - Level Design and Programming