Making a Platform Game Called "The Eldritch Horn"

Everybody plays games, be it a video game, a board game, or a physical game like a sport, everybody plays games. However, many people tend to disregard the individuals who spent years developing it. In this modern age, video games have taken over, allowing people who had game development as a hobby to take it professionally. I've made a few games in my past, not notable, but they’re still something. They were simple games that didn’t teach me much because, in both, I’ve just copied the code, not understanding what they mean.

I want to be able to learn a coding language and apply my learnings to my project. When I play games, I’m always fascinated by what’s behind the gameplay, the art, and the story. This Personal Project is an excellent opportunity to try and manifest my desire to create a full-blown game. However, this will be very difficult because I will be using a completely different engine, Unity, and uses an entirely different language, C#. I have no knowledge of C#, and I will also be trying to design my pixel art, which I had tried to do before and failed tremendously, and I will also be making my music and sounds for the game, which is an entirely foreign field to me. My personal project goal is To study the components of game development and indie game art trends and produce a custom game from scratch with custom art and a unique combat style to further my understanding of coding.

Global Context

Game development is a beautiful way for developers to express themselves. The platform can convey incredible stories and teach lessons in a fun and interactive way. This is why the global context for my project will be personal and cultural expression. Game development can be used as a medium of personal and cultural expression in a variety of ways. Two of the main methods are through the storyline and pixel art. The story can teach the audience many things, and the artwork helps enhance the experience. My project will feature a unique combat system, a personalised story, and even unique art. I wanted the project to revolve around me and myself only. Even if it doesn’t have that impactful of a lesson, I’m just glad I will make a game of such calibre. I want my end product to be something I can take pride in and show people.

Product

My final product is a video game with visuals, coding, and sound effects, all done myself. I created the game to express my ambition to develop a large-scale game from scratch. Although I’ve made a few games in the past, I was never satisfied with the end product. This game allowed me to thoroughly express my desires in studying coding, creating stunning pixel art, and computer science as a whole, further manifesting my global context. The game features smooth hand-drawn pixel art and animations, an easy and simple combat system, and a typical storyline that gives the player purpose.

I published the game on itch.io, where anyone can access and play the game. Since it was my first ever game, and my objective is to learn, I priced the game for free, looking for advice and specific bugs that I could fix in the future.

Play my game below!

Reflection

Upon completing my video game, I sincerely believe that I’ve developed a vast knowledge of game development that I didn’t have before. To ensure that I retained the information I learned, I took additional coding classes, and they’ve been heavily useful. The course taught me the programmer’s mindset and exposed me to different terms and logic that all languages use universally. Unfortunately, since C# is a rather old language, my class did not include a C# course. However, again, since C# is an object-oriented language, just like Java, the exposure allowed me to quickly pick up the language. This project helped me realize my love for computer science; I enjoyed coding, and I am considering pursuing it as a career in the future.

During creating my game, I covered various concepts and topics that were newly introduced to me, and little did I know they were also highly beneficial to me. I have been eager to take computer science as a DP subject, but my current school didn’t offer it as a subject. Therefore, I took it upon myself to study the topic independently, and I have learned enough to study it in the future further.

Concerning my goal statement, I believe that I have extensively achieved most of my requirements. My constant failures have helped me even more in acquiring knowledge and practicing those studies practically. I take pride in my pixel art and animations, as they prove my diligence and hard work. Having undergone many redesigns, I think that I have achieved my vision. I have also expressed myself within the story showing what I love to do, manifesting my global context of personal and cultural expression. Undertaking a large-scale project like this one required me to be aware of my progress and manage it efficiently continually. I worked hard almost every day with the utmost diligence, trying to perfect my vision. That practice helped me become a more punctual and managed person.

IB Learner Reflection

Throughout working on my project, I noticed my development as an IB learner. As IB students, we revolve ourselves around the attitudes and skills of an IB student. We continuously developed our skills ever since we were kids, and in projects like these, our skills are trained. In this project, in particular, I found myself being a thinker, a communicator, knowledgeable, and balanced.

I demonstrated the learner profile: Thinker the most during my project. Critical thinking was necessary for my project, and I had to find solutions to the many problems I found creatively. I often encountered roadblocks where it seemed there was no way out. However, I persevered and discovered solutions in various manners, including conducting my own research, talking to experts, and even trial and error.

As mentioned before, I often consulted many people, demonstrating myself as the ib learner profile: communicator. In looking for solutions, I first looked in many places, but when I could never find the way out, I decided to build up the courage and ask developers for advice personally. They helped in various ways, they would sometimes simply answer my questions, or some would even mentor me and guide me.

This project also developed me to be knowledgeable. Due to my recent external lessons in object-oriented programming, I picked up the language quickly and was able to retain all the knowledge I acquired, further developing myself to be more knowledgeable.

This challenging project required me to be Balanced. I gave myself an enormous workload, not only giving myself the task to program an entire game but also to design my own custom art and sound effects, although this was aiming for me to become more balanced, I was able to manage my time efficiently and still have time to do other daily things.