2-SMRT TO DIE

Puzzle-Platformer Vertical Slice

About:

2-SMRT TO DIE is a Puzzle-Platformer game in which the player will have to use the death of the main character as a resource for solving the puzzles. Freeze to turn into an ice cube, get electrocuted to spawn a hologram, fall from huge heaights to break glass floors... This games twists the meaning of death in videogames and offers the possibility to get something from it.


This project has been developed by Complex 27 (which I am a member of) as the Master's Degree Project, in Unreal Engine 4. The goal was to create a Vertical Slice from scratch by being a member of a multidisciplinary team with specific departments and under the supervision of professionals of the industry.

What did I do?


  • Game Design: the main goal of the master's degree project was to show us how a game designer works in an environment with other departments. In this project, the design department developed the main concept of the game, tweaked the mechanics and started building the central game idea around the use of the deaths as part of the game core.

For this, we spent several months prototyping mechanics, developing ideas, balancing features and polishing the ultimate details to create a smooth and powerful experience that the players would enjoy.

  • Level Design: As a member of the design department, I was also in charge of creating interesting levels that would give the player a challenging experience.

  • Documentation: The team needed really solid documentation to be able to understand and follow the development of the game concept, so us, as the design team, were the ones who wrote all the documents and excel sheets about game mechanics, levels and other requirements that we may need.

  • Blueprint implementation: My background in computer science was really useful in this project, as I was in charge of implementing and designing the UI as well as other small behaviours inside the game.

  • VFXs and Shaders: Shaders and particles were needed for the final polish of some mechanics, so we decided to help out the art department by doing them by ourselves.

  • Playtesting analysis: Analyzing and paying attention to the feedback about our game was one of the keys that allowed to increase it's quality.

Details:


  • Technologies used: Unreal Engine 4, Hack'n'plan, Perforce, Jenkins...

  • Available at Itchio

  • Still in development, looking forward to presenting the project to the Play Station Talents Spain

  • Over 1.5k downloads on itchio and over 14k views