Video showcasing the Gluttony level which I fully designed

GOBBOTRON: Neon Sins

Game Description

“GOBBOTRON” is a 2D Platformer, run and gun where you play as Gobbo, a goblin fighting their way through a Tron-like city, corrupted by the Neon Sins. You join up with the Goblin resistance to overcome the Sins and their goonies, and restore peace!

Time Duration: September 2023 - December 2023

Role: Level Designer, Game Designer, QA Tester

Engine: Unity

Check the game out here!

Responsibilities + Accomplishments

This was a game I worked on for the Illinois State University Game Dev club. It was my first ever time where I worked in a major group. I was on the level design team where I was in charge of designing the weapons, levels, enemies, and bosses. My contributions and responsibilities for this project were;

  • Developed and designed boss mechanics and weapon systems to fit the platform genre.

  • Designed and prototyped each boss specific level layout using Unity tile map tools

  • Worked closely with 3 other teams to fully implement designs

  • Overseen play testing and tweaked systems based on feedback of play testers.

For the final project, I designed and created the ‘gluttony’ level and boss room, as well as the ‘greed’ boss mechanics. With the strict deadline of 4 months, I was in charge of making sure all my tasks and goals were done on time.

This was the first time I worked in a large group so I learned a lot of what it was like to work in big groups with people of lots of different roles. I had to work very closely with the programing team to report any bugs or issues as well as the art team to make things could be fully realized.

Image of the player fighting the Greed boss. Showcasing its signature attack

Design Process

This was the first time I really got to taste of a more formal game dev setting, because of this I had to learn a lot of things about the industry works, such as tight deadlines and collaborating with more than just a small group of people.

This project allowed me to learn and experiment with creating 2D levels through Unity and how to effectively prototype and refine levels.

For this project, we ran with a “deadly sins” idea for the bosses which all the levels would be themed after. I built the gluttony level in which I went with a sewer vibe to match the boss' design. I wanted to make this level different then the other 2 as they were more open with lots of jumping room. I wanted to make a more tightly packed area that would force the players to think more carefully and time their jumps.

Too help with the timing aspect of the level, I wanted to add falling acid, however because of time this sadly didn’t make in to the final product.

Besides the level, I also designed the ‘greed’ boss. I was paired with someone from our art team to fully realize its design and mechanics. I wanted to base it off a casino which the end level didn’t have but the boss did. We did this by design a slot machine mechanic where the boss would randomly choose which ability it was going to use which would then be shown to the player.

Image of the “Gluttony” level in the Sewer section of the level

Image of the “Gluttony” level in the “top” part of level, above the sewer portion.