Game Summary

Ethereality places the player in the role of Jean Pontmercy, who is pursuing the mysterious Richard in a quest for revenge. Jean's pursuit of Richard has led him to an ancient and mysterious Labyrinth, where he must fight his way through to find Richard. However, not all is as it seems, and Jean may be forced to question the conviction that led him there. The game features a large map, a multitude of player abilities to traverse the environment, and multiple endings based on secrets found and player actions.

Ethereality marks the team's first team game production.

Responsibilities

Team Role:                   Sole Programmer
Team Size:                    5 Developers
Genre:                           "Metroidvania" style side scrolling action
Engine:                           GuildEd
Development Cycle:    8 Weeks
Responsibilities:
  • All technical aspects of the game
  • Character abilities (Run, Jump, Double Jump, Hovering, Wall Jump, Phase Shifting, 8-Directional Attacks)
  • Enemy AI
  • Multi-Level support and room transitions
  • In-world minimap with exploration history.
  • Support for Multiple Endings based on player actions

What Went Well

  • Fast Prototype: I was able to learn the ins and outs of the engine quickly, allowing me to get a working player character
  • Team Dynamics: The team got along really well, which resulting in major buy-in and commitment to the project
  • Powerful Abilities: I was able to implement a number of movement and combat abilities that players greatly enjoyed using

What Went Wrong

  • Late-Night Heroics: Several nights before milestone days were spent working frantically. While these nights can make for fun stories later, they are ultimately a bad sign within development.
  • Difficult To Maintain: Since this project was my first team game, I did not realize how some of my early programming practices made the project difficult to maintain and scale until much later when the damage was done and I had to go back and fix it.

What I Learned

  • Make informed decisions about scope: There were many doubts and concerns raised about the size of our game. However, we went forward with our scope because we were committed and prepared to undertake the effort it required.