Extinguished (2023)

Overview
Extinguised is a short game that was developed from the ground up in Unity as a proof of concept for a non-combat, firefighting, Metroidvania title. Gameplay was planned to be loosely based on titles such as Super Metroid (SNES), Alien 3 (SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis), and Burning Rangers (SEGA Saturn), with exploration, problem-solving, and rescuing trapped civilians being the primary gameplay goals.

DEMO | GITHUB

Project Design Goals

Open-ended gameplay that follows the tropes set by the Metroidvania genre such as circular level design, with ability-centric puzzles and progression.

A dynamic camera system that reacts to the local environment while also being modular and setup to trigger with custom events.

Modular dialogue system.

A non-combat design focus that emphasises environmental problem solving over confrontation.

My Role
As this was a solo development project, I performed all programming and design duties. These included crafting character movement and abilties, environmental hazards, and all level and puzzle designs.

What Did I Learn?
This project was the culmination of several months of study, an excersize both to act as a proof of concept for the potential of a full game, while also being a test of the skills that I had developed over the previous months. I learned valuable skills relating to level and puzzle design thanks to cycle of iteration when designing areas, submitting them for playtesting, and making changes based on feedback.
Development of Extinguished ultimately didn't continue beyond the proof of concept phase, however, I gained valuable insights into the process of prototyping and iterating on a concept that have been invaluable ever since.
A playable demo build of the opening areas can be found here.

Assets Used

Character, background, and animation assets were taken from Craftpix.