Mason Muehlbauer's Portfolio

Introduction 

I am currently in the process of developing a solo dev game for one of my classes at WSU. It is a part of a larger project and I do have 5 graphic and web designers assisting me with making all the game art and we collectively designed the art style, story, found game inspirations, and as a group made all project decisions. The game doesn’t have a name as of yet, but it is a 2D pixelated thriller-horror style game where the player will run from a monster that is hunting them and dodge dangerous traps that litter a postapocalyptic city setting. The only safety for the player lies in the light from lamp posts that litter the level and act as checkpoints and provide some context to the story and world through newspaper clippings. So here is a sort of dev diary or checkpoint report style post.  

Inspiration 

We are taking massive inspiration from Playdead Studios, specifically the smash indie hit Limbo. We are attempting to make a 2D pixelated side scrolling thriller-horror game. It is fairly scoped down mainly we are using this part of the project to showcase animations, cutscenes, and lighting effects. All of these elements are also prevalent in Limbo.  

Story 

As of now we are planning to tell the story though 2 scripted cut scenes and some handcrafted newspapers that the player will find attached to light posts through the game that give the player some context to the world and potentially the main characters background. The main character we are leaving as a mysterious figure who does not remember anything before waking up underneath a light post. We don’t really want to answer any questions, rather add context and potentially create some new questions in the player’s mind throughout the game. 

UI/UX 

The idea is to keep scope small and that extends to the user interface and experience as well. I want to keep this part of the game simple and functional but with enough highlighting and animation to allow the player to understand how to navigate the menus. Another key to the UI/UX is making sure it fits the themes and tone of the game so keeping it simple, clean, and dark will fit well with the overall project. 

Gameplay 

The overall gameplay is very simple since I want to keep the scope small enough to finish this project in time. Similar to Limbo the player will be able to move left and right, jump, and have an interact button to disarm traps. We don’t have enough time to design good puzzles in the game, so the plan is to make it somewhat difficult for players to find the object or trigger they need to interact with to disarm the trap impeding their progress.  

Development Status 

Currently we are a few weeks in. I have implemented the input and movement system, pause menu, title menu, checkpoint system, and built triggers that “kill” and reset the player to the previous checkpoint. Next on the list is adding an infinite parallax background, implementing the main character animations for movement, and adding in our own art for the background. All in all, I am optimistic about the timeline ahead and my ability to deliver the game in a good enough state for the due date of the project.