Harry-James Linford Haunted Helper

Overview

This game was a team of five one week-long games jam. My main responsibilities were project lead, designer and developer.
Additionally I implemented my own voice, created some audio, VFX and altered the lighting for the game.
The game was heavily inspired by 'The Legend of Zelda, Link's Awakening' for the 'Nintendo Switch' and the 'Nintendo DS' game 'The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks'.
The games Jam's theme was a 'helping hand'.
I wanted to create a game where the player would use their adversaries to solve puzzles and complete levels.
This project was a test for me to create a game in Unity in a short time frame.

Problems and Solutions

The Player Character

Mechanics

I wanted to create a system where the human character would reach the goal and finish the level.
The player needed a way to get 'something' to help them through the level. This led to the creation of the ghost.
The player could swap their character to the ghost and using the same button could take over and manipulate enemies and use their ability.
However, I wanted the human character to still be vulnerable when using the ghost.
During ghost mode the human can't move at all. This means the player has to think about placing the human out of harm's way.
To add more tension to the game I needed a method to stop the player using a ghost at all times, otherwise the player could just use this whenever they are being chased.
To counter this, I added a detection system which if the player is within a certain range of an enemy they wouldn't be able to summon the ghost.
Using a mixture of UI, VFX and audio changes I was able to communicate this to the player. Additionally possessing enemies would also give them an aura and change the camera colours.

Enemies

Enemies needed to have a singular ability which could be used both against the player or for the player's benefit once they are being controlled.
Every enemy needed to be able to be possessed and also detect the player from range.
Whilst numerous enemies were planned only two were implemented. One was a demon wall based on the Nurikabe and another a dark knight.
The wall acted as a way to teach the player safely how to use the possession mechanic. In future levels it could be used to block off enemies or open secret pathways etc.
The knight would be a mobile unit who had their own specific patrol points and that could swing a sword, used to either defeat the player or hit switches.

Story and Level Structure

The story was fairly simplistic, purely escaping a dungeon with your companion, a ghost. The level structure was designed as a tutorial/opening level.
The level needed to have ways for the player to escape the knight if caught and the teleporters were a way of achieving this.
The level was designed to be completed in about 2-5 minutes, followed by more complex levels.