S-Tier Hitman
A 2D arcade shooter where you must take out the target without any collateral damage.
Project Information
S-Tier Hitman is a 2D arcade video game. You are an evil hitman, hired by all sort of unseemly folks to take out a series of do-gooder targets. You must maintain your composure as the speed and difficulty ramps up.
This was a game jam project created as part of the IDEA 350 hackathon at Wesleyan University.
Medium: Video Game (Unity)
Role: Gameplay Designer, Programmer, Writer
Duration: 48 Hours (Initial prototype), One week (WebGL Release)
Responsibilities
Gameplay Design
Proposed and designed the gameplay loop and progression. Worked with team of artists to rapidly iterate UI and UX designs for the final product.
- Developed initial concept and wrote game design documentation.
- Engineering progression to ensure player understanding and engagement.
- Balanced rate of target movement to maintain challenge and interest without spiking difficulty curves.
- Planned and implemented architectural and design reworks for WebGL release.
Initial design mockup for the citizens and UI layouts in S-Tier hitman, created in collaboration with Leigh Allen.
Finalized versions of the citizens and UI from the WebGL release.
Programming
Designed and wrote the game's main interaction scripts using C# and Unity.
- Redesigned and refactored codebase solo for WebGL release.
- Built mouse tracking, hover detection, level initialization, and shooting scripts.
- Worked with citizen randomization team to ensure compatibility between scripts.
- Developed dynamic text switching functionality for the game's screens.
- Maintained architectural designs and style standards through technical design documentation and proper commenting practices.
WebGL Release
After the hackathon, I engaged in a solo project to refactor the game's architecture and codebase to prepare it for a release on itch.io through WebGL.
- Conducted thorough review and refactoring of codebase, achieving 50% increase in framerate and 20% decrease in load time.
- Reworked UI and UX for browsers, adjusting the sizing and spacing of elements to create better gameplay experience.
- Designed and developed new architecture to make use of Unity features such as additive scene loading and scriptable objects.
- Developed and tested new "night mission" gamemode designed to enhance challenge and engagement for returning players (release currently pending).
- Created and managed itch.io release strategy, resulting in thousands of pageviews in the first week of release.
Acknowledgements
S-Tier Hitman was made in collaboration with the Rock Hunting with Mohs team: Leigh Allen, Shannon Lin, Maze Labowitz, Tim Goggin, and myself. Special thanks to Ben Sulzinski, Jesse Herrnson, and Reilly Manton for their advice and tehcnical support.
