HardDriverz

Beaver Quest is about solving puzzles and building dams all to enact revenge upon an evil tree who destroyed all our friendly beavers’ homes. We chose this theme through a series of fun iterative storyboarding. It first started with what genre of game we wanted to create, as a team we bounced around adventure, platformer and puzzle, but eventually settled on a puzzle game. Then we decided what our puzzles would revolve around, we thought of the board game Rush Hour with its idea of moving cars out of the way in specific orders to solve the puzzle, but this eventually morphed into moving cubes onto certain spots, which also eventually became the idea for our pressure plates. Lastly came our theme where we first thought of an evil tree as our main enemy or reason for the player progressing through the game. This naturally led to who would a tree fear most? We thought of the main character who was a lumberjack whose job is to literally cut down trees, but then we realized that the cute little furry animals called beavers also hilariously cut down endless amounts of trees just to dam up rivers for homes. A beaver is much cuter than a lumberjack thus we went with the main character playing as a beaver!

The total creation of Beaver Quest took the culmination of around 3-4 months of work. The team was given around 3 hours everyday of the work week to work on the various tasks that go into game production from level design, programming, art, and other production related tasks. Although, some overtime work was approved by our stakeholder which allowed us to squeeze in a few extra hours before certain milestones were due.

The experience of making Beaver Quest was invaluable to all our team members as game creation can be a wonderfully rewarding experience, but also comes with certain unforeseen problems that only become known once one as embarked on the creation process for themselves. For example, certain tasks during the making of our game took more hours than was initially planned for, such as our movement system. Task creation is something that can only be learned by simply doing and certainly something we did a lot of as a team. How to timebox and create efficient tasks are also skills we worked on as a team. Other skills like communication were improved. We learned that when creating a game there are many complex moving parts that introduce risk, this risk can be magnified if communication is not happening. Learning how, when and what to communicate was a fun and stressful process but made us all better at working within a team.

So, embark on the great Beaver Quest to defeat the evil tree once and for all and share in the journey that we created!

Escape Through the Wire is a stealth-strategy game with the theme of the player being the “man in the chair” and guiding their agent throughout the levels by hand drawn paths. The player must be decisive and first analyze the level before drawing their paths, so they don’t run into any enemies and restart the level. The player must also be ready to use their toggle button to get through closed doors or escape the visibility of any enemies by hiding within a jamming field. Upon beating a level, the player is rewarded with a level complete screen, giving them the satisfaction of beating a challenging level, and once the player beats the final level, they are shown the end credits, letting the player know that they have officially beaten Escape Through the Wire and have secured all of the secret files.

As a team, we all agreed early on that we wanted a unique movement system for our game that involved drawing/painting. Though the vision of the game wasn’t fully set in stone at the start, the core loop of hand drawn paths was a part of our original game idea and stayed even when we transitioned to creating a stealth game. The path forward from there was rocky as we were constantly juggling different game ideas to make the player feel more like the “person in the chair.” Though ideas like blueprints and camera switching ended up being cut, they also ended up being valuable lessons for us as a team, as we learned that we were trying to make a game with a wide array of interactions, when we should have been focused on refining the core elements of our game. After learning that valuable lesson, we were able to finish strong by finalizing our assets, refining our levels, and fixing the remaining bugs.

Escape Through the Wire was a two-and-a-half-month-long project. This project was beneficial to all team members as this was the first game any of us have ever created. We learned how to communicate effectively together by having daily meetings to check in on everyone’s progress and discuss ideas. We also made sure to have fun, and in doing so made it easier for us to open up to each other about problems we may be facing and to ask for help when needed. Another valuable lesson we learned about the Game Design process was to consistently stay up to date with documentation. The most important of all is that as a team we never let the room become a negative space, argue with one another, or criticize each other. 

On a planet with an ecological imbalance, the player is given an important mission: to save a land that is gradually becoming barren. Players will take on the role of a person who lands on the planet and gradually bring this wasteland back to life by planting trees, creating rivers, and purifying toxic waste!

In this nature-themed strategy puzzle game, you can utilize an array of distinct abilities – which are presented as cards – to take control and restore this expanding hexagonal world back to its former beauty! Each card has unique characteristics, including a cost to use, a time to activate, and overall contribution to the status of the environment!

As players progress through the game, the size of the map expands: their actions and alterations to the previous level are preserved and play a critical role in solving the current one. Players will need to think strategically on how to best utilize their transformed areas to complete the current level!

During the game, players will experience the challenge of alternating day and night. Through reforestation and purification, players will need to make wise choices to ensure that the land continues to come back to life.

Haunted Ember is a 2D puzzle platformer where players guide Ember, an enchanted lantern, through a haunted Victorian castle. The game’s core mechanic revolves around mastering light to solve puzzles, navigating dark environments, and surviving encounters with angry ghosts. Players illuminate ghost tiles to cross gaps, push crates to unlock doors, and ride platforms to explore hidden areas—all while managing oil reserves to keep Ember’s flame alive. With an atmospheric pixel art style and clever challenges, Haunted Ember offers a unique and engaging twist on the puzzle-platformer genre.

Haunted Ember was developed over several months as a team effort, showcasing our ability to create a unique mechanic-driven game. Our goal was to design a game that challenges players while immersing them in a unique world. During the process, we honed in on our individual disciplines while working together to solve development challenges as a team. Developing Haunted Ember taught us the importance of balancing game difficulty, maintaining visual cohesion, and iterating on feedback to create a polished final product for launch.

Discover the unique experience of Haunted Ember through puzzles that demand quick thinking and exploration, paired with an eerie atmosphere. Will you master Ember’s light to unlock the secrets of the haunted castle—or will Ember’s flame flicker out forever? 

KittyPunk is a 2d platformer that emphasizes momentum-based swinging. The main character is a cat that uses her grappling hook to swing from rooftop to rooftop. It is about learning how momentum works and using it to your advantage to rescue the kittens that are trapped in the bubbles. Once you have rescued all the kittens in a level you unlock a speedrun mode where you challenge yourself to beat the level as fast as possible.

The team started pre-production of the game in mid-September. Early on we decided to make a game about a cat that swings to the end of the level. We took inspiration from many games on steam, such as Rain World and Spider Heck, that had swinging elements but did not dive deep into it. It wasn’t until October that KittyPunk started to take shape with a cyberpunk aesthetic. After two months of development the team learned that communication is the foundation for making a great game.

Over the process the team communicated well. However, there were several times that we lost time because of minor misunderstandings. Particularly, the interdisciplinary communication of their vision of the game and how they expect certain assets to be used.

Are you ready to join the rescue operation?

Planet Painter is a relaxing painting game with light puzzle elements where players solve puzzles and paint the entire world to earn mushrooms. With a cutesy art style, Planet Painter is fun for all ages and anyone who enjoys relaxing and cozy games. Featuring simple mechanics and charming main character, Cosmo. Cosmo is a cute and cuddly chameleon that loves painting and crushing color-draining mushrooms to return color to each planet. Explore a variety of environments while solving simple puzzles at the pace you want to play at.
 Planet Painter is a mix of science fiction and whimsical, a magical landscape covers each level and adds another layer to the cozy atmosphere.

We as a team love science fiction and one of the earliest decisions we made is that Planet Painter was going to be set in space. With that in mind, our earliest concept art of Cosmo was an alien astronaut. Once the idea of painting and color changing was brought up, the next natural step was to make him a chameleon. Making this game in three months was a new set of challenges for Wintermoon Studios but we were very passionate about this project, and we feel like our love and effort came across in this game. 

Rizu: Stage! is a 2D rhythm dungeon crawler for Android tablet where you move and attack on the beat. Help intergalactic idol Rizu explore 6 different venues, reclaim her microphone, and get back to the stage to perform. Enjoy the game’s adorable hand-drawn anime art style, bubbly music, and six levels. Kill enemy haters that get in your way, rack up a high multiplier and higher score, and go for the best rank for each level!

Rizu: Stage! was developed by Free Fall Studios, a 4-person development team made of programmer and composer Ayden Machajewski, level designers James Parker and Steven Fan, and artist Shuyi Shi. They were given approximately four months—from September through November—to create a tablet game from scratch using the Unity game engine. The game started as a series of brainstormed iterations of rhythm games. Shuyi created a drawing of an idol for an early prototype, and Rizu was born. From there, the team was excited about the variety of possibilities and development began proper.

Developing a rhythm-dungeon hybrid game presented several challenges but exciting opportunities to explore mechanics and control schemes. Some beloved designs had to be cut, but it was ultimately for the betterment of the game. The greatest challenge was teaching players to stay on rhythm; this took several hours of iteration and refinement to perfect. By the end of development, the team had learned how to refine their user experience to keep the players focused on the game scene and having fun. While challenging, development was extremely rewarding. The development team aims to continue working together in the future!

"Run! Alice" is a charming and engaging 2D puzzle platform game that invites players of all ages to help Alice escape from the castle of the Queen of Hearts. Developed as a semester-long project by a dedicated team of students from ºìÌÒÓ°ÊÓ Guildhall Cohort 34 - The Prisoners. "Run! Alice" offers a unique blend of stealth, puzzle-solving, and whimsical storytelling. Players must guide Alice through four distinct levels, each filled with traps, guards, and clever obstacles that require creative thinking and timing to overcome. 

Players can interact with the environment using intuitive controls including open and close the door, teleport through different floors with rabbit holes, unlock different doors and cellar doors with different colored keys, and strategically place cheese to distract guards.

The project began with a shared love for puzzle platform games and a desire to create something that would be both challenging and accessible. "Run! Alice" is a collaborative effort, where the team members focused on learning real-world skills in Art Creation, Level Design, and Programming. Over the course of several months, the team worked collaboratively to bring this vision to life, learning valuable skills in game design, mobile game development, and teamwork. The game’s beautiful artwork, inspired by classic fairytales, provides a visually enchanting experience, while the progressive difficulty keeps players engaged and motivated to help Alice on her journey to freedom.

"Run! Alice" is perfect for families and casual gamers who enjoy story-driven gameplay with a touch of strategy. The project not only demonstrates the team's ability to create a polished and enjoyable game but also highlights the importance of creative problem-solving and teamwork. Join Alice in her adventure, outwit the Queen’s guards, and experience the magic of "Run! Alice"!

Signal Shift is a 2D puzzle platformer developed by CYcLe Studio over a period of 3 months from September 2024. Players will take control of TV Guy, a TV robot, and embark on an energetic journey to find the lost signal. With his unique ability to switch between blue and red signal frequencies, you'll maneuver platforms, avoid deadly dangers, and solve intricate puzzles in this beautifully minimalistic world. This innovative mechanic not only provides dynamic gameplay, but also engages players to strategize and think critically about every move. This game was selected because we wanted to create a game that casual players could pick up quickly, but that hardcore players could get hooked on. To create such a game, the team faced many challenges during development, such as cooperation and synergy between each team member. Every step of the way, from conceptualization to development, was an opportunity to hone our skills in level design, programming, and art.

In addition to creating a fun and challenging game, the development of Signal Shift was a valuable learning experience for the team. During development we improved our collaboration skills, solved complex design problems, and realized and implemented player-centric features such as intuitive touch controls and smooth difficulty curves. These lessons will inform future projects and help us excel in our game design careers.

Join TV Guy as he explores a world of color, challenge, and discovery. Can you master the signal switching mechanic, overcome the obstacles, collect the hidden batteries and guide him to the final goal? Enter Signal Shift today and experience a puzzle platformer that redefines the genre. Your journey begins here!

Space Bunny is a single-player, physics-based platformer. The game exists in a zero-gravity space environment, following the Bunny protagonist who is looking to recover their carrots. On a delivery mission, Bunny’s ship encountered a meteor shower that caused major damage to the ship, including the cargo containers, which resulted in the carrots being released into space. 

The player’s goal is to help the Bunny explore the space around the ruins of their ship, navigating by latching onto meteors with their space lasso. As Bunny is in a constant state of motion, latching onto a meteor allows the bunny to rotate around the object, gaining the ability to change direction of travel, as well as align with nearby carrots. The game enforces quick decisions and precision to successfully advance through the levels. 

As Bunny moves through the environment, carrots can be discovered and collected, adding to the achievement of the level. Oxygen pickups may also be found, which can increase Bunny’s 02 levels and provide extra time to explore and find more carrots before Bunny must return to the core of the ship.

However, the damage from the ship adds to the challenge as Bunny progresses. If Bunny encounters spikey shards from damaged walls, oxygen levels may be lowered.
Conversely, dispersed gel from the ship can be used to propel Bunny through an area faster.
The player must guide Bunny along, while determining the best way for travel, giving environment, oxygen, and carrot location careful thought.

Space Bunny is a game made by ICHI Studio, a group of four students at ºìÌÒÓ°ÊÓ Guildhall, a graduate school tailored for game design. This project was formed from a collection of ideas and brainstorming done by the team, resulting in shared group passions and interests. The project was a result of discussions and pitched ideas on fishing, cozy farming games, pixel art, and Kirby to name some, and of course gravity, space, and bunnies. Although not all discussed topics are present in the game, sharing what ideas we had and how we could incorporate them to make our own is how Space Bunny came to be. 

Space Bunny was developed over the course of two months. This project provided valuable experience and learnings to the team. We were able to engage in what a typical production cycle and working with a stakeholder looks like, as well as conduct playtesting and work to understand and implement feedback. Working on this project provided an amazing experience to the team and we are happy to share it with others. Play Space Bunny now!

Thermal is a 2D, top down, action-adventure mobile game. Themed around an alien organism, Thermal highlights the use of thermal energy to travel around outer space and to look for your lost children. Enemies will block your path to make your mission harder. Over the course of 10 weeks, our team of an artist, two level designers, and two programmers, created the game design, made all the art assets, programmed the gameplay systems, laid out levels, and continually balanced the feel of the game to make a fun and engaging experience. 

We chose the central theme of thermal energy because we liked the idea of heat being a resource. Using it for health, movement, combat, as well as other key game mechanics, Thermal becomes an intricately balanced game where every decision has meaningful positive or negative consequences. Also wanting to create a unique visual style, the theme of Thermal allowed us to explore a colorful and abstract look to our game. We are especially proud of the visual conveyance of heat in our game. Because heat served as the central resource to the game, we knew that every art asset needed to reinforce the player’s understanding of their relationship with heat. With bright, colorful, shifting colors and flowing movement of shapes, we wanted to give the player the feeling that they were looking through a thermal filter while adding our own personal style. Additionally, we created systems to dynamically adjust these colors both as a representation of the player’s health, but also to reinforce feelings of calmness or stress depending on what the current game situation called for. 

Being hands on within Unity while experiencing a simulated production pipeline, each of us were able to grow in our experience in our respective roles while practicing communication and coordination between different skillsets. We are incredibly proud of our game, Thermal, and thankful for the skills we learned through the time making it.

"Tilt Dungeon" is a physics-based puzzle game designed specifically for tablet gameplay, featuring intuitive tilt controls that allow players to navigate treacherous dungeons filled with traps, monsters, and intricate puzzles. Players take on the role of Pinky, a self-aware slime who’s breaking free from the dungeon to become human. Inspired by the classic Labyrinth board game, Tilt Dungeon combines simple controls with diverse gameplay mechanics to create a casual yet challenging experience. With its unique blend of physics-based movement and creative puzzles, the game encourages players to explore, strategize, and overcome obstacles.

This project was developed over a 11-week period, from September 16 to December 2, by a dedicated team of artists, level designers, and programmers. Our goal was to create a game that felt natural and engaging on a tablet, which is why we opted for tilt controls over traditional buttons. We wanted a game that was easy for players to pick up and play but still offered depth through a variety of mechanics and increasing challenge.

Throughout development, team members gained invaluable experience in collaboration and communication across different disciplines. From understanding the needs of each track—art, level design, and programming—to prioritizing tasks and managing conflicts within a shared Unity project, the process taught us how to iterate effectively based on feedback. The result is a polished, approachable game that focuses on engaging gameplay and puzzles, allowing players to immerse themselves in problem-solving and exploration without being hindered by complex controls. Tilt Dungeon offers an enjoyable balance of simplicity and innovation, making it easy to learn but hard to master.