Trove
Can you find all the treasure?
Trailer
Project Info
In this methodical platformer, each jump or series of jumps is its own puzzle that must be approached with both strategy and nimble movements as you collect alien treasure in outer space.
Developer – Joseph Fore
Genre - 2D Platformer
Development Time - 3 weeks
Game Engine - Unreal Engine 4
Intended Audience - Casual gamers who enjoy platformers such as Celeste or Ori and the Blind Forest
Platform – PC
For this school project I was provided with a pre-existing 2D platformer character template to get started. Part of the assignment was tuning the character's movement and mechanics until they felt satisfying and fun. I made sure that the character jump, double jump, and wall jumps were responsive and balanced by testing in a test level before moving on to blocking out the full level.
Once the player character was tuned I created the level to match the character's move set. I looked to other platformers such as Celeste and Ori and the Blind Forest for inspiration. I wanted to create an experience where the player must stop and think about how they will approach each jump before committing. I designed the level so that the difficulty of jumps is ramped up steadily so that the player has time to get comfortable with the character controls. I also made sure that there are plenty of opportunities to collect treasure by placing "troves" of gems in sometimes difficult to reach places. However the reward is always proportional to the amount of skill required to reach these troves.
The level block-out and character tuning was my own work. However the art, audio and character template were created by others.
Gallery
Concept
You are a professional space treasure hunter aboard the scavenger ship, The Trove. Your crew is tasked with finding valuable treasure all over the galaxy, wherever it can be found. Visiting alien ruins, crash sites, and long abandoned spaceships are all a part of the job. While the locales are not always hospitable, the payout is almost certainly worth any risk to life and limb. Or at least that’s what you tell yourself when you’re on the job.
In this 2D platformer, players must run, jump, and climb their way through an abandoned alien spaceship in search of treasure and artifacts. Similar to platforming mechanics in Ori and the Blind Forest or Celeste, navigating the spaceship is treacherous and requires that the player use their character’s movements strategically and nimbly to reach their goals. Players must collect as many treasures and secret artifacts as they can from the ship before safely returning to the Trove.