Fantasy Shift

"A 2D arcade platformer. Hundreds of deaths. Endless frustration. Zero replayability. Simply... a masterpiece."

Fantasy Shift was my very first game development project. I created it in GameMaker Studio using their programming language, GML. I used this project as my foundation into the game development workflow. I had no experience in programming or pixel art, but I had to create every aspect of the game from scratch in around a month. I started off by writing a GDD (Game Design Document) and creating some level mockups with some placeholder art. I then went on to get to grips with the engine as well as get a basic primer on computer science theory in general. Over the course of the month I spent a lot of time building the features and refactoring the code as my object database grew larger and larger until I had finished my outlined plan for the game. I took the extra time to create some relatively nice looking pixel art for the game as well as adding in a tutorial section. By no means is this game great, or revolutionary, or innovative but it was my introduction to game development and I am very proud of the experience it gave me.

It's a 2D arcade-style platformer. This means you will die... a lot. There aren't many levels (6 + boss fight), so I focused on spending my short production time building very difficult levels as a trade off for extensive content. Don't get me wrong, I intended for the game to be hard, just not as hard as it actually is. I didn't account for the major difference in skill between myself and the players. I must've spent countless hours playtesting the levels, so by the time it came to release I could complete the entire game with zero deaths and was worried if it would be too easy. This definitely taught me to get others to playtest your game throughout development.
#arcade