.Clu

Published by j-smith on

(.Clu Trailer)

About .Clu

This is 2.5D metroidvania game with unique platforming mechanics, storytelling, and characters. The game consist of sidescroller combat and encourages exploration. Players will fight, solve platforming puzzles, and gain new abilities that will assist in their progression through the game’s world.

This was mostly a independently developed game with support of a few highly talented artists, programmers, and musicians.

Project StatusComplete
Project TypeGame Jam
Project Duration9 months
Software UsedUnity, Adobe Illustrator, Autodesk Sketchbook, Esoteric Spine, Unity Probuilder, Fmod
Languages UsedC#
Team Size5
RoleDesigner, Programmer, Writer, Art Director, Producer

.Clu is currently available on itch.io and GameJolt.com

Art

Concept Art

I designed concept for protagonist and most of side characters and enemies. The characters were given a flat art style with a cyberpunk/noir design to match the theme of the game. Concepts were sketched in Autodesk Sketchbook and rendered in Adobe Illustrator.

Character Design

Animation

I used Esoteric Spine tool to rig and animate all character animations. Animations were then exported into .png sequenced files. The sequenced files were then combined into spritesheets for each animation and then imported into Unity and animated with Unity’s animation tool. The game has over 20 unique characters and each has at least 8-10 animations, animations like, idle, run, walk, attack, fall, jump, land, etc.

Detective Carbon Rigged
Detective Carbon Animated

Level Design

I was responsible for all level concepts and designs. Concepts were created using Adobe Photoshop to sketch and Illustrator to render. Levels were then designed in Unity using tools like Probuilder and other paid assets.

Level Concepts

Disk-District-Enemy-Placement

Image 1 of 4

Level Designing

(Image of the Drive District level)
(Clip of the Bio District level)

Narrative

I developed the game’s story (along with assistance team’s input), scripted all game cutscenes, and wrote all Non-playable character’s dialogues. I also created scripts for the npc’s to perform actions when dialogue is active, such as facing player and playing talk animation, or activating an item for the player to collect.

Story Summary

In the year 2115 there’s a place called Bright Wire City. One day, the city was struck with a cyber attack that affected the Power Plant’s cores. The cyber attack prevents the cores from providing power to the city’s five districts and corrupts all of the city’s robots, making them violent.

You play as Detective Carbon,  who was murdered while investigating a cyber attack on the City’s Power Plant with his 4 other team members. Upon being revived, Carbon is told that he has been in a coma for 5 months, the city has fallen into destruction, and that his team has disbanded under the suspicion that one of them was responsible for his murder. Carbon was also informed that his heart was damaged in the attack and was given an artificial heart transplant that needs to stay powered in order to keep him alive.

With only a limited amount of time, Carbon aims to track down his former teammates, seek clues on his murder, and uncover the mysterious attack on the city.

See Game Design Document

NPC Dialogue

All NPC’s dialogue

Mechanics

Boss Battles

I conceptualized, designed, and programmed all 4 boss battles for the game. Bosses are designed with behavior states that cycle into one another (like Idle -> Combat -> Rest -> Idle) and states that trigger upon certain situations (like Death or Hurt). When the Boss enters combat state, it randomly selects one of the 3 available attacks depending on the boss’s health amount. The lower the boss’s health gets, the more attacks the boss will have access to.

Bosses are programmed with their own unique scripts that are designed around how they perform they’re movement and attacks. Unity’s Animation Tool works with scripts to transition animations and activate functions the boss.

Puzzles

I designed and programmed puzzles for certain levels for the player to solve.

Time Attack Puzzle – Player must hit all buttons within a period of time to unlock the key and proceed to the next room.
Connect the Circuit Puzzle – Each switch controls the rotations of a circuit. Player must align each circuit with one another to unlock the doors to proceed into the next rooms.