MONOMAN | Junior Mafuta

ROLE

Game & Level Designer

TEAM SIZE

Solo

PROJECT LINK

itch.io

LENGTH OF DEVELOPMENT

2nd October 2023 - 1st March 2024

GENRE

Platformer

PLATFORM

Unreal Engine 5

TRAILER

WALKTHROUGH

SOFTWARE

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Monoman is a fun, challenging, monochromatic 2.5D side-scroller platformer with unique character movement. It draws inspiration from the likes of Celeste, Inside and Mega Man 11. My aims with this project was to create a cohesive & enjoyable game, cater for players of varied abilities and gaming experiences and implement a plethora of different design methods used to increase and maintain player engagement.

KEY CONTRIBUTIONS

Moodboards and Storyboard

I created mood boards to give myself a good set of platformer references for research into various sections of the project such as mechanics or pacing. I also made a story board to help set a narrative for the game.

Gantt Chart

I utilised a pre-production heavy agile game development process - specifically the SCRUM framework - so that the development timeline could be split into different sprints.

Core Gameplay Loops and Arcs

I looked into the loops used in games like Mario and Megaman to establish the core gameplay loops and arcs for Monoman.

Three Cs

I looked into the camera, character and controls of similar platformers like Megaman, Celeste and Hollow Knight and used those to form this game's three Cs.

Mechanics and Obstacles

I created diagrams of a combinations of very common and more unique mechanics and obstacles found in platformers.

Level Rationale

I designed areas of the level in text before sketching out what sections within that area could look like.

Level Iteration

Tweaks in character movement combined with feedback from playtesting resulted in many iterations.

Kishotenketsu Implementation

I introduced the chaser laser in a safe environment, used it later to increase the difficulty of a gravity section, brought back mini versions in a harder gravity section and parted ways with it at the end of that section.

POST-MORTEM

SLIDE DECK

DESIGN DOC