Jam games
YEAH!! Bags of Money! (2018)
YEAH!! Bags of Money! is a mobile puzzle game made with Unity. It was never released anywhere, but I still have a copy of the build.
Developed during a private jam at Kajaani University, I wanted to try my hand at solo development. I wanted to create something simple and easily expandable. I ended up with a game where you have to deliver a bag of money to the goal while keeping the bag’s topside upwards to avoid dropping any loot.
Fortunately I feel like I planned the whole development well, since I managed to include pretty much every feature I intended in the small timeframe. While the project was really fun to develop, it made me appreciate how efficiently things get done in a proper team.
This was also the first time I had to make finalized 2D art by myself. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that ever again, haha.
Game design experience:
– Designed core mechanics
Level design experience:
– Designed 7 levels
Other experience:
– Solo development
– Implemented all features (C#)
– Did some 2D art, yeesh
My Summer Cat (2017)
My Summer Cat is a 2D platformer for PC, made with Unity. It was never released anywhere, but I still have a copy of the build.
Developed by a four-person team during a private jam at Kajaani University, we set out to create a jam game based on our personal interests. My personal interest was to just get more level design experience. That combined with the wishes of others, we ended up making a short 2D platformer about a cat lost in a well.
I got to do level design, just as I had hoped. The game consists of a single level, which aims to teach the game’s simple mechanics quickly and then offer the player a variety of challenging situations combining the mechanics. This was a very nostalgic return to 2D platformer level design for me personally.
Level design experience:
– Designed and built the game’s only level
Personal projects
New Super Reno Land (2011)
New Super Reno Land is a romhack of New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS.
I started working on this shortly after I had finished Super Reno Land, since I found an unofficial level editor for New Super Mario Bros., even though it wasn’t as elaborate as Lunar Magic. My goal was to design levels with similar quality to that of the original levels, but more challenging levels and more experimental utilization of existing mechanics.
I never managed to finish this project, but I did go deep enough to create over 40 levels from scratch. In retrospect, the quality of the levels varied quite greatly, but they were already a notch better than the ones I made back in Super Reno Land.
This project also served as an immense learning experience in terms of level design and game development. It helped me confirm that this line of work is what I enjoy and find really intriguing.
Level design experience:
– Designed over 40 levels
Super Reno Land (2010)
Super Reno Land is a romhack of Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo.
What started as curious fiddling with an unofficial Super Mario World level editor, Lunar Magic, eventually spiraled into a project of designing brand new levels into the game. I had no specific goals for this project as I went on, I simply experimented stuff on a whim and executed all ideas that came to mind. I even managed to finish it, replacing all over 60 levels of the game with my own ones.
This was my first big level design project and while its quality jumps all over the place, it provided me with valuable experience and a better mindset for learning level design in the future.
The name “Reno” though? The name of a dog I once knew. A good boy, I assure you.
Level design experience:
– Designed over 60 levels