REVIVED PHOENIX GAMES
INDEPENDENT DEVELOPER || 2023
ABOUT THE GAME
Levity is an independent project created using Unity 2D and taken all the way from early concepts to fully shipped on Google Play store!
Levity is a mobile physics based 2D sidescroller. Players only have 1 verb: Shoot. Levity pushes a singular mechanic to its limit, where “Shoot” becomes your way of fighting AND movement! The gun's recoil propels you the opposite direction creating an interesting challenge where players must balance their movement and attacks in combat. Players can also reach extreme speeds where their sheer velocity can also be used as a weapon!
Levity plays like a rogue-like, where players enter the world to destroy as many objects and enemies as possible to earn money. When the player dies or runs out of ammo, they return to the menu where they can spend their money to upgrade their character and try again!
MY CONTRIBUTIONS
As an independent developer, I wore every hat and created every aspect of this game! I did use some tools and plugins to supplement the development of this project, which are listed below:
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FEEL - More Mountains
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Modular Motion
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All audio files
DESIGN GOALS
The primary goal of Levity and its massive level was to push a singular mechanic to its limit. Only giving players the ability to shoot creates a very interesting design challenge as to how it interacts with the world. The idea was to provide challenges to players that could be solved in many ways.
KEY ITERATIONS
FIRST PROTOTYPE
From the first playtest of Levity, it was clear the game had potential. Players were engaged and had created their own motivations beyond what I had given them. Players definitely had a hard time controlling the character, which encouraged me to invest some time in quick turn mechanics, allowing players to slow themselves down much faster than accelerating.
SMOOTH MESHES
One of the biggest changes I made to Levity involves its Level design. I made the change from hard surface collisions to more organic and round surfaces. This benefitted the high octane gameplay beyond measure. Unfortunately, it was too late to go back and fix other levels, as I had given myself a hard deadline to ship the project. This wasn’t the end of the world though, as the smaller corridors of the earlier levels created a great place to learn the controls of the game. By the time players had the skill and power to leave this area, they were well equipped for what was to come.
This also changed my iteration process for levels. Instead of designing strictly by encounters and progression, I started drawing spaces as loops. Creating interesting paths such as loop de loops, slides, roundabouts ex… These paths encouraged high speed gameplay and turned out to just be the most engaging part of the game.
