FXP 2018
FXP was a unique opportunity for our college to take part in, 5 people from my class and the second year class were bought along to Anglia Ruskin University to participate in the GamesJam, where we had the best part of 48 hours to create a game that would be judged by the tutors and some industry specialists, and then various prizes were given out to the winners, runners up and 3rd place. There were 2 categories and my group entered for the development category, where we made an actual game entirely from scratch without using any additional assets from Unity than what was given when you first open it.
Our idea was for a game where the player has to escape from factory that has been infected with Mulch, a lethal substance that requires you to use cures every 20 seconds otherwise the game ends. Your goal is to work though a series of levels to reach the goal, which is a decontamination chamber where your character will be safe from the Mulch.
My contribution to the project was the level design, so I had the ideas and the layouts for the levels, and whichever parts needed modelling or coding were done by Tom (Mechanics Coder) and Miles (3D Modeler). At the start of the project we went through a few level ideas that were later scrapped, or left out because we didn't want to over scope and have an incomplete game to show, so we focused on creating 4 high quality levels, rather than lots of lower quality levels. The quality of the levels is still fairly low, as in a GamesJam its less about things working smoothly, its more about if they work and if so that'll do, then if there's some time leftover we'll refine what we have.
The main mechanics of the game were moving, buttons which open doors when stepped on, buttons that keep doors open when a heavy object is left on them and syringes that give you another 20 seconds to finish the level.
The first level was very much a tutorial level, where it swiftly and effectively introduced almost all of the mechanics in the game and told you what the control scheme was as said control became relevant. for example, we would display the jump button only when jumping was necessary to continue.
If you'd like to play the game, here's a link to the itch.io it's hosted on
Level 1
This level is straight forward, move to the end and reach the door to the next level. This level is moving from Left to Right -->
Obstacle 1 - A locked door a blue button, when the player steps on the blue button, the door opens and remains open.
Obstacle 2 - A cube blocks your path, use 'Space' to jump over it and then walk over the blue button to open the door ahead and proceed.
Obstacle 3 - A box and a door, follow the on screen instructions and picking up the box will open the door ahead.
Obstacle 4 - While carrying the box there will be a red button before you, this implies that it doesn't work the same as the previous button due to its colour, follow the on screen instructions and drop the box on the red button to keep the door ahead open and clear the way to the next level.
Level 2
This level a little more complex, but also shorter than the first level.
Obstacle 1 - Pick up the box in front of you, then jump over the block block that's blocking your path.
Obstacle 2 - You've now got to navigate the jumps while carrying the block, looks easy but the timing of the 3rd jump (represented with the white arrow) is vital. Too soon and you'll clip the platform above and won't get the range needed and you'll fall short, meaning you'll be pushed for time.
Obstacle 3 - Placing the cube on the red button, leaving the door ahead open for you and allowing you to proceed to the next level.
Level 3
This level introduces a new mechanic, moving platforms, which you need to time right in order to get through the level in the time limit.
Obstacle 1 - You've got to get on the first moving platform and move up to the first still platform, timing is key as you can lose about 5 seconds from missing the platform. There is a syringe pickup placed underneath the still platform, but it's intended use is to grab on the way back with the cube to give you the time needed to compete the level, whereas grabbing it before that will mean it will likely be a failure or a very close call.
Obstacle 2 - Onto the second moving platform and to the box, which you need to grab and run back to the red button at the start and then run to the end of the level, which the door will be open and you can proceed to the next level.
Level 4 - Final Level
This level, yet again, introduces some new mechanics to the game. This time to pass the level you need to fill the container with 5 mulch orbs, using the red buttons to trigger the release of the mulch (right button)and the left button to bridge the gap in the pipe by rotating the middle section (highlighted) in order for the mulch to go into the bowl on the left. once 5 mulch orbs are in the bowl, the door will to the decontamination chamber and you will complete the game.