:: Anomaly Detected :: Rebooting :: Begin Transmission ::

Corrupted sets place in Futuristic Nigeria where you play as an agent for [REDACTED]. A valuable relic has been stolen and your mission is to retrieve it before the bad guys get their augmented claws on it.

Built for the 2023 Maliyo summer game jam with a theme – AFROFUTURISM, Corrupted takes you on a journey from hero to villain. The mission was meant to be simple but your systems were fried. The reboot didn’t fix the anomaly. It gave them access to you.

:: Mission Origins ::

In July 2023, while working on the Disney Iwájú: Rising Chef game, Maliyo hosted a summer game jam. Although I had a lot on my plate, I yearned for something new. I hadn’t built a game in ages and I wanted to give this a try. Just like Corrupted, things did not go according to plan but I had an awakening. I’ve been walking around searching for a missing puzzle piece and this game helped me find the answers.

:: Outline and Analyse ::

I started by analyzing the game jam theme and description. Then I made a list of the process I wanted to follow, that way I would be organized and focused-ish.

(Note: I used the checkmarks to track what was done.)

:: Story and Design ::

With the game jam theme in mind, I had lots of ideas running wild in my head. The weird part is I knew what I wanted to make but I couldn’t articulate them in words. Aware of the time constraint, I had to snap myself back to reality and do what I’ve always done, write my ideas in bullet points. I just write without thinking and when I’m done, I arrange the points ensuring that the ideas flow from start to end. For corrupted, I came up with these:

# It takes place in a futuristic Nigeria (sticking to the theme)
# The protagonist is dropped off at an abandoned train station
# The mission? Retrieve a stolen relic
# The enemies? Patrolling bots at different points
# Other enemy objects? Drones, blades, spikes…
# The twist? Coms were intercepted, and you helped the bad guys
# The end!

With the story done, I made a list of game genres.

Since I hadn’t worked in Unity for a while, I wanted something simple, something I could implement given the time frame. I decide to go with a platformer *side-eyes*. Then I made notes of some of the things I’d like.

I didn’t think I’d have enough time to implement it all. I just needed a list to keep me on track.

:: Simple Flow ::

Since this is a game jam, I wanted to keep things simple by designing just one level. Using the story as a guide, I mapped out the level flow, starting from the abandoned train station to the end of the level, which is a floating city. The idea I had in mind was simple: the relic is kept in the floating city, but in order to get to it, the player has to fight off patrolling bots at the train station and defeat a swarm of enemy bots guarding it.

Once the player lands at the train station, I wanted them to feel a sense of revolution. People are tired of the system. Trains are always having issues and citizens vandalize them with graffiti. The bots are there not only to protect the relic in the city but also to neutralize any threats.

During the design phase, I made changes to this wireframe, especially the floating city part. I just couldn’t come up with a good enough (visual) design for it. I did experiment with a few ideas but nothing hit the mark. Given the tight deadline, I figured it’s best to drop the idea and move on to the next phase.

:: Visual Inspiration and Asset Design ::

Next, I gathered visual inspiration: similar games, colors, font choices, and vector art.

Then I began designing individual pieces from the wireframe, including a train, a holographic computer, and platforms. I added text on the trains to echo the idea of “revolution and protests”. For the patterns on the buildings and floating platforms, I drew inspiration from circuit boards and African print patterns.

:: Character and Enemy Assets ::

Next, I needed assets and this proved to be a challenge. Finding the assets I wanted was hard and fighting with the perfection in me was harder. This cost me at the end and I will explain later.

Next, I gathered different assets for the robots. I did face a small challenge, being that the robots are suitable for pixel art and my main character has a different art style. I wondered if it would make sense to combine both but hey, it’s a game jam.

:: Pre-development stage ::

Before building the game, I spent a couple of hours *cough* days *cough* practicing on YouTube, watching crash courses and full game tutorials just to help me remember.

:: Development – stage one ::

My plan was simple: develop the bare-bones version first. Make sure everything works: attack, jump, run, shoot, etc and then implement the art assets. I usually do the testing and building in a scene I call “playground”.

But I had a small problem at this stage, my character’s center point would shift when they attacked. After troubleshooting in Unity forums, I discovered it had to do with the pivot points. While fixing the issue, I decided to find a new character, mainly because I felt the initial character I picked did not fit the idea I had in my head.

After a long search, I found “Anime Hero 2” on itch.io, designed by PushPlayArt. It fits the game theme better. I updated the character assets and animations.

I tested this new character in my playground scene; it looked better, and I did not have issues with the pivot.

For the Playground scene, I use primitives to represent different objects in the game. The reason I start building here is so that I can test all the game mechanics and interactions. Once the core functionality of my game works here, I can start building out levels with assets. To add, I can use bits and pieces from my asset library in this scene, but they become a distraction. I might be testing combat and start asking myself, “how can I improve the button at the top right”? To stop myself from wandering off, I keep it simple.

:: Development – stage two ::

For the implementation stage, I started by downloading all the assets I had created in Figma and exported them to Unity. Now here comes the bad news.

:: Incoming Message:: System Compromised ::

Remember when I said taking too long to find an asset cost me? Well, this is where I explain why. I had underestimated how long implementation would take. Normally, this should take me a couple of hours, BUT I haven’t worked in Unity in a long time, so I was a bit rusty, not a bit, I was rusty.

When I made the build, I had to update different modules, and after installing the APK on my phone, I had a blank screen.

Everything had been going fine and suddenly, wahala upon wahala.

The game was 70% done, but “Miss Perfection i.e., me ”, will not submit anything that doesn’t meet her expectations. I sipped cold water and decided not to submit.

:: Forced Shutdown :: Restoring Last Core Memory ::

Anyone who knows me knows that I do not stop until it is finished but this time, I had to force myself to let go. I hadn’t slept all weekend and my mother started to worry. But this is the beautiful part, I had so much fun designing, coding, and coming up with ideas. I missed this: the excitement of creating something. Turning an idea into reality. Making objects move. Writing code.

Even in my sleep, I was building the game. I loved that feeling, a feeling that had been lost for many months. For a while now, I became bored and wondered if I was doing the right thing with my career. I love making games but suddenly I lost that passion, that drive. After this game jam, I realized that I should never have stopped coding.

And if you’re thinking to yourself, “perhaps working with a team would have been better”. You are one hundred percent right. Working with a team would have been way better than doing this alone but here’s the thing, I wanted to push myself beyond my limit. This was a journey that I needed to go alone. Sometimes, you just want to figure things out on your own. So when you do show up, you bring the best version of yourself to the team.

:: Next Steps ::

Go back to the drawing board: become better at designing and building games.

:: Anomaly Traced :: Initiating next phase ::

There is a contradiction between the story/location and the character in terms of skin tone. I could easily get another character but I had to ask myself “Can I build the game idea around this character?”. Perhaps I could give myself a challenge and at that moment, I remembered one of my favorite series on Netflix – Altered Carbon. The main character could be using the only sleeve available. I scribbled down my new ideas.

Next, I needed a working title for the game. I decided to go with “Corrupted” for these reasons:

## Corruption at the agency, hence the intercepted coms
## Computer systems corrupted
## A broken and fragmented mind
## ……thinking…..

This is the start of my next game. Wish me luck ♥️

:: Connection Closed ::

Thank you for reading 🙂

:: Credits ::

Robots – CraftPix.net
Main Character – Anime Hero by PushPlayArt
Relic – African Mask Drawing from ClipArtLibrary
Game Engine – Unity
Design Tool for Game art, UI, and Wireframes – Figma
Initial Character – Swordsman by Overcrafted