Development Process

Because Ninja Trial was our first game, we were initially at a bit of a loss as to how to start thinking of ideas and beginning development. We had rough guidelines that were assigned, one being that our game had to be a 2D sidescroller. Additionally, we were required to have one level with a starting location and an end goal and a cohesive theme throughout. Other gameplay mechanics were left up to us (with some guidance) to choose and program.

To start coming up with ideas, our group got together and just started brainstorming. We decided that movement was going to be a priority, which meant including moves like a double jump, a dash, a crouch, and a slide. With that in mind, we came up with the idea to make our character a ninja. From there we leaned into a playful, cartoonlike theme with shurikens, pagodas, and other similar themes.

My UI design began with a layout of possible ideas, sketched digitally using Leonardo. I brainstormed the idea of a counter for pickups, a heart based health system, and a timeline to show progress that did not end up being implemented.

Eventually our programmer and level designer created a basic test level with some basic movement and a double jump. With the character set up, I began implementing early versions of the UI, testing constantly for functionality before prioritizing aesthetics. Here, I implemented visually, hearts on the screen to signify player health, and a counter in the top right corner for keeping track of pickups.

After testing was complete for the early phases of UI development, I began adding in assets, like the shuriken icon beside the counter.

Next, we wanted to implement a simple tutorial feature. I wanted to make the tutorial text follow the character around. To accomplish this, I attached a Text Render object to the character. The game checks the player's y position, and compares it to their initial y position to determine if the player has successfully jumped and then double jumped.

The result visually was what I aimed to accomplish, however if I were to redo this feature I would program it differently. I used many casts in the event tick, which in a game this small scale did not cause any performance issues, but in a larger scale game, I would expect it to cause problems.

The last step once the main UI features were complete was to work with our artist on designing a main menu screen. I created a sketch and sent it to her, and she created the art based on the sketch.

This was one of my favorite processes in the development of Ninja Trial. It was gratifying to have a specific vision, and then to work with a talented colleague and see that vision come to life.

Ninja Trial is available for free on Itch.io!