The Wizard's Den

Inspiration

the idea is to take the unique "block puzzle you control" feeling of the old NES game Solomon's Key, and apply it to a 3D platformer like Super Mario 3D. As I've been working on it, i keep looking to Dragon's Lair for art ref.

How it works

The main goal is to leverage the WiiU's unique gamepad input in a unique way. Although it controls like a normal 3D platformer, there is an added wrinkle of selecting spots in a 3D grid, using a 2D screen that can turn and twist.

Challenges I ran into

Still working on it. main challenge right now is getting game into a state where I am ready for the dev kit. Very nervous about downgrading from the latest Unity3D (4.6) to the dev kit supported 4.3 version (which means ditching the improved GUI system). also pretty terrified about the optimization and certification steps, which everyone notes are the really difficult parts of console game development.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

being accepted into Nintendo's indie dev program was thrilling. Not much to brag about yet though.

What I learned

(too much to list so far).

What's next for The Wizard's Den

although everything is planned on paper, i'm jumping around between mocking up gameplay in Unity3D 4.6 with basic shapes, creating (and rigging) high res models in maya and mudbox, and putting up a website that explains the project (so i can recruit). Also kicking around an idea for a system that would synchronize music and animations, potentially making each level playout like a timer driven song. not sure if this is a must-have innovation, or an idiotic distraction.

Built With

• maya
• monodevelop
• mudbox
• unity