Ziwa Lights of Sylvaen – Julius Berndl

Overview

Ziwa – Lights of Sylvaen is a 2D platformer/Metroidvania game where the player controls the main character, Ziwa, tasked with restoring light to darkened forest regions.

The game features dynamic movement abilities such as dashing, wall sliding, gliding, and shooting projectiles.

Players navigate through beautifully crafted levels, battling enemies, unlocking new abilities, and overcoming environmental hazards. The game incorporates intricate level design, parallax effects for immersive depth, and a unique shader system for character dissolving and interactive vegetation.

With a robust checkpoint system, varied enemy AI, and audio-visual integration, Ziwa offers an engaging, atmospheric gameplay experience.

Features

2D Platformer/Metroidvania: Core gameplay featuring exploration, combat, and ability unlocking.
Character Abilities: Dash, projectile attacks, wall sliding and jumping, gliding, and crouching.
Health and Damage System: Health management and environmental hazards like toxic water that cause damage and respawn the player.
Projectile System: Scriptable object-based projectile system for both player and enemies.
Level Design: Multiple environments, including forest areas, with a focus on platforming and exploration.
Checkpoint and Respawn System: Dynamic checkpoints that reset progress upon player death.
Enemy AI: Various enemy types including flying, surface-clinging, and chasing enemies.
Visual and Audio Integration: Custom shaders for dissolving characters and vegetation movement, as well as audio management for sound effects and music.

What I did

Led and coordinated the project, managing the overall development process and ensuring smooth collaboration with the team. Guided design decisions and coordinated efforts to integrate all aspects of the game, from scripting to asset implementation.
Designed and implemented all core gameplay systems, including a versatile Character Controller for movement, jumping, dashing, gliding, wall sliding, and projectile attacks.
Developed a Projectile System using Scriptable Objects for flexible creation of different projectile types for both the player and enemies, allowing for easy expansion.
Created various Character Abilities, such as shooting in multiple directions, dashing through obstacles, and crawling, all of which could be unlocked during gameplay.
Built and refined the Health System and mechanics for environmental hazards, such as toxic water that causes damage and triggers respawn at designated checkpoints.
Designed and implemented a Checkpoint and Respawn System that restores progress and unlocked abilities, while dynamically resetting the level.
Developed multiple types of Enemy AI, including flying, surface-clinging, and chasing enemies, with distinct behavior patterns and interaction systems.
Created Shaders for dynamic visual effects, including a dissolve effect for character respawn and a vegetation movement shader that responds to player interaction.
Collaborated on Level Design with the team, working closely to conceptualize and layout the levels. Used 2D assets provided by the team to build the environments, integrating them into Unity and arranging platforms, obstacles, and interactive elements to create engaging gameplay experiences.
Implemented a Parallax Effect by layering 2D sprites into 3D space, creating depth and a sense of immersion. Adjusted the camera’s movement to dynamically shift these layers based on player positioning, enhancing the visual experience of the game.
Designed and implemented 2D Lighting, integrating dynamic light sources within the levels to create a sense of atmosphere and depth. The lighting effects interacted with the environment and characters, enhancing the visual style and mood of the game
Handled Scene and Level Management, building and arranging levels with multiple platform types (falling, moving, and destructible platforms) and implementing a parallax scrolling effect for background depth.
Integrated UI Elements such as a health bar, minimap, and ability icons, while also managing the game’s start, load, and save systems with multiple save slots.
Developed a robust Audio Management System to handle sound effects and music, incorporating custom audio control for smooth transitions between scenes and actions.
Performed extensive refactoring of the game’s codebase, optimizing script structure for future expansion and improving maintainability by breaking down large scripts into smaller, modular components.

Project Details

Genre: 2D Platformer, Metroidvania
Platform: PC
Project Duration: 5 Months
Team Size: 3 Persons
Engine & Tools: Unity, Rider, Photoshop, Asana

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