• < Back

Jungle Jim (2025)

Game Design

A game needs a cohesive planning stage to get a good start to development. I conducted market research and created a concept with a hook that would resonate with my target audiences. Following this, I continued to develop the idea for a month before starting to prototype. Throughout development, I have continued to iterate on the design and conduct playtesting sessions. I also have written numerous devlogs detailing my thought processes.

• GDD (In-Progress)

• Gameplay Loop Diagram

• Devlogs Collection

• Playtesting Charts

Level Design

I was responsible for designing and blocking out the levels for the game. The tutorial level serves as a playground of sorts for the player, allowing them to learn the mechanics of the movement in isolated challenges that required them to execute the moves. Other levels develop fun mechanics and platforming challenges. I conducted numerous playtesting sessions for every level, and used iterative loops to implement analysis results.

• Video: Creepy Crypt 5-Min Overview

• Devlog: Jungle Jim Tutorial

• Top-Down Level Graphs

Complex Camera System

Out of all kinds of games, I believe that 3D platformers need to have the most responsible camera systems. The player is constantly swiveling the camera while performing complex character movements. I studied Mario Odyssey intimately to assist in creating my camera system. The camera provides a smooth view into the game world and enables the player to customize their framing for any kind of situation. You can read about my camera system in the devlog below.

• Devlog: Jungle Jim Cam System

Movement Mechanics

I was responsible for designing and programming the dozens of movement mechanics in the game. I paid particularly close attention to game feel, and studied many 3D platformers such as Mario Odyssey to nail an effective feeling to the character! The game is suggested for controller, but it is also able to be played with the keyboard. Because of this, I created separate execution logic in areas depending on the control method in order to improve game feel in both mediums.

• Devlog: Base Movement

• Early Reel: Gameplay / Movement

Character Modeling and Animation

Originally I had planned to find a classmate to take care of the modeling and animation, but I was unable to. Because of this, I was responsible for modeling, texturing, and animating several characters in the game. The protagonist, "Jim", has over 50 animations that I had created and implemented into the game using a variety of techniques such as Blend Spaces, Control Rigs, and Blendshapes. The result turned out great! It was a lot of fun figuring out how to create animations that informed the player about the current state of their character. For instance, when performing a "Flip Kick", Jim is unable to grab the wall for a brief moment afterwards by design. To show this in the animation, I had Jim enter a cannonball shape until he was ready to grab the wall.

• Artstation: Jim Modeling and Animation

Level Art

I was responsible for the environment art for the levels. Instead of using textures and models from asset packs, nearly every texture and model was created myself. Through this process, I learned about using vertex painting and instanced meshes in my workflow to increase the quality while decreasing the time expense. Another tough lesson I learned was just how long it takes to actually fill in a level!Over time, my substance skills grew along with my tech art knowledge. Art requiring complex shaders were not a problem.

Project Management / Leading

This project was my first time assembling and leading a team for game development. I created a discord server and online drive to organize discussions and development. This worked very well as everyone was able to quickly find what they needed or reach out to the right people. Though it wasn't all so easy, there were many challenges I faced. Since this was a student-led project, every collaborator was not set to a strict timeline and would help at their own pace. This made it difficult to properly manage the overall time of the project, and often left me with pieces to put together. This also increased the frequency I needed to follow up on progress, which would often cause a bit of strain. In the end though, I think everything has turned out well!

• Devlog: First Time Leading

Cinematics

Created a modular and scalable cutscene system to be used throughout the entire game. I created an "order" system that would step through orders determined through the details panel, and orders are also able to be skipped by player input. Compatible with level sequences. This system was created so that gameplay elements such as interactable dialogue could play throughout cutscenes and be iterated on quickly. I also created the cinematics themselves for the game.

Rising Tides '25 Trailer Jam Submission

Finished level "Creepy Crypt". Features dark level mechanics and a ghost that chases the player in darkness.

Game Loop Diagram. Click image to see full size!

Riverside Ruins level design. Click to see presentation with a video going through the level.

UI Reel(UMG, Niagara UI, Sequencer)

Very early tech reel created for my universities GDC sponsorship application.

Blockout of the level "Lilypad Labyrinth" as of 1/18/2025.

Playthrough of the tutorial level "Riverside Ruins" as of progress at 1/18/2025.

Maya Arnold render of the Run Fast animation.

Maya Arnold render of the Slide Jump animation.

Jim's model topology.

Evolution of Jim's model created entirely in Maya.

Body UDIM.

Cosmetics UDIM.

• < Back

Riverside Ruins (2026)

Super Jungle Jim

Overview

“Riverside Ruins” is the first level in Super Jungle Jim and serves as an introduction to the game's primary gameplay. The player runs, jumps, and swings through the jungle to discover ruins from a past civilization. The entrance to these ruins is guarded by the talking wall “Ugg” who directs the player to retrieve a relic from deep within the jungle riverbanks to access the treasure within the ruins.

Super Jungle Jim has a large quantity of mechanics, so it was important to carefully consider the players’ moment-to-moment experience to ensure correct order, emphasis, and categorization of mechanics for the player.

Video Playthrough (WIP)

First, players are introduced to the core functionality of all of the face buttons of the controller. Bottom Face Button is for jumping, Right Face Button is for interaction, Left Face Button is for attacking. The first section of the level is built around these three mechanics. The player is required to use all three to complete the area. It is very important for player to get accustomed to these inputs, as any contextual inputs in the game use this mapping as its basis. For instance, the attack button can throw objects and the interact button drops them. This follows the mapping thematically when seperating as hard action and soft actions.

As this is the first area of the game, I did not want players dying here. Enemies were off the table. Since there are no enemies, I had the idea to use breakable boulders to teach attacking instead. Since they are static, players can practice timing their punches while moving forwards, and they add a level of interactability to the level. These boulders also have another function- I use them to set up player expectations. I followed Kiu Tenetsu’s 4-Step Approach within just this first area for the boulders.

Boulders are introduced in a safe environment, where players can break many of them at a time. During this moment, they may discover that they drop items. Next, the boulders are developed in the player's mind. The player notices they are placed in conspicuous locations, and they associate breaking these conspicuously placed boulders with getting a reward. Afterwards, a twist is introduced. The breakable rocks are conjoined together to form large breakable walls. This provides a moment of discovery where the player knows exactly what to do, and it feels satisfying to discover and accomplish. The fourth step from Tenetsu’s approach is a final challenge, but due to the nature of the rocks that doesn't quite match. Instead, additional twists will appear later in the level. I’m a huge fan of the boulders, because it allowed me to create a fun “sub-game” where players can look for conspicuously placed boulders throughout the rest of the level.

The second area of the level is separated into two halves: horizontality and verticality. When it comes to moving in Super Jungle Jim, understanding your horizontal and vertical options is extremely important for making decisions. Because of this, I wanted to allocate more gameplay time to just these concepts. I wanted them introduced alongside each other so that that player is able to draw parallels immediately- moves learned in one half will not necessarily help them in the other half, they must master both halves to move deeper into the level. Players must collect a key from each half to open the door forwards, and each key is only obtainable by using either verticality or horizontality.

Additionally, I wanted players to commit these concepts to memory. In other words, I wanted to create memorable gameplay moments based around these concepts within this area of the level. I not only added unique set pieces to each half, but I also introduced new optional gameplay challenges to be discovered. The horizontal half introduces timer challenges, and the vertical half introduces subareas. These challenges require the skills from their associated half in order to complete. I believe these challenges will work wonderfully for creating memorable moments for the player.

In the next area, I wanted to give the player more independence in exploration. Because of this, the level opens up quite a bit here when it comes to exploration. There is also still much to teach the player. I sorted the remaining movements by priority and included the highest priority moves into the critical path. Lower priority movements were sprinkled around the level and act as educational gates for rewards.

The flip kick was the most important move to teach here, so it is front and center. The rocks from the previous area return and are used to teach the flip kick. The rocks also expand further - with magic! Magical rocks can launch the player when they attack them. Since they float in the air, this requires either a flip kick or a dive kick. I implemented these partly because I wanted to give the player some kind of "wow!" factor to keep things interesting. Tutorial levels tend to get pretty boring after awhile, and it felt like a good time to implement a twist to the rocks from before. Once the player reaches the magic rocks, the tutorial is pretty much over. From this point onwards, I want to give them reassurance that the rest of the game will be something to look forward to.

In the next area, I wanted to give the player more independence in exploration. Because of this, the level opens up quite a bit here when it comes to exploration. There is also still much to teach the player. I sorted the remaining movements by priority and included the highest priority moves into the critical path. Lower priority movements were sprinkled around the level and act as educational gates for rewards.

When Ugg reveals the path forwards, it becomes a stark contrast to the rest of the level. The ruins are in full effect and the objective is clearly visible. At this point, I want players to realize that this will be the final challenge of the tutorial, and it will test them on what they have learned within the past 15 minutes.

Early look at Area 3

Early look at Area 2's Horizontal area.

Early look at Area 1

Early look at Area 2's Vertical area.