Gameplay Demo, produced in support by Killer Snoofie: a streamer & content creator on Youtube.
Screenshot of retail puzzle: figuring out what tape to put where.
Screenshot of our indie video scrubbing mechanic and hidden messages within.
Lights off! Shot of monster and in-game lighting system.
Peek-a-boo! Frontal shot of monster during its pursuit of player.
Beautiful Corner 1: Assets created for the game collected in one scene as an example of their contrast, and appearance in game. A saturated two-toned color scheme was modeled after Blockbuster stores in 80s and 90s.
Beautiful Corner 2: Assets created for the game collected in one scene. This time, including a door variation and door animation.
Aquarium tank, CRT TV, stack of VHS tape cases, a bag of jelly beans, an axolotl key and toy, a singular vhs tape box, and two flashlight sprites: a smaller sprite at the player scale, and a bigger sprite for the inventory.
A trash can, 3 crumpled balls of paper, and an unfolded note.
Walk cycles and idle animations for player character Jasmine, and NPC Brutus.
Concept sketches of creature creation: our team brainstormed and came up with a creature with human hands to be used for dragging its body, or grabbing prey. We were also inspired by Furby toys (Long Furby) and their creepy cute eyes.
Walk cycles: 3 Facial variations, and a back-view. We decided on a axolotl, as it could be a shop pet & store mascot before being deformed in a horrific incident. I was also inspired by alligator bodies and referenced their movements.
Side-view of beast walk cycle. Black nylon tape runs through the beast's body like nerves, pulsating with the tendrils as it records the hunt of its prey through its eyes. Artistically, I was also excited to illustrate the reflective tape of the tail.
An example of a one page newsletter or possible dev log template for distribution to the community and press. Made to look like the back of a retro VHS tape cover.
Title thumbnail variations. My first version, top left, felt a bit too bland, without communicating the horror or setting of the game enough, leading to the right. The bottom thumbnails referenced VHS screens, as well as the game's retro pixel art style.
Itch.io title banner.
Promotional art turned thank you note for my teammates, fellow program members, and playtesters of our game! Done traditionally with Derwent Inktense pencils, then animated in Aseprite.
A horror puzzle game built in Unity over the span of 4 months, by a 5 developer team connected through Indie Game Academy.
"Don't just do your job, try to survive it. You play as Jasmine, a young employee at a fun video rental store in the year 2000. You are tasked with daily retail duties such as reshelving tapes, cleaning trash, and helping regular customers pick out movies. Little do you know that there is a horrible secret lurking in the darkness of upper management, and it may or may not enjoy jelly beans. Are you ready to clock in?"
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At the beginning of the project, I created a mood board using Miro and collected reference photos, inspirational data, and guideposts to keep the art style consistent as well as steer the game's visual direction. We as a team tracked our assignments and tasks using Trello, checking in with weekly sprint meetings. We went through different iteration phases: we play tested an Alpha version, received feedback, and utilized that feedback to solve problems that arose for players. This resulted in an improved Beta version, which we built upon to create a finalized demo.
During development, I learned how to input my sprite sheets, tile maps, and animations directly into the engine, and set them up for other programming teams by properly slicing & resizing them. While working on the animations, I also learned how to set them up and test them frame by frame in-engine. I discovered that Github repository projects could be opened and edited directly in system browsers, which I utilized to quickly upload and update sprite assets in the project. I made repeating tile variations, and many environmental assets to suit the video rental store setting.
The first demo is currently playable through this link on Itch.io
https://ninelevitzki.itch.io/rental-demo
(Stay tuned for an even more polished version uploaded to Steam mid 2024!)
