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Stefan Dolidis
  • Games
  • Asset Packs
  • 3D Art
  • Environments
  • Game Studies
  • Old Blog
  • Current Blog
Stefan Dolidis
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Platform PC, mac os x    Tools Used Unity, Visual Studio, c#, Illustrator, Maya

Download on itch.io
Download on Game Jolt

Escaping Absence

Role
Creator/designer (solo project)

FX
Universal Sound FX by IMPHENZIA
Font
'Mont' by fontfabric

Escaping Absence is a First-person platformer created in Unity, where you must escape darkness by reaching the goal in time. Jump on platforms to light up the way to your goal. Be quick, you might get lost in darkness if you stand still.

Game created in under a week for 8 Bits to Infinity ~ Platformer Week (Theme: Platformer) and Weekly Game Jam - Week 86 (Theme: Darkness).

The idea of having lights turn on and off to act as a light source seemed like a cool concept. So this is where I tried it out. What I didn't really anticipate is when the player doesn't move and the screen turns into darkness, the player (or some players that tested the game) felt a bit of anxiousness and unease from not knowing where the player is in the game world. And also, anyone with Nyctophobia (fear of night and/or darkness) might not benefit from that feeling. But nonetheless, a great sign which tells me that I made the player feel a different emotion than happiness/joy or even anger/frustration from a 'shitty' game I made. The feeling of uneasiness.

Having real-time lighting (using up all the resources), I used Unity 3Ds primitive shapes to fill the game world instead of creating models to fill the world in with.

Jumping lights all platforms up for a second or two, player needs to work out where the finish line is.​

​The game scene opens up when the player hits the first platform to light the way. Sense of discovery.

Even More Info

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Separate real-time light source for 'hidden' platforms. 

When the player jumps on a platform, the light's intensity value increases to 2.08, and then the intensity value fades back to 0 to hide the platforms.
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Gameplay

Blog Post

A blog post about my experience participating in the game jam.

Updates/Patches

v1.1 (March 19, 2019)
Added:
  • Invert Y Axis Toggle
  • Player Rotates towards level after death
  • Particle effects on pick up cubes
Changes:
  • Removed 'Death' game object in main levels
  • Increased volume on some audio clips
  • Adjusted level timer values
  • Minor bug fixes
v1.2 (July 30, 2020)
Added:
  • Shows loading on start scene
  • Crosshair
  • 'Help' text when starting first level
  • 'Pick up box' pop up text
Changes:
  • UI text changed to Text Mesh Pro text
  • Replaced Arial font with 'Mont' font
  • Timer at 0? Reloads player to start of level
  • Adjusted jump mechanic
  • Adjusted movement slide when on ground (less slide)
  • Increased audio volume levels on various sounds
  • game only supports 16:10 & 16:9 aspect ratios
  • New game icon
  • Minor bug fixes
© ​Stefan Dolidis