Blake Hood
Introduction
Most of these are college projects just due to time constraints after entering the work force. I still do side projects for fun, but they're all partly-done proofs-of-concept that are in no shape worth sharing. Now that I'm a game developer by profession, I should have more official projects to put here over time.
I'll add screenshots for these whenever I can get around to it.
Parsec
PC
This is the result of my work at ShadowStep -- a pretty solid demo showcasing the core mechanics. Unfortunately we were forced to pull the plug on this one. There are basic instructions for each scene in the pause menu.
We utilized Unity3D (version 5) for the engine. I oversaw all development, and wrote the majority of the code myself .
Master's Project
Android
This was my project for my Master's degree at LSUS. It was a solo project. The goal was to experiment with 2D platforming where the player is allowed to rotate the level. As such, gravity is always directed towards real-world down as you rotate your phone. This allows for some interesting gameplay that can be observed in the levels presented.
I utilized AndEngine with Box2D for physics, and Tiled for level creation. The player sprite comes from the AndEngine example projects. All other art is original by me.
It didn't go quite as I'd hoped, as the optimal way to play is actually to hold your phone almost flat and tilt it rather than holding it vertically and rotating. I tried adjusting gravity so it was constant strength in the appropriate direction, but that frustrated players since they wanted to play by tilting. Nevertheless, I saw a lot of promise in the premise and would like to revisit the concept at some point for another platform where the movement can be more easily and intuitively restricted to the 2D plane of the game.
Satan's Soul Shepherd
PC
This was for a college class on making games with the Unity3D engine (version 3 at the time). The goal was to make a 2D platformer. I wrote everything myself except the physics, including character motors, sprite and animation handler, and AI. I particularly enjoyed making the AI here, and latched onto NPCs that chase after or run away from the player because that was pretty fun, so that became the main focus. Get the people in the pit without killing them, and don't let the angels kill you.
All artwork is original and by me, except the animated fire which came from here.
It's a bit hard, but it's only one level. I really like the concept, though, and think this would be worth turning into a full game (though perhaps with a more family-friendly theme).
Mistwalkers
Android
This was my senior project while attended LSUS for my Bachelor's, made with two other students. It was intended as a game to capture and battle monsters, much like Pokemon or Dragon Warrior Monsters. The major differentiating factor from those is the phone's capability to scan barcodes. We utilize the camera to scan barcodes, which are just numbers, and then allow the player to select barcodes for use in generating the explorable maze areas. This way the game has the replayability of generated content while also having a solid basis on which the content is generated rather than just being random. We also intended for barcodes to be used in other things, like monster breeding or other special events. The initial scope was a bit much, so it's really more of an early prototype, but I'm happy with how it turned out given the time we had.
We utilized AndEngine, and Tiled for level creation. Almost all of the artwork was gathered from OpenGameArt and licensed Creative Commons or open domain. Ethically we should have kept track of which artists' work we used for proper attribution per the Creative Commons license, but as students working on a class project we failed to do our due diligence.
My part of the project was the core framework for the different modules so we could work separately without having to synchronize with each other to do our own work, and the exploration module. This means the walking around, talking to NPCs, generating mazes, item and status screens, map transitions, and making the areas.
Get the Pie Dude
Windows
This was my first ever game that I actually got to a decent state. It's basically Pac-Man, only you control the ghosts. I was just a teenager at the time, so I made some questionable design decisions, such as using the title bar for what little story-telling there is and having the music be obnoxiously loud (so turn your volume down before playing).
I made this in whatever old version of GameMaker was current at the time, utilizing their scripting language for Pie-Dude's AI. I have no idea where I got the level art and music. I made the Pie-Dude and ghost sprites myself.
Unfortunately the source has been lost in the years since this was made.