Sunset Scale

Sunset Scale is a platformer with some puzzle elements in which you play as a hiker who is traveling up a mountain. Your climb will become steeper, higher up, and more danger-ridden as you progress. 

The game is my final project for my introductory game design course, AET 318 at The University of Texas at Austin, and the theme behind the game was 'climb'. I wanted to express this theme in both a literal and non-literal sense, so I thought a mountain hike with some surprises was the best way to get the concept across. When coming up with ideas of how I wanted the game to look and feel, I took some cues from my own hiking experience, with the calming beauty of the environment as well as the alertness one must maintain to stay safe, and of course the feeling of triumph once you reach your destination. I thought the best way to express this visually was with a relaxing time of day, the evening sunset, and silhouettes to make the features of the environment clear and highlight the dangers around you. 

It's a standard platformer, but it does have a few puzzles and some mechanics that set it apart. You will have to be wary of pitfalls, cliffs, and boulders that can knock into you, but which you can also use to your advantage. 

Most of the assets were made by me, with the exception of the player character's sprites, which were created by rvros and released for free here: https://rvros.itch.io/animated-pixel-hero.