Dante's Rebellion

Project ID Card:

In this puzzle platformer, the player must race against time to collect soul fragments scattered in the tunnels of hell, slay the ennemies, and beat Cerberus as quick as they can. Time, collectables, as well as ennemies killed all contribute to the final score, meaning the player must search for the best possible path and optimize their decisions to get the best possible final score.

Dante's Rebellion is a fast-paced game where the player controls Dante, a little human trapped in hell and attempting to get out. By running and jumping through the grim decor of hell, Dante collects soul fragments and fights off corrupted creatures, all the way up to hell's guardian : Cerberus. Only if he succeeds in defeating the three headed creature may he escape his grim afterlife.

Once again a solo developer in this project, all the visual assets (apart from the fonts) and code were made during the time of the game jam (72 hours). The theme of the jam was "Escape", with additional focus for this game jam on Score. Each game made for this jam needed to implement a scoreboard system, as well as a gameplay focused on replaying, speedrun oriented playstyles, with the objective of being competed in on streams for the winners in the second part of the event.

Assets and Design

As a solo developer, all the visual assets in these project were made by me. The lore of the game revolving around the theme of "hell" and "darkness", I tried reflecting those ideas in the designs. Furthermore, I wanted to challenge my abilities with a limited palette and a stylised artstyle.

Examples of the game visuals

The game has three main colors : Red for the background, black for solid elements, and white for the accents. In addition, each type of element has its own shape language : messy and gittery for enemies, straight edges for platforms, and round for pickups. This allows for clearly separated visuals elements, and helps the overall visibility of the game.

Level Layout

The overall direction of the game is from left to right, and from bottom to top, to remind the player that they are "rising" out of hell. Each section has multiple possible paths for the player to choose, with variying levels of collectables, monsters, or platforming skill required.

Gameplay Elements

Player Navigation: the player's controls consist of classic platformer abilities: moving, double jumping, crawling, and attacking;

Monsters: three types of monsters roam the levels. The quick Blobrunner, the wandering Ghoul, and the Floater. Each poses a different hurdle or opportunity for the player and car earn them points if theyre not afraid of taking damage.

Collectables: giving either points or returning health to the player, these pickups help guide them through the level and gives them options for which path to pick for the best final score.

Level Sections: while the game runs in one continuous level, it is cut into different sections with each a different level design, way to navigate, and density of enemies and pickups (see image above).

Cerberus Boss Battle: once at the end of the level, the player must face a scripted boss battle, and make use of the different attack patterns and phases of the boss to defeat it and fell each of its head one by one in order to finally beat the game and get their final score.

Character animation spritesheets

Close up on the enemies

Blobrunner

HP:  45

Score on kill:  50

Behaviour:  Runs quickly and turns around when meeting a wall

Use:  Hinders the players movement by their quickly running while posing a low threat while in small numbers

HP:  60

Score on kill:  100

Behaviour:  Walks back and forth between set position, and runs if it sees the player

Use:  A bigger obtsacle to the player that is harder to avoid

Ghoul

Floater

HP:  30

Score on kill:  150

Behaviour:  Roam on a loop in a set path in the air

Use:  Can serve as a platform for skilled players, and blocks path in tighter areas. Good reward on kill but harder to reach than other enemies

Combo System

To add incentive for the player to fight more of the monsters, the game implements a combo system:
Each time the player sucessfully hits an enemy, the combo increases by 1. If before a set delay (shorter the higher the current combo value is) the player lands another hit, it keeps increasing. But if that delay passes, then the combo is reset, and the player receives a bonus depending on how high the value of the combo was when it expired.

Combo effect animation

As the combo increases in value, the visual effects becomes more and more shaky and changes in color. Combined with the numbers "emptying" to reflect the time left in the combo, this adds a sense of value to the combo meter and helps motivate and inform the player.

Boss Battle

Main feature of the game, the boss battle happens once the player walks through each the sections. Tying in to the backstory of the game, it also allows for a completely different way to optimize their runs, and an opportunity to earn lots of points, or lose everything in the encounter.

Boss 1st phase visual

The battle spans over two different phases, defeating first the side heads before killing off the main one.

First Phase:

During the first phase, the boss moves its paws back and forth over the player. It is invulnerable to damage. If the player walks under one of its paws, it will attempt to squish the player by bringing it down, causing heavy damage and knockback to the player if they can't dodge. However, to damage the boss they must bait the paws, and hit them before they rise back up. Damage them enough, and the corresponding head falls, leaving itself open to damage for a period before rising again with its paw.

Side head spritesheets (idle and staggered)

Second Phase:

Once both heads are fully defeated, the main head will call in reinforcments and call the corrupted souls of hell. From all sides, a large amount of monsters will rush in. The player must exterminate every single monster summoned by the main head to finally exhaust it, after which it will fall and can be hit, until it dies (there is no time limit for damaging this head once it is down).

Side head spritesheets (idle and staggered)

This fight gives the player the opportunity to put everything they learned into application. The fighters will be able to defeat the summons and hit the paws more easily, platformers can use the heads, paws, and monsters as ways to reach secret loot and health, and speedrunners can find ways to trick the boss and defeat it quicker.

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