Discovering the video game

I love Unlog because it was my first ever video game, and we had such a blast making it. In the end, although we had some troubles during the production, we are really proud of the result, so much that we decided to put it on Steam (a huge thanks to Antoine Dubuc for the initiative!).

At this time, everything was new:

• Learning to use Unity.
• Learning C# programmation.
• Learning new tools: Tilemaps, Cinemachine, Scriptable Objects, etc.
• Learning to work with a team on a video game, how to manage 7 people.
• Discovering the level design, and how to create something fun and engaging.
• Doing playtests.
• Learning sound design and creating original musics for the first time for a game.

This was an intense yet extremely fun experience, and having the opportunity to have our first video game on Steam, and having positive reviews from strangers is such a powerful feeling.

Tech Game Design & Level Design

As a part of a small team of game designers, and without any specialized programmer, I had 3 roles within the team : game designer, programmer, and level designer. I most notably focused on everything related to the levels, including:

• Defining and documenting the level design elements, such as special platforms, checkpoints, deathzones, etc.
• Helping on the fine tuning of the controller and the camera to fit the level design and the intentions we had for the game.
• Programming several features, such as special platforms, the final boss, or the checkpoints.
• Creating all the levels, for a total of 4 (one tutorial, two mid levels, one final boss).
• Organizing playtests, recolting feedbacks, and iterating on the controller, the camera and the levels.

The levels were really important, as the game was designed to be speedrun-oriented. That's why I had to go through a lot of iterations for each level. I went with a very slow approach, placing one tile at a time and trying the level after each new platform. It slowed my process, and allowed me to create only 4 levels during the whole project, but it led me creating very fine tuned levels with multiple paths. I always tried to place one main path easily reachable even for newer players (with easy jumps, and minimal frictions to keep the pace), while thinking about at least one additionnal path, harder but faster for speedrunners.

Playtests proved me that no matter how much I thought about my levels, speedrunners would find new ways to go faster with unexpected combinations of jumps and dashes.

Sound Design & Musics

Unlog was also my first time doing sound design and original musics for a video game. We decided to go with a fully handcrafted sound design: 90% of the sounds are recorded by us, and used to create the background ambiance and the gameplay feedbacks. To record the sounds, we used metal pipes, screws, squeaky chairs, large leaves to simulate wind movement, and other small elements. The only sounds that are digital are very particular sounds like the nightmare substance in some levels, the boss sound effect or the UI.

I also created 4 unique musics, recorded and mixed on FL Studio:

• Main Menu
• Main Theme
• Boss
• End Credits

I took inspiration from famous games that use fast-paced catchy electronic music, like Crypt of the Necrodancer, Loop Hero, Risk of Rain, Celeste, Super Meat Boy, etc.

You can listen to these musics right below: