The Pitch
Irven the Alchemist is on a quest for eternal life when his faithful (and rather dimwitted) sidekick Umbra, a shadow gremlin, is kidnapped. To get him back, Irven has to team up with his rival, Ferox the assassin, and each of them has to lean on the other’s strengths when their own skills run out.
Core Mechanic: Two Characters, One Player
The game is built on a character swap (Q). The two characters are designed to be incomplete on their own:
| Ferox, the Assassin | Irven, the Alchemist | |
|---|---|---|
| Fantasy | Swift and nimble | Potion mastery |
| Verbs | Dash, wall jump | Potion of strength |
| Solves | Traversal: gaps, heights, speed | Obstacles: things that need raw power |
Each level is a puzzle about who should handle each section, which ties the mechanics to the story’s theme of rivals learning to rely on each other. Both halves of the jam theme are in the premise: the alchemist and the shadow gremlin.
My Role
I was the designer, programmer and producer on a five-person team, which meant owning the mechanics and level flow while keeping the scope shippable within the jam.
| Role | Team member |
|---|---|
| Design, programming, production | Delauraen (me) |
| Art & animation | Ansley (Yelsna) |
| Narrative, scripting, voice acting | Bri Duin (MeantToBri) |
| Audio | Matt (Catharticmeat) |
| Programming | Vandorino |