Leon Carranza's Website

Process:

Early Concepts

In contrast to the PC game we made for the previous introductory game design course, we were asked to create either a mobile game or one for the Steam Deck. Opting for a cooking-action platformer hybrid, we asked ourselves what mechanic could leverage the touchscreen/gamepad hybridity of the Steam Deck.

My animated conceptual sketch which illustrates my proposal for how we can use dollar gestures to game-ify discrete cooking steps in our game

Sketch I made to illustrate how these gestures would be used in action-platformer encounters.

Early concept art for Su, the main character.

Asset Creation and Design Leadership

As we established our gameplay concept, the design team would be tasked with created a variety of assets such as UI, backgrounds, sprites, and animations. As a co-lead I primarily managed the labor distrubution of animations and backgrounds. I myself created several spritesheet animations for our main character and the first boss enemy. I also established the dream-like kitchen environment for our levels.

Diagrams

I also contributed diagrams meant to convey to the course staff, and to ourselves, our gameplay, control, and level designs.

Shania and I would collaborate to produce what would eventually become our final level design. For each platformer level, there is a focus on unique enemy buffs, as well as prep tables to "cook" ingredients collected by defeating enemies found throughout the stage. Above is a sample of such a level we sketched together.

Animation Tracker

For distributing labor on animation, I created and had the rest of the design group log their spritesheets into a shared design tracker on Google Sheets.

My Animations

I drafted animations for Su and would eventually match them to Shania's final design. I likewise created animations for the Empanada Bull boss that were based on Kassy's design.