sUNSET iSLAND

*This Project is in pre-alpha development, videos & media on this page are being re-recorded with updated assets.

The Game:

At a Glance:

Follow Sam as he encounters a world beyond -and right beside- our own, as you platform across surreal location, solve odd magical puzzles, and fight strange foes. Unravel the secrets of a town you thought you knew and uncover a reality far stranger than you could've imagined.

My Role: Lead/Level/Systems Designer
Status: Pre-Alpha vertical slice in development
Tools: Unity, Probuilder; Miro, Git (assets)
Goal: Demonstration of mechanics, traversal, and puzzle solving

Development Overview

1. Core Systems & Basic Mechanics

Bouncing Shot

Rope Swinging

Aside from motion, the first mechanic I developed was a bouncy ball projectile, that reminded me of the movie "Flubber". It can be used to harm enemies and solve puzzles from around corners- and leave sigil marks that affect other mechanics as well!

After that, I went on to make a rope swing system. I value verticality and motion a great deal in many games, and wanted to give the player a sense of fun and freedom.

Magic Explosion (sigil & No Sigil Use)

The last of these three original mechanics I created was the magic explosion - use it to destroy walls and blast yourself to new heights. Combine it with the magic sigil to hit areas even further away-even ones completely out of sight!

2. Atmosphere & Tone

After I finished some of the basic mechanics, I took a look at visual appeal, style, and consistency, so I could begin the vertical slice with a strong sense of image.

Visual Development

Using the Unity URP (Universal Render Pipeline), I crafted a warm, nostalgic feeling, emphasizing light and sightlines to optimize the player experience. A great deal of attention goes into not just the moment-to-moment gameplay and enjoyment, but the feeling that the player will stay with them forever. I took heavy inspiration for this mood from A Story About My Uncle, a game extremely near and dear to my heart.

Music & further Visual Enhancement

The integration of music and sound is key to any game, and ours is no different. After initial vis-dev was decided on, I continued to make further adjustments to our post processing, shader settings, and general atmospheric tone. One of which involves a moving soundtrack developed by Rulon Feeney, music & audio director.

3. How it started & dev Pipeline

When I began Sunset Island, I had recently been laid off as a result of changes to company roles. Frustrated with the state of jobs in the Game Industry, I took it upon myself to gather some old friends, new friends, and total randoms to make a project that'd been stewing in my brain. At its peak we brought together over a dozen independent and rising artists and developers.

While working on the project, I used my industry experience to guide my team in using a variety of effective and common tools, such as Git / Git LFS and the built-in Unity same time collaboration system to work on the project simultaneously. As we went forward, I began to implement a loose version of Agile-style development to keep the team progressing smoothly, tracking tasks mostly through notion.

When bottlenecks appeared between story writing and concept art, I restructured our workflow around smaller narrative beats, prioritizing sections tied directly to key gameplay moments. It wasn’t always smooth, but it kept the team aligned and moving forward.

Tools Used

Unity 3D 2025

Notion

GitHub LFS

Discord

*The above are the tools involved in the development of sunset island excluding asset production such as concept art, 3D models, and audio editing & composing