Gravijump

Gravijump is an infinite runner inspired by mobile infinite runners like Doodle Jump, Jetpack Joyride, and the Flash game Gravity Guy. Players run across an infinitely generated world using a gravity flip mechanic to avoid spikes, collect coins, and earn a high score. 

As a part of UChicago Game Design’s Development Track, I was the producer for a team of 5 first-time developers tasked to re-create a simpler existing game with our own twist. I was also responsible for teaching game development practices and Unity development to my other team members.

I led the team through every stage of Gravijump’s development, from brainstorming through development and playtesting all the way to recording a trailer and publishing the game on itch.io and the UChicago Game Design website.

I ran our weekly meetings, establishing goals for each day and making sure we remained on track to deliver the game in a 6-week timeframe. I ensured that all team members had actionable tasks to work on each meeting, and set stretch goals to accomplish in between meetings. When team members had to miss some weeks due to school work or personal conflicts, I reassigned tasks to keep the project on track, while also making sure that team members who missed meetings didn’t fall out of the loop.

Working with mostly new developers, I was able to help them use their existing skills to implement necessary features while also giving every team member space to learn and work on skills they wanted to cultivate. As a result of this, no member had only one role on the team – almost every team member contributed some art, music, or sound effects to the game, and every team member contributed to level design and Unity programming. 

As a part of the programming sponsored by the UChicago Game Design club, my primary goal in this project wasn’t strictly the outcome (although I’m very happy with the outcome, which was particularly impressive for new developers in such a short timeframe), but rather that all of my team members were able to learn the skills and processes to develop games in the future, and this was my primary goal when producing Gravijump. 

• I taught an introductory Unity workshop at the start of the program that my team attended (along with other teams in the program), and ensured that the whole team was on board with our production pipeline.

• I helped them set a clear art style at the start of production, and made sure we followed consistent guidelines such as a fixed pixel scale when designing sprites and levels. 

• While helping with the programming side, I stepped back whenever it was possible, instead encouraging my teammates to help each other and teaching them how to use online resources to answer questions, which are vital skills for any game development project. 

• Although our weekly meeting time was very limited, I explicitly prioritized helping teammates who were lost or didn’t understand a Unity feature, even when I could have easily completed those tasks myself or delegated them to a team member who didn’t need extra help.