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Brief:

“Create a game with increasing difficulty over 3 levels.”

About the game:
Early prototype
Engine: Unity
Language: C#
Team Size: Solo
Development time: 2 months

This project is a three-level 2D platformer designed around gradual difficulty escalation. The player progresses through each level by collecting stars, avoiding hazards and reaching the level objective. Each subsequent level introduces increased challenge through level layout and enemy placement.

This project was an early Unity prototype and served as a foundation for later gameplay and systems-focused work.

My Role and Contributions:

• Designed and implemented three platforming levels with increasing difficulty
• Focused on level layout and obstacle placement to gradually raise challenge
• Implemented core gameplay logic using C# with provided assets
• Balanced player movement, hazards and objectives to support progression
• Tested and refined level flow to ensure each stage felt distinct and progressively harder

Design Focus:

The main design goal was to introduce difficulty in a controlled and readable way. Each level was structured to build on mechanics introduced previously, requiring the player to react more quickly and make more precise movement decisions as they progressed.

The difficulty increase was achieved through level structure, enemy placement and timing rather than introducing new mechanics, allowing the player to focus on mastery and improvement.

Reflection and Learning Outcomes:

As one of my first Unity projects, this prototype played an important role in developing my understanding of level design, gameplay logic and iteration. Working on a small, contained project allowed me to focus on core principles such as pacing, readability and player learning.

If revisited, I would improve enemy positioning to create more intentional challenge and reduce trial-and-error deaths. I would also add a scoring system to encourage replayability and competition, allowing players to measure improvement and optimise their performance across runs.

This project helped prepare me for more complex gameplay systems and informed my approach to later projects that required stronger structure, progression and player guidance.