Jarfall

Play on itch.io

Physics-based puzzle set in Ancient Persia.
Destroy blocks strategically to land the Jar on the platform.

About the UI

A fully simulated diegetic UI.

I challenged myself to create a full diegetic UI where the blocks used in levels also have UI functions like resetting level and going back. They are spawned and simulated with physics just like any other block. They are used as part of the level design and even help you.

Even the main menu has a reset button because you can interact with the blocks. You practically learn how to play the game from the very first menu you encounter.

While the web demo currently doesn't use keyboard inputs, besides quickly using "R" to reset a level you also have the reset button as a block very close to where the action happens. This limits the amount of mouse travel to reset a level or exit. Compared to using a standard UI with buttons in the far corners of the screen.

The settings screen was a little tricky to keep entirely as blocks.

Play on itch.io

Jex in Space

Watch Trailer

This little game is an extremely important project to me. Back in 2024, my year resolution was to finally start learning some coding and develop my own games. So i decided to learn Unity and C#. Unity being the most used engine by the devs i help with UI design in my work. This is the first game i ever made and has helped me learn so much especially regarding how my UI work gets implemented in engine. Today, I still can't believe i coded this.

I am truly mesmerized.

Gameplay

You must help Jex survive hordes of rogue asteroids and space junk while adrift in space. Lose all your 9 lives and get thrown back in time to try again.

You can only use your gun's recoil to move around and to destroy incoming objects.

Story

Centers around a pawlet (bracelet) that has been passed around the universe sold cheap at every space market. Some saying that it's an ancient device holding huge quantities of energy. Despite some studies conducted, no such properties were ever found. Kara, a debt-ridden pilot entangled in some space piracy and bounty hunting gets her hand on the pawlet and gives it to Jex, her cat. Recently an industrial planet has exploded creating chaos all around and... lots of valuable materials left to loot. Kara, Jex and a crew decide to take part and head towards the ex-planet. But the whole zone became a death-trap. Kara and the crew get caught in a wave of rogue asteroids proven to be impossible to avoid.

The ship gets hit!

The crew manages to run away using an escape pod. However, in all that rush Kara doesn’t realize until it’s too late: Jex is still on board. The ship explodes. The energy from that explosion activated the pawlet now used by Jex which saves his life while getting thown off the ship and adrift in space.

Guns and Upgrades to unlock

Multiple weapons you can unlock using earned credits. Each weapon having it's own unique projectile and upgrades such as projectile speed and cooling system.

Explosive Bullets - unlocked by default

Blue Plasma - a cold plasma that overheats slowly

Lasers - very fast with a normal overheat rate

Homing Rockets - easy to overheat but makes each target easy to destroy

Triple Red Plasma - hot, overheats fast but shoots 3 projectiles at once.

UI

The entire UI consists of an augmented HUD and a console, both provided by the pawlet. The Console as a holo projection and the HUD as a neural augmentation. This allows me to use the pawlet as an "excuse" for being able to pause the game - the pawlet has the power to stop the entropy around you.

The funny thing is, i've been doing game UI for about 8 years now yet i spent more time on the UI design rather than the entire code. Although Unity's UI works on a WYSIWYG basis, learning how canvases, scaling and world-space vs camera works as well as UI functionality was my biggest challenge. Frustrating but i loved every second of it!

I aimed for something immersive but extremely simple at its core and in terms of functionality/UX.

I wanted to give it some subtle cat ears shapes that can be observed in the top HUD score background and even the top tabs of the console UI (Settings and Shop) look a little like ears.

Type of objects you encounter

There are different types of objects constantly coming towards you. Each with different properties. They come at different sizes, different speeds, sometimes can get you overwhelmed by their number. Sometimes you must choose to lose one life in order to survive a wave.

Still some work left to do...

Currently fleshing out details, fixing small bugs and finishing the last polishing layer.

The goal and scope is to publish a fun little game you can jump into in seconds and play in quick sessions while waiting in line or on the bus. No penalties for quitting mid-session.

About the game

Besiege is a vehicle-building sandbox based around medieval siege engines, developed and published by Spiderling Studios.

My role here

As a UI Artist, i've been working closely with the team to:
- Deliver UI mock-ups to be later implemented
- Help in creating assets and fonts
- Design user interfaces and solve design problems
- Redefine existing UI and layouts
- Aid in the creation of promotional material
- Aid in testing of the product and offer feedback