Sphera is a single-player first person puzzle platformer to the likes of Portal, where the player must navigate levels using a throwable sphere that when triggered instantly transports them to it’s position
Pink Atomic was a development team comprised of some of the best students in the games course at Salford University:
Aaron Carter: Environment artist & level design
Gracie Hurst: Mechanics artist & environment design
Ella McNally: UI artist, menus & 2D graphics
Elmeri Rautavirta: AI programmer
Carl Whittle: Original sound track
Ignacio Roca: Team lead & gameplay programmer
From concept to marketing the game’s development took about 8 months to complete. The result is a short but sweet demo that we are working to polish and make available.
For more information and download link visit the game’s site
Gameplay Programmer
As a gameplay programmer I was tasked with implementing the conceptual designs of different mechanics created for the game, the main one of which was the Sphera.
The following is concept art showing how the mechanic works and a video of it implemented
The mechanic consists of a ball that is thrown similar to a grenade, it can bounce against walls and other surfaces following the laws of physics and can then be triggered in different ways:
The player can teleport to its position
The ball can deliver an electric shock to devices around it triggering switches and deactivating traps
Team lead
As a team lead I was in charge of the coordination of the tasks the individuals in the team took on and guiding our collective aims and objectives. Everyone in the team had a different creative vision for the project and my role was to marry those visions into a fun and innovative experience.
Specific things I did under this role were task and file management through tools like Scrumwise and Unity Teams, making sure there were no conflicts with the way the project was being updated and that everyone was spending their time on the project in the most efficient and effective manner. I had a big part in deciding the general direction the team moved in and what the deadlines had to be met for the different components that were being produced for the game.