Based on the Comic Book series of the same name; Eekeemoo Splinters of the Dark Shard tells a new standalone chapter in the Eekeemoo story. Eekeemoo must race across the land to free his friends and stop the corruption of the Dark Shard. Developed by Cogg Games; the game is an action adventure title aimed at a younger audiences, where the player can swap between Eekeemoo and his friends (as they're unlocked) to overcome different challenges, puzzles and bosses.
During the course of the games development; I was utilized as a 3D artist primarily and all assets were created by me, including characters and their animations. However, I was also the level designer for project and drove a lot of the game design decisions.
With the levels I was given a bit of freedom and so I designed every location based on a theme. The Swamp's theme is Learning, the Lava Lakes' is Time, the Ice Mountain's is Control/ Movement and the Dark Cave's is Sight. This allowed me to have a clear idea of what to place and where; based around those themes; for example, the player has a lack of control in the Ice Mountain and as such there are slippery floors and the platforms crumble and whilst in the Lava Lakes, the player might have to wait for lava to subside before they can progress.
Sadly, I feel the game was stronger in its design than in its execution. And personally, I feel it looks better in still images than in motion. This I believe was largely down to some office politics on what the game focus should be and fundamentally our ambition drove us to bite off more than we could chew for such a short development cycle. For instance, I designed, outlined and animated an incredibly indepth combat system which is entirely absent from the final game. And the final chapter was cut altogether.
Having said that, it was an extremely important title in my career as it gave me loads of experience in development, communication and problems to overcome, and of course the mistakes I won't make again.
The game is available on Steam, Xbox One, PS4, Wii U and Switch.
Copyright © 2024 OwenMakesGames - All Rights Reserved.