Echo Rift
- Roberto Reynoso
- May 17
- 3 min read
Updated: May 24
Engine: Unity Engine | Genre: Action, Rhythm | Platform: Steam, Nintendo Switch | Timeframe: 8 months+
PLAY THE GAME ON STEAM
Overview
The game is a played on a 9 x 6 grid where the player has to move to the beat of the music according to the bpm that is used. Keeping beat is extremely important since you more than likely will be punished for not doing so. The player will have to defeat the enemy that is in front of them, while keeping the rhythm.
The game draws inspiration from many different titles, which include Crypt of the Necrodancer, One Step to Eden, Megaman Battle Network, and more.
Echo Rift was an endeavor to get it out the door one could say. The game itself had gone through many design challenges. Through out our prototype phase we were really trying to figure out what type of game we wanted to make. With so many different ideas going about it was clear something needed to change, so that we could get a finished product out the door. Though without diving too deep into those specific challenges, what ended up coming out from the ashes is something I am really proud of. I believe we were able to create a unique, ambitious and fun experience the players could enjoy.
Team
Production - Steven Pasinsky & Preston Phung & Akash Singh
Engineering - Roberto Reynoso & Chai Lin & Jacob Liddle & Alice Ssu-Fan Wang & Yan Liu & Yunxiao Cai
Design - Roberto Reynoso & Chai Lin & Steven Pasinsky & Sarah Homer & Adam Treu & Yuxiao Zhou & Shuochen Sun & Minyuan Yang
Art - Briton Flynn & Heejae Lim & Anastasiia Murza & Paul Ruppar & Murinus Liu & Ziyi Zhu
Tech Art - Xinyi Qu & Zhexuan Zou & Po-Jui Huang & Doris Hu
Music - Timmy Reynolds & Kevin West & Will Aleshire
User Research - Arjun Shivakumar
Role and Contributions
Role: Game Engineer & Lead Designer
Background:
As I had mentioned in the overview we had challenges with Echo Rift and it's identity. I didn't have much say in terms of design early on in the project in fact I had to fight for changes one could say. For the first half of the project I wasn't Design lead, I was just an Engineer on the project, but I did have quite a few suggestions on the direction the game should take. Though a lot of my suggestions were thrown out and ignored. Though all I really wanted was a definitive direction, so that work could just happen and we could get a product out the door. Eventually the game had reached a breaking point, where things needed to change and I was given the opportunity to be Design lead on top of the work I needed to do as a key engineer of the project. As design lead I helped solidify the direction of the game, since we were going through constant pivots and changes, though I knew we had a deadline to meet and we needed to stick to a key idea. With the help of others we were able to finally get things moving again in development and the game was on the right track for competition. It wasn't all smooth sailing though, we still had many different challenges that we had to combat to eventually get the game out the door.
Responsibility:
As an engineer and design lead on the project, I really had to work overtime on the project, since there was just so much that needed to be done. My responsibilities included:
Core gameplay mechanics
Core systems
Progression
Enemy Behaviors
Cutscenes
Playtesting
Debugging
Timeline of the game
There were additional contributions throughout the project that are difficult to list in full, but I was deeply involved in nearly every phase of development, wearing multiple hats as needed to get the game across the finish line.
Reflection
I am so proud of what we were able to accomplish. Echo Rift is fun and ambitious and result shows. There were many challenges that I had to face while working on this project, though I have been able to grow a lot from it, I have become a stronger game developer because of this project.
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