Azimuth is an isometric hack ‘n’ slash game where the player is a brave treasure hunter who explores the dry air pockets in order to find the secrets of underwater ruins. The path to the secrets isn’t easy since countless enemies will try to stop the player from advancing. We were heavily inspired by a video game named “Hades” and brainstormed until we ended up making hack ‘n’ slash with an underwater/Atlantis theme.
Our original plan was to create a game where you go through levels in randomized order until you reach a boss fight room which would have been the last level but due to time restrictions we had to drop the idea. Instead the player can now go through as many randomized level loops as they can before they die. The task might sound simple but the enemies get tougher and more dangerous after each loop – how far can you get?
Our programmers faced a challenge with the isometric perspective regarding the movement and visibility in levels. How to make sure that the player hits correct targets upon clicking the screen and how to make sure that enemies don’t hide behind walls where the player can’t see them. These didn’t stop us and we found answers to all our troubles.
The game’s theme and looks caused problems among the artists. Initially the game’s theme was supposed to be a mix of Atlantis and Bioshock/steampunk but none of the artists had much experience with steampunk. After many discussions, we slided away from steampunk and more towards art nouveau which turned out well.
In the end we are pleased with how the game turned out and it was a great learning experience for the whole team.
Team
Eero Salmi: Programming, Audio
Laura Huovinen: Programming
Jirko Haapapuro: Graphic Design, Animation, Level Design, Character Design
Juho Mansikka: Graphic Design, Animation, Character Design, Particle VFX
Ada Ikonen: Graphic Design, Environmental Design