Planet Unknown: Game Concept

In preparation for our end of year major projects, myself and other students put together pitches for our individual game ideas. Out of the total amount of pitches only half would get through to the prototyping stage.

I pitched the game concept for Planet Unknown, a retro pixel art 2D platformer, where you are a stranded adventurer on an unexplored and extremely dangerous planet. To repair your ship, you must traverse the strange environment to find the missing pieces that were scattered in the accident, fighting enemy creatures and avoiding hazards as you go.

The Planet Unknown player experience is a Sci-Fi themed adventure, with exploration and intriguing level design. Its mechanics include combat with the use of weapon power ups, puzzle solving integrated into environment traversal and exploration, and finally, pickups for health and objectives. The enemies and hazards the player encounters are different depending on the level's biome, in these encounters the player can utilise the aforementioned power ups and mechanics to progress in the level.

This concept was based on a personal project I wanted to see evolve and take shape with the input of designers, artists and programmers aside from myself. I believe this idea has potential and could make for a fun and engaging player experience.

Screenshots taken of the original pitch

I was fortunate enough to have my pitch selected to move into the prototyping stage alongside nine other projects, with a team made up of two programmers (myself and David Flintoft), three designers (Dana McKay, Tristan Duggan, Matt Solle) and four artists (Sebastian Tuckwell, Francis Adams, Angela Stevens, Brea Fox). We immediately started to discuss the specifics of Planet Unknown and expand on the concept to create a fun player experience. From there we determined what needed to be featured and demonstrated in the prototype and set to work!