Sakura Steel
A 2D pixel art platformer action-adventure game with a Feudal Japan theme. You play as Kaito, a Samurai seeking revenge against those who have wronged him, confronting treacherous enemies and mystical creatures along his path.
Design process
This project was the final assignment for my Fundamentals of Game Art module in the first semester of my Game Development degree.​ It was intended to work in conjunction with the Fundamentals of Game Technology assignment. However, as I was exempted from said subject, I will instead only showcase the design elements and art assets.
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I was tasked with creating pixel art assets such as tilesets, props and character sprites.
We were given a choice between an action platformer or an interactive side scroller, I opted for the platformer as I enjoy this genre more than the other and thought it'd be simpler.
Conceptualization
I was heavily inspired by Ghost of Tsushima when I decided on making this game with a Feudal Japan theme and also because I wanted to do something different from my other artwork that I had done previously, I had been cycling through different themes, creating Sci Fi, Vikings, Pirates and Demon artwork prior to this.
Development
In this assignment, we were also tasked with creating a blockout of our levels using Photoshop.
Blockouts of the 3 levels
​We were also to create 3 unique actions for the Main Character/Player along with the standard actions that a platformer requires such as walking and jumping. I decided to keep things simple and make the 3 unique actions as different attacks.
For the enemy characters, we only had to create 1 unique action, which I decided to make their attacks as well.​​​
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In wanting to adhere to the deadline and ensure that the assignment was complete, I had to drop some mechanics and features in order to get it done on time.
I had intended to have the props be interactable and offer gameplay benefits to the player, such as shaking a tree which would give the player a health buff in the form of a cherry, striking a Tameshigiri stand would give the player a defense buff to their sword, picking up a flag and use it as a projectile to damage enemies from afar or using a lantern to set their sword on fire providing a damage buff.
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Another oversight was that I had forgotten to include a blocking mechanic and as a result, the player always takes damage when battling enemies.
Implementation
Given the exemption from the Fundamentals of Game Technology subject, I will simply explain what I had in mind for the gameplay mechanics.
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Mechanics list:
Basic 2D movement​
- A = Left​
- D = Right
- W = Jump​
Unique Actions, activated using a combination of arrow keys
- Swipe slash
- A horizontal swipe of the sword = RIGHT, LEFT​​​​
​​​​- Downward strike
- A vertical swipe of the sword = UP, UP, DOWN​​​​​​​
​​​​​​- Spinning cut
- A spinning swipe of the sword = DOWN, UP, LEFT, RIGHT​​​​​
​​​​​​​​​​​Level design
I figured a vibrant and bright color palette would be thematically consistent with the Feudal Japan theme. In keeping with the Title of the game, I used only shades of pink for the environment to match the colors of Japan's cherry blossom trees
In game background
Props
Tileset
Gameplay visuals
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3