Alarming Ladder Internship

Unity (C#) Programmer Intern

This project was part of indie game studio Alarming Ladder's (now Pinfall Games) "Learning Ladders" summer internship programme over the course of July 2024. My month-long brief was to work on a mobile arcade game, accompanied by a programming documentation.

Play

In July 2024, I took part in Alarming Ladder's Learning Ladders summer internship programme, where aspiring game developers and game development students spend a month to work on a client's brief.

You can find out more about the programme here:
https://www.pinfallgames.com/learning-ladders

My brief for this month-long project was to produce a simple arcade game prototype, built for Android and IOS mobile devices. The game will need to take input from touch controls and its UI needs to be scaled fittingly. Additionally, I needed to provide my client with a Game Design Document (GDD) with comprehensive programming documentation.

At the end of the programme, I was awarded a certificate and a unique special accommodation award for my driven attitude, and high-quality final product.

Swipe Controls

Initially, I was quite unfamiliar with mobile development, however after setting up Unity Remote, I really wanted to explore swipe detection as input for player character movement. Considering the scope and time frame for this project, I used the iTween plugin to set a player character direction, while adding a constant forward force.

Ladder Movement

I then added simple sprite animation, and limited the player character to horizontal movement. Inspired by classic arcade games like Donkey Kong (1981) and Bubble Bobble (1986), I created ladder movement by adding a force when the player character swipes upwards/downwards in-range of a ladder. My most challenging obstacle was working a two-way ladder, with a platform that the player character can stand on and also pass through. I tried disabling and enabling the platform collider, but not only did this work half of the time, but it would prove ineffective when having to pair each ladder to its platform. I found by using a Kinematic BodyType, that the player could effectively pass both ways, ignoring collisions.

Dodging Mechanic

At the same time I was working on this project, I was also playing Alan Wake Remastered (2010), and I absolutely loved the satisfaction from performing a successful dodge. I therefore wanted to add a dodging feature with the same slow-motion effect, additionally with a satisfying camera zoom, for when the player finds themselves hurtling towards a possible impending doom - this gives the player character better control and reduces player frustration.