top of page

From The Ashes

Project Summary

Role: Game Designer & Programmer

Team Size: Solo Project

Genre: 2D Roguelike Shooter
Engine: Unity

Duration: October 2023 - December 2023

Status: Completed​​

Overview

From the Ashes is a fast-paced 2D roguelike action prototype, developed as a solo academic project. Built in Unity with C#, the game challenges players with procedurally generated catacombs, reactive enemy AI, a shop system, and a bullet-hell-style boss fight. Players engage in agile traversal and projectile-based combat, having to carefully manage health, coins, and risk.

Development Notes

  • Collaborated with a music student for original audio, laying the foundation for an ongoing partnership in future projects.

  • External art and assets were curated and modified to match the game’s visual tone.

  • Major challenge: implementing clean and bug-free procedural room generation, eventually solved through incremental tracing, collision checks, and layered spawn logic.

My Role

Developed From the Ashes, a solo 2D roguelike project created in Unity with C# scripting, showcasing systems-driven design, procedural generation, and fast-paced combat mechanics within a tightly scoped gameplay loop.

  • Built a dynamic, replayable roguelike experience by implementing procedural level generation, complete with interconnected rooms, randomized shop placements, and enemy encounters.

  • Scripted all player mechanics in C#, including projectile-based combat, dodge rolls, breakable objects, and item pickups, ensuring tight control responsiveness and moment-to-moment clarity.

  • Designed multiple enemy archetypes with distinct behaviors, such as patrolling, chasing, ranged attacks, and retreating when threatened, creating encounters that demanded adaptability from the player.

  • Integrated a functional shop system where players can spend in-game currency to restore health or adopt a non-combat ghost companion—adding a touch of personality to the dark catacomb setting.

  • Balanced item drop rates, room pacing, and enemy difficulty to support repeat playthroughs and short-session gameplay, enhancing the roguelike identity of the project.

  • Collaborated with a music student for the game’s original soundtrack, successfully aligning dynamic combat gameplay with emotional atmosphere through sound design.

  • Managed all design, programming, and implementation as a solo developer, while sourcing and integrating visual assets externally to align with the game’s tone and style.

  • Overcame the challenge of procedural room generation by scripting a robust and extensible layout system, supported by custom tracing logic and collision handling.

  • Delivered a cohesive, replayable gameplay experience that reflects an understanding of roguelike mechanics, game-feel iteration, and level structure fundamentals.

  • Employed GitHub for source control and project management, ensuring effective version control and structured workflow during development.

​Exploring C#

  • Implemented full procedural level generation using directional pathfinding and random room spawning via  custom LevelGenerator Script, supporting dynamic layouts for each run.

  • Developed a centralized LevelManager system to handle game flow, pause states, health tracking, UI updates, and level transitions.

  • Built a currency and health drop system, enabling enemies and breakables (like crates) to randomly spawn items on destruction—encouraging aggressive, exploratory gameplay.

  • Designed modular scripts for room connections, shop logic, and interactive elements like destructibles, pickups, and transitions.

  • Scripted responsive UI elements including coin counters, health indicators, and a pause system via clean code architecture and event triggers.

Enemy Design

  • Created multiple enemy archetypes with varied behaviours including patrolling, chasing, shooting, fleeing, and wandering logic.

  • Integrated modular enemy logic to mix behaviours through toggleable flags—e.g., shoot + chase, or wander + flee.

  • Programmed item drop chances with percentage-based logic, randomized death splatters, and VFX/SFX to maintain combat feedback and variety.

​Shop and Upgrades

  • Designed a player upgrade system where coins can be spent at shop terminals to restore health or acquire companions (non-combat ghost followers).

  • Balanced upgrade costs and drop rates to encourage replayability and adaptation across randomized levels.

​Player Mechanics & Combat

  • Created tight projectile-based combat to support fast movement, precision shooting, and rolling mechanics.

  • Integrated bullet hell boss fight mechanics with multi-directional attacks, forcing the player to learn, adapt, and position effectively.

Full Gameplay

mePic.jpg

Hello!

I'm Filippo, an Italian-Born Game Designer living in London. I recently graduated from UEL with a First Class Bachelor of Arts in Game Design. My specific focus is Combat Design and I have 4+ years of game development experience primarily in Unreal Engine and Unity. 

​​​

I absolutely love to create; more specifically, I love creating mechanics that subtly teach the player through gameplay. My main focus is combat design so it comes to no surprise that some of my favourite games are Sekiro, the Ninja Gaiden series, Sifu, God of War, Hollow Knight and Elden Ring. I also clocked thousands of hours on RPGs such as the Elder Scrolls series, the Diablo series, Baldur's gate 3, Final Fantasy X, The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. ​​

When I'm not making or playing videogames, I love reading, cooking, coffee and dogs. If you enjoy the stuff I've been making, please feel free to reach out!

 

  • FinalEmail
  • LinkedIn
  • X
  • Youtube

©2022 by Filippo Angeletti

bottom of page