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
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Collaborated with a music student for original audio, laying the foundation for an ongoing partnership in future projects. 
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External art and assets were curated and modified to match the game’s visual tone. 
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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.
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Built a dynamic, replayable roguelike experience by implementing procedural level generation, complete with interconnected rooms, randomized shop placements, and enemy encounters. 
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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. 
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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. 
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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. 
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Balanced item drop rates, room pacing, and enemy difficulty to support repeat playthroughs and short-session gameplay, enhancing the roguelike identity of the project. 
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Collaborated with a music student for the game’s original soundtrack, successfully aligning dynamic combat gameplay with emotional atmosphere through sound design. 
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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. 
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Overcame the challenge of procedural room generation by scripting a robust and extensible layout system, supported by custom tracing logic and collision handling. 
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Delivered a cohesive, replayable gameplay experience that reflects an understanding of roguelike mechanics, game-feel iteration, and level structure fundamentals. 
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Employed GitHub for source control and project management, ensuring effective version control and structured workflow during development. 
Exploring C#
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Implemented full procedural level generation using directional pathfinding and random room spawning via custom LevelGenerator Script, supporting dynamic layouts for each run. 
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Developed a centralized LevelManager system to handle game flow, pause states, health tracking, UI updates, and level transitions. 
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Built a currency and health drop system, enabling enemies and breakables (like crates) to randomly spawn items on destruction—encouraging aggressive, exploratory gameplay. 
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Designed modular scripts for room connections, shop logic, and interactive elements like destructibles, pickups, and transitions. 
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Scripted responsive UI elements including coin counters, health indicators, and a pause system via clean code architecture and event triggers. 
Enemy Design
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Created multiple enemy archetypes with varied behaviours including patrolling, chasing, shooting, fleeing, and wandering logic. 
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Integrated modular enemy logic to mix behaviours through toggleable flags—e.g., shoot + chase, or wander + flee. 
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Programmed item drop chances with percentage-based logic, randomized death splatters, and VFX/SFX to maintain combat feedback and variety. 
Shop and Upgrades
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Designed a player upgrade system where coins can be spent at shop terminals to restore health or acquire companions (non-combat ghost followers). 
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Balanced upgrade costs and drop rates to encourage replayability and adaptation across randomized levels. 
Player Mechanics & Combat
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Created tight projectile-based combat to support fast movement, precision shooting, and rolling mechanics. 
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Integrated bullet hell boss fight mechanics with multi-directional attacks, forcing the player to learn, adapt, and position effectively. 
Full Gameplay














