PIRATE WIZARD GAME
ROLE
Designer
DESCRIPTION
Pirate Wizard Game was a 5 Day Games Jam that me and 5 others took part in at the end of our first year of college. This was a Third-Person Game where you fight Pirates and Fishmen on a remote island.
YEAR
10th June - 14th June 2024
GENRE
Third-Person Action Adventure
PLATFORM
PC
LEVEL DESIGN
Development Day 1
When it came to the 5 days we would be spending on this project, we had no idea what was going to be thrown at us, or what we would come to make. For this Games Jam, we were given 5 different themes relating to a certain aspect of the game. These themes included:
We were told we had to include at least one of these themes, or as many as we wanted, so from this point, as a group of 5, we all started coming up with our own individual ideas, and then expanding on one of the ideas. My idea was to have a pirate adventurer travelling to different individual islands, killing pirates and conquering more and more islands. This eventually stemmed into what if we had fish enemies that we could slay, as a pirate wizard who utilises magic spells? Which led to the development of Pirate Wizard.
As the Game Designer of this project, I was left to implementing the mechanics of health, running and dashing as a basic starting point for our game, I also began creating a simple island using the landmass and water plugin to make the creation a lot easier. We originally intended to have multiple different islands, but we decided, due to time, that having only one island full of content would be a lot easier than spreading our time across several different islands. By the end of day 1, we had our very simple mechanics implemented, as well as enemies and a very simple attack mechanic, and a couple of 3D assets to enhance the scene, we were optimistic that we would have created something fantastic by the end of the week.
Day 1 Images
By this point, we had our base mechanics, established and were beginning on some design pieces.
This was the first image of our island.
By this point, we had our base mechanics, established and were beginning on some design pieces.
Day 1 Videos
Development Day 2 - 3
During the next two days, we continued to develop ideas to implement into our game, as well as working on the original concept of our game. During this period, we implemented two new enemies, modified the landscape of the island to be more mountainous, created a magic ability, and began adding interesting details to add more depths to the environment.
We also received a large amount of feedback from several different people, giving us feedback on balancing the game, and making the objective more clear, as well as a main menu and victory/game over screen.
Day 2-3 Images
Day 3 Video
Development Day 4
Throughout yesterday, we received a plethora of feedback from different people in regards to our game and there experience testing it out. One of the main points was that we had so much blank space around the castle, so I created the new locations Pirate Cove and Pirate Bay to allow for people to explore even more. I also added paths to help the player get to the main objective at hand, these paths lead to every alternative place or location around the map, and help keep the player on the move in the right direction. As well as adding a couple more scenery based items, such as ships sailing around the island, and decorating house interiors with furniture and food to make the environment seem more interesting to look at. We also added more variety to the map with locations, I also included some locations that a path doesn't lead to. This allows for the player to pick a direction and see what they find, whether that be a large collection of rocks, a mysterious statue or a ship passing in the distance. I also added a collision box to the campfires so that when a player walks onto the flames, it will take some damage away from them.
Day 4 Image
Final Product
Project Reflection
This was our very first project where we actually created a genuine game. We all worked extremely hard to create something that we were all incredibly proud of for a 5-day Games Jam. We managed to include almost all of the intended themes inside of our game, other than the racing genre. We had thought about including a timer to kill all of the enemies, but having such a rich and filled environment, and restricting the player into always following the path would make this effort seem pointless. However, my skills as a designer have severely improved throughout the course of this week, introducing me to alternative ways to creating mechanics and easier solutions to certain problems.
For our first game, it was a lot for us to take on as a group, but we managed to create something very impressive. There are several issues found towards the final product, and elements that should be different.
Interested in playing this Game?
As of the 14th of June 2025, the game officially turned 1 year old, and to celebrate that milestone and one of my most fun projects of my First College year, the game is available for download. Pirate Wizard is such a fun Game, and a strong reminder as to what 5 dedicated people can accomplish when they all work together! Thank you to everyone involved with this project, each contribution really helped excel this creation into the brilliant piece it is!