Beware the Sun

Role: Level Designer, Scripter
Duration: May 2026 (1 week)
Engine: Unity

Beware the Sun is a 2D platformer game I developed after I graduated for fun and to continue to progress my Unity skills. I designed this game to be played on a single screen instead of a moving camera.

I created a few different enemies to avoid, coins to collect, and platforms/ladders to climb. I also created a two phase boss fight at the end of the level that I had fun designing and scripting.

Goals:

Build and script a playable single-screen platformer prototype with two different types of enemies, unique mechanics, and a boss fight.
Create strong design documentation that includes pitch ideas I wrote down when concepting the idea for this project.
Further increase my design and Unity scripting skills and test myself on new or different ideas and mechanics.

Project Roles

Designed a pre-defined player path contained on a single screen.
Implemented game mechanics like ladders, jump pads, a box/key, coins, and two enemy types.
Created a two phase boss fight that is contained on it's own single-screen level.

Level Designer

Scripter

Created numerous scripts for the project including enemy AI's, two phase boss fight, object pickups, and more.
Designed one melee type enemy and one ranged "charger" type enemy.
Scripted game mechanics like ladders, coins, box/key,

The Design Process

I came up with the idea for this project one day while brainstorming game ideas I thought would be fun to create. I wrote down all of my cool ideas down before I started implementing them in Unity.

Brainstorming Ideas

I wrote down ideas on how to create a playable platformer game in a 1 week time frame.
Inspired by some old platformer games I used to play like Metroid: Fusion and Super Mario Bros 3.
Included multiple enemy types and a two phase boss fight.

PlatformerIdeas1

PlatformerIdeas2

PlatformerIdeas1

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After I wrote down all my ideas I began searching and downloading free 2D assets I could use for this project including the tiles for the map, the player character and enemies, and the final boss.

Game Mechanics

Jump Pad: Launches the player high in the air.
Two Enemy Types: One melee patrolling enemy, and one "charge" enemy that dives towards the player.
Collectable Coins: Player has to collect all 20 coins and get the golden carrot to proceed to the final level with the boss.
Boss Fight: The player fights a boss in two phases. The player gains the ability to launch an icicle to do damage to the boss.

Level Layout

I designed this game to have a static screen as part of the challenge to develop this game within a 1 week timeframe. I created a few mechanics to make use of the single screen limitation by having a lower level where you need to collect a key to open a box that spawns a ladder/beanstalk to get to the upper level. The objective of the game is to collect all the coins and get the golden carrot to move on and fight the final boss.

(Click to enlarge)

The player starts with 5 lives, and will lose a life if they collide with an enemy, similar to how Mario games work. Once the player moves on to the boss fight level, they gain a health bar that can receive damage and also gain the ability to send out icicles to do damage.

Scripting Tasks

Enemies

I scripted two different types of enemies for the player to avoid, melee and charging enemies.

Melee Enemy: Patrol between two points but sporadically change directions in random intervals.

Charging Enemy: Charge to the players position after a slight delay time.

Level Mechanics

I scripted the following level mechanics:

Jump Pad: Launches the player much higher than their usual jump when they collide with the top of it.

Box and Key: Colliding with the key picks it up, hitting the locked box from underneath Mario style will activate it. Activating the box will spawn a ladder/beanstalk so the player can reach the upper level.

Coins and Golden Carrot: The player must collect all 20 coins and get the golden carrot before the boss fight is available.

Boss Fight

The player will gain a health bar and an energy bar upon entering the boss fight level. The player can launch icicles towards the mouse position to damage the boss. Each icicle has an energy cost, and the player will have to wait for energy to recharge to launch another one.

First Phase

The boss patrols back and forth in a sporadic pattern, launching sun bombs below it. The boss's movement pattern varies at random, as well as how many sun bombs they launch at a time, from 1 to up to 3 bombs at once. When the boss reaches 50% health, the boss goes into phase two.

Second Phase

The boss turns off the gravity so the player can now ascend and descend throughout the arena. Swirling sun spheres circle the boss and every few seconds launch sun beams that connect with each of the spheres. If the player collides with one of the sun beams, the player will take heavy damage.