Kuri
- Solo project
- Top-down bullet hell boss rush
- Made in GameMaker Studio
- ~6 months in development (2016-17)
Overview
Kuri was my first full-fledged project, made for my video game design class in Senior year of high school.
I created all assets for this game, including code, art, and music.
The class was very free-form, but introduced us to basic SCRUM concepts, directing students to create a product backlog and self-manage sprints through a development cycle that lasted about six months.
Largely taking inspiration from the then recently-released boss rush Furi, Kuri featured three bosses with many attacks and multiple healthbars, along with a variety of abilities for the player, introduced as you progress through the game.
It was definitely an ambitious project, especially with art assets and music on my plate as well. Still, I remember watching one particular classmate who excitedly struggled all the way through to his hard-fought victory and feeling assured that I succeeded at what I set out to do.
It was definitely an ambitious project, especially with art assets and music on my plate as well. Still, I remember watching one particular classmate who excitedly struggled all the way through to his hard-fought victory and feeling assured that I succeeded at what I set out to do.
Lessons Learned
Keep your priority on the core essentials.
Kuri's initial concept included an interactive upgrade system and some dialogue/cutscenes to explicitly state the lore of the world. However, I eventually realized that the scope and vision of the project would be better served by leaving out these elements, allowing me to focus solely on filling out the content of each battle and improving general gameplay stability.
Kuri's initial concept included an interactive upgrade system and some dialogue/cutscenes to explicitly state the lore of the world. However, I eventually realized that the scope and vision of the project would be better served by leaving out these elements, allowing me to focus solely on filling out the content of each battle and improving general gameplay stability.