Character Design
Created comprehensive animation sets including walking, attacking, death sequences, and boss-specific charging animations for dynamic gameplay.
Broker Breaker
Digital Game / 2024 / Game Designer & Developer
A Wall Street-themed game where players battle through waves of enemies, all culminating in an epic boss battle.
Project Overview
An arcade-style action game set in Wall Street chaos where players survive increasingly challenging waves of enemys, featuring a progression system and multiple weapon.
- GameMaker Studio
- Pixel Art Creation
- Sound Design (Pixabay)
- Paper Prototyping
- Game Design & Mechanics
- Programming & Implementation
- Playtesting & Iteration
Game Experience
Navigate the chaos of Wall Street as you battle through waves of increasingly challenging enemies. Master four different weapon types, collect experience points, and survive long enough to face the final boss.
The core gameplay loop:
Spawn enemies → Battle enemies → Collect points (rats) → Advance levels → Face the boss → Victory/DefeatGame Mechanics & Systems
The games carefully balanced progression system.
Enemy Progression System
Type 1: Basic enemies (100 HP, 0.6 speed)
Type 2: Fast enemies (50 HP, 1.1 speed)
Type 3: Tank enemies (300 HP, 0.3 speed)
Final Boss: Special charging attacks (5000 HP, 0.6 speed)
Weapon Arsenal
Red Weapon (Fire): High damage output
Blue Weapon (Water/Ice): Balanced stats
White Weapon (Air): Rapid fire
Area Attack (Earth): Multi-target damage
Experience & Progression
Rat collectibles provide experience points with dynamic drop rates. Six player levels unlock weapon upgrades, with decreasing rat probability as players advance (75% → 16.667%).
Difficulty Scaling
Six distinct stages with evolving enemy spawn probabilities. Stage 1: 100% Type 1 enemies → Stage 6: Boss battle with all regular enemies cleared.
Development Journey
From initial brainstorming to polished gameplay, the development process involved multiple iterations and creative problem-solving.
- Game inspiration
- Wall Street theme
- Basic progression ideas
- Enemy type brainstorming
➞
- Gameplay flow testing
- Enemy spawn patterns
- Weapon balance design
- Experience curve planning
➞
- Complete art
- Sprite Animation
- Sound effects & music
- UI/UX implementation
Art & Asset Development
Broker Breaker's detailed character animations and environmental assets combine pixel art aesthetics with some magical chaos.
Main player animations, 3 enemy types, final boss with special moves
4 weapon types with unique visual effects and bullet animations
Weapon Visuals
Designed distinctive weapon icons and bullet effects for each damage type, with UI integration showing active weapon status and cooldown timers.
Wall Street buildings, street clutter, and interactive elements
Environmental Design
Built a dynamic Wall Street scene with lamp posts, plants, poles, fences, and trashcans to create an authentic urban battleground.
Playtesting & Iteration
Three rounds of focused playtesting sessions guided major design decisions and improvements:
Session 1: UI & Balance
- Feedback: UI colors should reflect weapon power/attack types
- Feedback: Too many rats spawning, overwhelming the collection mechanic
- Implementation: Added animated weapon UI boxes showing active selection
- Implementation: Adjusted rat drop probability and spawn caps
Session 2: Clarity & Difficulty
- Feedback: Make cooldowns visible to players
- Feedback: Game difficulty too high, reduce enemy spawns
- Implementation: Added cooldown animations to UI
- Implementation: Decreased spawn rates and increased player HP
Session 3: Polish & Feel
- Feedback: Add knock-back to prevent getting stuck
- Feedback: Still need more player health
- Implementation: Increased player HP to 300
- Implementation: Explored knock-back mechanics
Technical Challenges & Solutions
Developing Broker Breaker presented many unique challenges in balancing gameplay mechanics, technical implementation, and user experience.
Progressive Difficulty Balance
Designing six enemy stages with distinct spawn probabilities required a lot of testing. Creating smooth difficulty progression while trying not to overwhelm was a challenge.
GameMaker Learning Curve
Working with GameMaker Studio presented some challenges, including system crashes and debugging complex sprite interactions. This required iterative problem-solving and extensive error handling.
Experience System Tuning
Balancing the rat collection system and experience progression required multiple iterations. Early versions either dropped too many or too few, drop rates had to be carefully adjustment.
What I Learned
Game Balance Design
Creating an engaging progression system requires careful math and comprehensive playtesting. Small changes in spawn rates or damage values can dramatically the affect player experience.
Iterative Development
User feedback was crucial for identifying the pain points that were invisible during development. Each playtesting session revealed specific areas for improvement that wouldn't have been apparent otherwise.
Technical Problem-Solving
Working with GameMaker taught a lot about patience when it comes to debuging and also the impotance of patience when working with other programers