DANIEL MARTINEZ MURILLO
Game Design Portfolio
VIDEO GAMES
The Bunker
The Bunker is a short prototype adventure game that uses array lists to create a card-based battle system. You play as an employee of the Society of Intelligent Creatures for Kindness, otherwise known as the S.I.C.K.-- basically the U.N., hundreds of years in the future, and dedicated to interplanetary relationships.
In this game, you face bandits and rivals while collecting seeds from a seed bunker left behind hundreds of years ago. While outside of battle, you must explore the bunker and collect the necessary supplies to win. While in battle, you must use your special set of skills, shown as cards, to defeat enemies.
My Role:
As the sole developer, I made everything from the art assets, to the code, to the game design itself.
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Anthro's Save the World
In this game, you play as an anthropomorphic rabbit who works as an acquisition officer for the Climate Unchangers. Your duty is to purchase equipment for the team. This is a simple shop simulator, though I added a bit of spice by adding a bullet hell mode. The characters are also original, charismatic, and tell bits and pieces of how climate change has affected them and their business.
My Role:
As the sole developer, I worked on everything from the art assets, to the code, to the game design itself.
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ACCEPTANCE
Made for the ADL 2018 Gamejam, Acceptance is a game depicting the story of a homosexual man seeking self-acceptance. His journey takes him to a parallel world where he must face what life would be like as a straight man in this short, point-and-click adventure.
Specific credits and the game are accessible below:
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My Role:
As acting Game Director, it was my job to make sure the game ran smoothly and that we met our deadline. Even though there was a language barrier between me and our programmer, as well as time-zone differences, I was able to work with my team to get this done.
As a character designer and a sprite artist, I worked on parts of the environment and the designs of the three characters.
We communicated and sent files over discord. Here you can clearly see me direct scenes and puzzles in the game.
Here, I created a general guide for our coder, so he would know what would need to be implemented beforehand. This includes dialogue, simple puzzle guides, and a legend. This is especially important with a language and time barrier.
Offbeat Bash
Made for the HackUTD 2020 Gamejam, OffBeat Bash is a beat-based platformer where you play as a bat trying to reach a Halloween party. Along the way you must gather party snacks, which act as Powerups, defeat enemies with your spin attack, and jump over large crevices without falling. Make it before time runs out to win!
My Role:
As acting Game Director and Developer, it was my job to make sure the game ran smoothly, that everybody did their part, and that we met our deadline. Additionally, I was in charge of creating the powerups, combat and movement system, and programming all the enemies' AI, which was very simple and animation-based.
Credits:
Programming and Development:
Daniel Martinez Murillo
Lauren D'Angelo
UI and Level Design
Robin Lima
Art and Sprites
Nico Roberts
Hannah Bursley
Music and Sound Design
Hannah Bursley
TABLETOP RPG (WIP)
A WIP tactical RPG Video Game currently in its Paper Prototype stage.
You play as a 9-5 office worker, bored with their everyday life. The worker personifies his office supplies as RPG characters and goes around fighting other (annoyed) office workers' office supplies.
Throughout the game, the player, shown as a hand named Handrew, romances the office supplies outside of battle. The higher the romance level, the stronger the unit. However, the only way to level up Handrew (the main unit) is to sacrifice the romanced office supplies. The higher the romance level, the more it will level up Handrew.
Meant to be a silly but strategic and viable game, Tabletop RPG is still in development.
My Role:
For this game, I worked hard with my team (Angie Cook, Robin Lima, Edwin Gustine, Parker Whitehead, Megan Ellis, Kira Smith, and Hannah_) to conceptualize and begin creating. I began by helping with concept art and game design but eventually left concept art to Cook. While Lima worked on level design with my assistance, I worked on overall mechanics with her assistance, so there was always a back-and-forth communication between us. Eventually, we reached the point of prototyping, at first using pieces of ripped paper and actual office supplies to simulate the game, and later transferring that prototype onto Tabletop Simulator, playing various rounds with the rules we had written.
We spent hours meticulously changing specific mechanics and writing notes to see if the game worked well.
After we created the paper prototype, we added all the mechanics and necessary assets to Tabletop Simulator, where we simulated the game in real-time. I was the player and Robin the computer.
We spent hours meticulously changing specific mechanics and writing notes to see if the game worked well.
After we created the paper prototype, we added all the mechanics and necessary assets to Tabletop Simulator, where we simulated the game in real time. I was the player and Robin the computer.
We spent hours meticulously changing specific mechanics and writing notes to see if the game worked well.
Mechanics, Coding, and Production
This section exists to show that I am well-situated in relation to coding; however, I am constantly learning new things about the world of coding, and thus enjoy designing game mechanics in detail, as one day I hope to implement them all.
Starting off, here are the mechanics I originally made for Tabletop RPG. This was only part of the equation, however, as I also helped Robin Lima with specific mechanics for each character, including their moveset.
I'd like to point out that I am by no means a coding expert. I am still learning. But, here I want to show that I am competent enough to make simple games, and am constantly experimenting with and creating new mechanics. Here are some mechanics I have worked on:
Space Explorer
Coding and Particle System Innovation
Here, I created a dynamic particle system that changes depending on the ship's speed. It is continuously running but gets stronger as the ship moves faster to give the illusion of power, and is disabled once a power-up is obtained, then re-enabled once the power-up is disabled.
I also got the explosion particles to move alongside the player character using an offset, much like with the camera. This makes the explosion occur anywhere in the game, rather than on a hazard volume.
I created a teleportation system as well as an invincibility power-up. This teleportation system can be said to be the most unique part of this project. You double-tap WASD to teleport in that direction.
I also created all sounds using Audacity and bfxr.net.
Car on Ice
Level Design and Lighting
For this game, I designed, developed, and lit a level on which my car could move. The original idea was to have multiple paths that could reach the top of the glacier, ultimately resulting in a fast path downwards. However, due to time constraints, I had to make it a bit shorter.
Regardless, the design works. There are two paths (one on the bridge and one down the lower slope), particle effects that simulate snow at the top, and overall a good atmosphere which is only helped by the lighting.
*The music is not mine. It is royalty-free.
Rifty and the Anomaly
Narrative Design and Coding Prototype
This prototype was an attempt at combining narrative elements with scripting. I used State Machines and enumerators to create different game states that resulted in different outcomes. This is the kind of game where your choices matter. Though visually it may not be so pleasing.
First Person Shooter
Combat Design
Here is when I began to improve significantly in terms of scripting. This is a first-person shooter built in unity. I started using Singletons for audio, created enemy AI, and worked on a ton of feedback systems. I also learned to work with raycasts!
Recreating the G.L.O.O. Gun from PREY (2017)
I decided to try my hand at recreating some game mechanics, and here I did just that, recreating the G.L.O.O. gun from Prey. I used a lot of collision detection, and if I were to redo it, I would likely try out arrays!
The Red Devil: A Tank Game Boss Battle
Finally, I tried my hand at creating a boss battle using state machines, animator states, and a grand amount of effort. I actually learned how to use inheritence efficiently, and even created a tool that allowed me to give any item health.
The boss, which I call the Red Devil, has three attacks. He can smash the player when within a certain range, and can throw bombs that spawn exploding minions. At half health, the Red Devil will start shooting beams at the player. He also fights for the same powerup as the player, increasing the damage he deals.
