Hello! My name is Tomás Lopes, and I am currently finishing my bachelor's degree in Game Development.
As a game developer for the last 3 years, when I started my final semester abroad on Erasmus at Howest University in Kortrijk, I was challenged with a very interesting project focusing on the various fields of Game Design. The core mission was to choose a specific field, create solid concepts for unique ideas, develop them, and share them with the community. It’s an initiative to help students entering the industry build confidence and be proud of showing their work.
Given my experience, I chose the Mechanics design field, as it’s where I feel most comfortable. I started by developing a grappling system, but it didn't quite catch my eye since so many have already been done in the industry. My second concept focused on wall-jumping. Exploring different variations and coming up with my own twists was incredibly entertaining and pushed my creative side more than I expected.
Finally, the early concepts for Blackhole Dash were born. It started out as a simple dash mechanic where the twist was that the player created a gravitational pull, pulling objects in the level toward you. This quickly evolved into being able to pass through objects when dashing and even slowing down time.
After months of research, playtesting, and polishing, I decided to create a short cinematic boss fight to showcase this unique dash mechanic.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and let me know your thoughts!
Connect with me:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artugatuga/
Twitter: https://x.com/artugatugadev
Portfolio: https://artugatuga.itch.io/