HAMMER GIRL:
TOP-DOWN PUZZLE ADVENTURE
Harvesting Courage to Defeat the Dark Realm!
Her Noble Quest Begins...
Play as the adventurous Hammer Girl, a mushroom farmer turned village heroine. Her main goal is to reclaim the Crystal of Life from the Dark Realm, which is accessed through the Shadow Castle’s portal.
The Village
This is where Hammer Girl’s journey begins, and it’s suffering an energy shortage without the Crystal of Life. After giving a gatekeeper mushrooms to cross a crumbling bridge, she arrives on Well Island and wishes for a hammer, letting her break barrels blocking the village entrance.
The Forest Lands
Hammer Girl is prohibited access to the Shadow Castle, and she can’t break through its walls. Now, she must travel forests and jump across islands to find a witch who will enhance her hammer. Once this is done, she is teleported to the side of the Shadow Castle via the witch’s cauldron.
The Castle & Dark Realm
After breaking into the castle walls, Hammer Girl realises its entrance is blocked by dark energy. So she reaching the top of its tower, and enters the portal to the dark realm, taking on one final challenge to reclaim the Crystal of Life.
Game Design Process
I created a Game Design Document to establish what Hammer Girl will be like and how it should be made. I included details like the game's core concept, its controls across all platforms, its environments and game progression. To download the full document, click the icon below.
W.I.P
I made this project in Unreal Engine, using pre-made blueprints for Hammer Girl, collectables and NPC Quests, along with the Lowpoly Handpainted Environment asset pack by Evgenia Yaremko. Making my own blueprints, I added functionality to objects, a water hazard and a hammer upgrade as a progression reward. Due to feedback from play testers saying my level lacked complexity and sense of direction, I added “Foreseers” to guide the player and secret pathways that reward them with gems.
During the game design process, I decided to make my world an island because I wanted it to stand out from the typical medieval fantasy theme. I also had to make a tough decision whether the Dark Realm's level design should be a puzzle section or a platforming challenge. In the end, I chose to make it a platform challenge with floating platforms because I thought that fit the supernatural theme of the Dark Realm.
I have taken care to ensure the Treasure Chest opens as intended. This chest comprises of two different assets, the top one moving to give the effect of opening the chest. Once opened, a big gem spawns in to reward the player for exploring the area.
One development roadblock I ran into was implementing the Golden Hammer. I included this into my project because I wanted to reward player progression with a weapon that could help them break into the castle. It was hard to make it so that picking it up replaces the old hammer because I was inexperienced with linking Blueprints to each other. Fortunately, after some research and experimentation, I managed to make it work as intended.
I also have the idea of travelling to different islands to explore, solve puzzles, claim upgrades and collect keys from bosses. All of this culminating in the final level, the Dark Realm. Here is a gameplay progression loop for the entirety of Hammer Girl, so I can use it to a whole game.
This project taught me how to use features in Unreal Engine such as the adding motion to objects with the timeline blueprint, making some objects breakable and creating level design with the landscape tool. I aim to apply these to my future game design if I were to make thrilling set-pieces where, for example, the player has to escape from a cave.
WALKTHROUGH VIDEO
