Launch Trailer 5/5/24

Award from MDEV 2024

SoulSync City is a movement shooter where the faster you move, the more powerful the player becomes. The player’s kinetic pistol gathers kinetic energy to fire potent blasts at enemies.

Run, fight, escape. In SoulSync City escape a city overtaken by MODULUS, a rogue combat AI. Play as Mei, a rebel on the run who has access to three unique tools that alter their movement in different ways and enhance their kinetic energy-storing pistol that deals damage based on speed. Using their tool(s) and pistol combination, take down MODULUS, escape the city, and take back your soul.

Winner of the MDEV Best of Showcase Student Entry 2024 Award!

Showcased at BostonFIG Online Expo 2024!

Exhibited at Bradley's FUSE 2024 showcase!

Featured in Back Alley Games' 2025 January Edition!

• Roles: Creative Director, Systems Designer, Level Designer
• Production Cycle: 08/23 - 06/24
  
• Led a team of 26 people to construct a movement shooter focused on unique traversal through the world
• Designed and iterated on the Kinetic Pistol and other tools to increase emergent and multiplicative gameplay
• Constructed portions of level two that incorporate trains and combat in an enclosed area
• Exhibited at Bradley's FUSE 2024: https://bradleyinteractive.com/2024/exhibits/soulsync-city/

The SoulSync City booth at MDEV, posing with my producer Kadin White

Kinetic Pistol

• Was initially a normal pistol. Functioned, but was boring and encouraged players to sit in one spot and shoot enemies
• Reworked to take player's velocity into account
  • Adds ricochet based on velocity
  • Increases damage based on velocity
• Issues encountered:
  • Impossible to hit maximum velocity for more than a half second, if at all
  • Still used by players to shoot enemies from far away
• How I worked to fix these issues:
  • Storage of velocity for a couple seconds before decaying, allowing the player to hit maximum velocity and then deal boosted damage in that state for longer
  • Testing values in Unity to see how much damage the pistol should do depending on what the current velocity is

Dash Tool

• Was the first tool concepted and implemented into SoulSync City
• When used, makes the player dash in whatever direction they are currently facing, including up into the air
• Issues encountered:
  • Easily the best tool developed in terms of versatility because of:
    • How fast it recharges
    • How far it makes the player go
    • Does damage
    • Stuns enemies
  • All of the above factors cause issues when trying to balance other tools
  • Issues communicating when it was on/off cooldown
• How I worked to fix these issues:
  • Helped create the basis for diegetic UI, where the neon on the tool fades when the tool is used and then reappears when the cooldown is over
  • Proposed the implementation of a vertical limit to velocity when using the dash tool
  • Tested and tweaked the dash tool's damage and stun time

To see more of my work on SoulSync City, please see the below links.