Zephyr

A time-attack racing game about an insect that lives for a single day, steered with wind through a custom controller.

Year: 2024
Context: School project, ICAN
Role: Game programmer, technical artist
Built with: C#, Unity, Blender, shaders, VFX
Link: Play on itch.io (opens in a new tab)

The game

You play an ephemeral insect, alive for one day, racing the clock to stay alive as long as possible.

Movement comes from the wind, through a custom physical controller. Unfurl a sail to pick up speed across the sand; once you are fast enough, switch to glider mode and take off on open wings. Glowing points scattered over the map turn back time for a moment, and reaching the next one is the whole game.

The insect gliding low over orange dunes, a tornado in the distance.

My part

Player controller: The full movement system: sailing, gliding and the transitions between them.
Shaders: Custom shaders that give the desert and its sky their look.
VFX: The tornadoes, and the trail the insect leaves behind.
Animation: Every character animation and its transitions in game.

Footprints in the sand trailing behind the insect. — The trail VFX.

The insect glowing as it passes in front of a tornado. — Passing a tornado.

The insect at dusk under a pink sky, a beam of light rising from a time point. — Dusk, with a column of light on the horizon.

The Zephyr title screen with the Start and Quit options. — Title screen.

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