Melody of Life
Date: 2017
Engine: Unity
Genre: Puzzle – Platformer
In “Melody of Life,” you travel alongside two clumsy creatures, Inki and Pale, in their quest for the Melody of Life and delicious cookies. Despite their stark differences, they’re inseparable; they simply belong together. Throughout three stages, they must solve mysteries, interact with the world, and defend themselves against dangerous monsters.
This project was realized using the Unity game engine and wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Nadine Krämer (Level Design) and Konstantin Schmidt (Art). We developed the game over the course of one semester in the class “Design of Interactive and Digital Media (Game Design)” within the degree program “Media Science and Media Practice” at the University of Bayreuth.
In the first of the three levels, you get to know the peculiarities of Inki and Pale. Pale is quite strong and is the only one of the two capable of jumping, while carrying the counterpart on his back. Additionally, he can carry objects and push boulders and other heavy items.
Inki, on the other hand, is very dexterous and agile. He can climb ladders to reach high platforms that are inaccessible by jumping. Additionally, he can crouch through tight passages and swim through small stretches of water. Together, they complement each other perfectly to tackle the dangers and threats that the world presents to them.
In the second stage, our two heroes find themselves in the dry and hazardous desert. Here, the player learns about the bomb mechanic. These bombs can be pushed against crumbling boulders to trigger explosions, allowing the player to clear a path through the desert. There is also a ring puzzle in which the player must traverse three rings in the correct order to open the pyramid and access the next level.
The third and final level begins with a small teleporter puzzle. As the player progresses through the level, they will need to push boulders around once again. A new element introduced in this stage involves moving platforms that shift into position when all the levers are activated. Upon reaching the end of the level, the player completes the game and gets to witness a cutscene along with the credits.
For me, “Melody of Life” holds a special place as a project. It stands as the first game I completed while enrolled in university. This involved creating not only the gameplay but also elements like the start menu, the credits, and all the levels playable in sequence, from start to finish. While I’ve finished several games and projects since then, “Melody of Life,” being my first project, taught me a great deal about game development.