Unity (3D)

The Honorable Sir DogBark

In The Honorable Sir DogBark, skeletons have kidnapped your beloved dog. Now you, the great wizard, Melborp SmeekleVon, must enter the Skeleton Dungeon and rescue your noble companion. This is a short dungeon crawler with a top-down perspective.

Meghan Patnode

Jun 26, 2024 • 2 min read

Sir DogBark Gameplay

Role: Solo Developer

Team Size: 2

Time Frame: 3 weeks

Engine: Unity (C#)

Play The Game

Design

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Kishotenketsu Level Design

When planning the layout of the level, Kishotenketsu, inspired by Nintendo's usage of the concept for Mario games, was used. Kishotenketsu is a story structure originating from Eastern Asia, which contains four acts, instead of the Western three.

By using a four act structure to influence the layout of a level-based game, it allows the player to learn mechanics, some of which may be new or unique to a specific level, that progressively gain complexity without slowing down pacing for a tutorial segment.

In the case of Sir Honorable DogBark, this works by having the first section of the game's obstacles primarily consist of moving spikes, whereas the second section is primarily shootable skeletons. The third "act", which is the final section of the game, combines the two concepts by having the skeletons' pathways contain moving spikes. With this structure, the resolution is instead the fourth act, which takes place when the player beats the game by saving their dog.

Game Pillars

This was designed with three game pillars in mind: Storytelling Through Lighthearted Humor, Obstacles, and Point Collection.

Game Pillars are a design concept used to create a structural foundation for any game, that can be used as reference to maintain both the game’s most essential elements and their cohesion together.