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Team projectArcade · Character · Environment

Hellhook

An arcade game on a lava arena. Grab demons with a snapper weapon and shoot them into moving portals before the horde runs you over.

My role
Game design, characters, environment, concept art
Setup
Team project
Tools
Unity, Blender, Paper & pen
Hellhook
01

Brief & goal

The goal was an arcade-style game with a simple, quick loop.

I was playing Doom at the time, so that was a big inspiration.

itch.ioPlay Hellhook on itch.io↗
Lava islands, a swirling portal with purple score pops, and a mixed horde. Score 1100, ×5.
The snapper weapon in play: grab enemies, fire them into portals.
02

Design reasoning

Because we wanted an arcade game, the main goal was a very fast, short loop. Doom was the inspiration, so we wanted hordes of demons running at the player — panic, dread, excitement.

The main loop came from a typical dino snapper toy. The player grabs enemies with a snapper weapon and has to shoot them into portals for points. The portals change location often, so you run the whole map. Markers beside the player point toward the portals so you do not get confused.

I had ideas for more enemies, but with the time we had I made one. A simple demon with organs hanging out. The most fun was animating those organs flopping around — luckily they read as cartoon, not realistic. One skin colour was enough: you barely see the detail in play. We added a colour switcher between purple, yellow and green so enemies still differ and pop against the red lava floor.

The dino snapper toy that inspired the weapon: pistol grip, long shaft, open green T-rex jaws.
The player on the cracked lava floor, with yellow skull markers pointing toward a portal.
Enemy model and the flopping organ animation.
03

Role & collaborators

Team project. I designed the game, made the models for the enemy and the main character — including rigs and animations — built the environment and made the concept art.

The lava environment.
Top-down: the arena is a skull of dark tiles on swirling lava. Score still at 0.
04

Tools

UnityBlenderPaper & pen
05

Process

The work sat on a short arcade loop: concept art, then the enemy and player models with rigs and animations, then the lava environment around it.

The loop itself is grab with the snapper, fire into moving portals, and follow the markers so you keep running the map. After playtests we added a dash, a score multiplier, and enemies that increase wave after wave.

  1. 01Concept art
  2. 02Enemy and player models, rigs and animations
  3. 03Environment
  4. 04Main loop: snapper weapon, moving portals, markers
  5. 05Playtests: dash, score multiplier, rising waves
06

Challenges

The main challenge was an exciting loop that would give players that typical arcade thrill.

07

What worked

The risk of getting run over, while chasing as many points as possible before you die, really added to the excitement. After player feedback we added a dash, a score multiplier, and enemies that increase wave after wave.

Mid-fight on the cracked floor: glowing enemies around the player, an impact burst, score 12800 with ×3. HP at 57%.
08

What could have gone better

The game could have been designed a bit better visually. The biggest problem is that the player model is a bit small, and it can get lost in the visual noise.

I learned how to make exciting short-term loops that make players want to keep playing and chase a higher score each time.