Cap'tain Cortex et le retour de la gueule de bois
Cap'tain Cortex remembers having an absolutely epic night! But behind the smell of alcohol and the monumental hangover, it's impossible to remember how he arrived in the middle of Atomic Boomer's dreadful dungeon, his worst enemy.
No way to remember the way out either... Fortunately, Capt'ain Cortex's neurons remember and are always there to help him!
Use Capt'aine Cortex's neural memory powers to help him escape Atomic Boomer's traps and get out of his dungeon alive.
The Game
This game was made for the Scientific Game Jam "Lyon edition" 2023. It was conceived, coded, designed, debugged and uploaded in less than 48 hours.
It is based on Raphaël Brito's studies, showing the existence of neurons in our brain, named "location cells", whose particularity is to represent our position in space. Like a GPS, different location cells will activate successively in different places, allowing to code a "cognitive map" of our environment. As for the brain of Capt'ain Cortex, different neurons represent different information in this cognitive map, such as dopaminergic neurons, essential for the representation of the reward.
• Genre : Puzzle
• Platform : WebGL and downloadable for Windows
• Context : Scientific Game Jam
• Team : 6 people. One scientist ; Two 2D artist ; One gameplay programmer ; One sound designer (also programmer to) and one game and level designer
• Team : 6 people. One scientist ; Two 2D artist ; One gameplay programmer ; One sound designer (also programmer to) and one game and level designer
• Role : Game & Level Designer
• Goal : You must escape 3 different rooms of the dungeon, but careful, each room is trapped by scattered mines. You must guess their location and using the information sent to you by Cap'tain Cortex's neurons. Then find the way out and escape.
• Link : https://hornicar.itch.io/captain-cortex
My work
As a Game Designer, I worked closely with the scientist to develop the concept of the game, its rules, its victory and defeat conditions, and how to relate the game to the neural thesis. With the artists to find the most appropriate art direction for the project, and the assets we would need. With the developers to find out which gameplay mechanics we could use efficiently and simply. And the sound designer to find out what sound atmosphere to give to the project.
My role was then to test the different elements and versions of the game as the development progressed, give feedback, and find a way to end up with a version that we felt was the most satisfactory for us.
My role was then to test the different elements and versions of the game as the development progressed, give feedback, and find a way to end up with a version that we felt was the most satisfactory for us.
As a Level Designer, I designed the dungeon levels from their general shape to the exact composition of each area. I started by making the sketches on Figma, including the number of squares in the playable area, and the different elements that make up the level: mines, exit, bonuses (which were unfortunately removed from the game, due to time constraints), etc...
I also imagined the general layout in front of the camera, including the playable area and the background.
I also imagined the general layout in front of the camera, including the playable area and the background.
Sketch of the layont in front of camera
Sketches made on Figma from the levels
Then, with the help of the assets provided by the graphic designers, I started to reconstitute the puzzle, to place the mines and the exit, to test the whole and to adjust if necessary.
Screenshots of the game, with the background made by an artist, and the levels I designed using the elements of the set provided by the artists
Trailer
