Iter

Iter is a narrative top down action adventure game. In it the player has to fight their way through dungeons filled with differently behaving enemies while using fully customisable loadout. This loadout can be configured between levels and filled with weapons and abilities found throughout the game.

The original version of this game was called Lurking Behind and it was a roguelike game. You can read the original portfolio piece here. In this version of the game the player also had to complete 3 objectives/mini game, while fighting their way through the level and being chased by the boss. The pivot happened because the original scope of the game was too big and I personally felt like I wanted to make something that I usually play and not what might have been a safer bet in terms of selling the game.

When pivoting I decided to focus on the things that I have heard the most positive things about when people played my game – variety of enemies and the variety of weapons. For the structure I decided to draw inspiration from an older game called Drakengard 3. In my eyes, linear levels with optional chests, which would include money, weapons or upgrade materials, was perfect and would require the least amount of additional work to be put in. Between levels I would display story text and an illustration, to give player context for what they are doing in the level.

While I did my best to ramp up the difficulty and intensity based on the proximity from the starting room in the original version. The pivot gave me a more controlled environment to onboard the player in. I used this to more gradually introduce the enemies, showcase traps and build anticipation for fights.

During the development I had both of the versions tested by other people and I did my best to address the feedback. Of which I received a lot when I had a booth at a local game’s convention GameOn. When implementing the feedback I always checked if the ideas aligned with the core idea of the game, and always prioritised things that improve the usability of the game.

The original roguelike game can be played on itch.io – https://marantisdev.itch.io/lurking-behind

The newer version of the game will be soon available on Steam as a demo.