Lukas Heinen - MONTRA

Unity 2D Slice - 4 months development in 2024 - 2nd Semester | Game Design B.A.

Trailer

Walkthrough

Transform, solve puzzles, and uncover the secret in the colorful night district!

A demonic monster, countless possibilities!

"MONTRA is a captivating puzzle-platformer that weaves together riddles and narrative elements. As a tiny, yet demonic monster you step into a vivid night quarter filled with intrigue. Your mission? Possess objects, solve intricate puzzles, trick fellow residents, and gain access to the mysterious theater for a top-secret meeting!"

System of transforming into any objects nearby

Playing as the grafitti cloud, ability to fly on walls & blow away posters in the way

2D Adventure-Puzzle Design

My main focus was shaping and also implementing the odd world and making sure each object didn't just expand the gameplay system, but also added to the overall vibe & experience of the sarcastic night district and its bizarre inhabitants.

The game is built around "transformation" - my idea of a creature that can transform into all kinds of objects and thereby adopt their abilities as gameplay mechanics. This led to some pretty weird team discussions about what objects we've secretly always wanted to be: a toy car, a spring, a wrecking ball, a magnet - or even a toaster (which eventually made it into the game).

UI, NPC interaction design & narration

Designing Transformation

I wanted our game to stand out in mechanics and to incorporate core principles of an adventure game: a lively world filled with expressive NPCs and missions. That was combined with puzzles and short platforming sections that test the players imagination and creativity to fully explore the potential of each object's individual mechanics.

During ideation, I sketched, built, brainstormed, played - and, most of all, conceptualized and immediately implemented a lot!

First playable prototype

Finished game slice

Game Feel and Uniqueness

A major part of the game's feel came from the sound and music - I produced nine original tracks and gave every element in the game its own soul through carefully designed audio. I also worked heavily on the game's code, UI, technical art (VFX & post-processing), and the narrative expression of the world & characters.

We managed to create a truly unconventional game feel, even if the level design of the current slice could use some rework by my own today's standards.