Orbital Decay
I participated in the Boss Rush Game Jam 2025 on itch.io, which took place from 1/2/25-2/2/25. The theme we were given was Spin. This was a great way to start off the year with some good momentum and keep lesser used skills sharp. Im grateful to have worked with such dedicated people and end the month with a shipped title.
I had the opportunity to design, model, texture, rig and animate the characters and enemies as well as setup shaders in Godot, which we learned specifically for this jam. This offered unique challenges and kept us open minded, to adapt to changes in our workflow. The game was an incredible learning opportunity as with such a short development period we were constantly shifting priorities to ensure the game would be completed in time. As challenges would arise between departments we kept in constant communication to ensure smooth pivots and successful implementation.
I gave the levels their art pass based on Rian Atherton's exceptional blockouts and gameplay mechanics. I built the narrative for the spaces but without Rian they would not be as fun and engaging as what we have. And they certainly wouldnt function without Michael Yang behind the scenes programming. But without the absolutely incredible work of Ashna Choudhury who handled programming implementation of some of our enemy combat (as well as built the majority of our UI) we would not have the rewarding and varied upgrade system that we have. And what's the point in winning if you don't get a prize?
In 4 weeks we built a fun immersive game with a cohesive narrative, difficult boss battles and rich gameplay mechanics.
If you are interested in checking out the game it is available here: https://chillhopper.itch.io/orbital-decay
I would not advise looking further if you care about spoilers. Otherwise, I will be breaking down the game components to show how we created Orbital Decay.
The first task worked on once we had an idea for the story was the characters and enemies. It was crutial that the player character had a strong read at distance. The enemies needed to offer different challenges for the player, and they should be communicated through their design. I made the choice to use the ships crew, filtered through their department and perceptions of time as a basis for how they became distorted by the entity. They should feel burdened and grounded while also sitting in strong opposition to the sci fi setting you first encounter them in. By the end it should be the player that feels in opposition to the space while the servants of the entity feel at home in their domain. Their design choices were also influenced by our scope. By burdening the minions with a heavy, inconvenient penance grafted to them, they often lost the free use of an extremity. This added to the nature of their condition while also simplifying the animation/rigging process.
For their animations I wanted them to feel heavy or uncomfortable, twisting them in inconvenient ways or exaggerating the weight they carry. They aren't willing combatants but twisted crew members, stuck in an eternal loop of service. The farther you go into the ship, the closer to containment you get, the disturbing ways the crew was affected becomes more apparent. As you venture the environment itself begins to change more until there is nothing left at all.
For my workflow I modeled the assets in Maya and Zbrush and this is where I rigged an animated as well. The texturing process was done in substance painter and designer. I used tileable materials with custom packed masks for many of the environmental pieces, while the characters were given their own baked textures. We were very conscious about texture size and the number of textures in use to alleviate the burdon of heavy files on the player (this is a jam after all and should be quick and easy to play). So it was crutial that as many of the textures could be reusable as possible.
Asset callouts were re rendered in UE5, with higher res versions of their textures. For the Engineer I used fab assets for the particle fire. They come from the Rocket Thruster Exhaust FX pack.
Thank you for looking, Creating this game was a fantastic experience and if you've made it this far I really appreciate your support and hope you enjoyed the breakdown of Orbital Decay.
This is the trailer for Orbital Decay.
The game begins in the control room. This is where you are introduced to the game mechanics, the first instance of narrative exposition and your SpinBot: An autonomous security drone sent in to access the condition of the ship.
For the player character, the design was meant to be simple, readable, modular for the option of introducing augments in future iterations and personable. He needed to have a design that could visually make sense of our spin mechanic.
Your first introduction to combat is in the Science Lab. The lab offered a clean and relatively unscathed environment from which to showcase the ship. The shard containment is the only area where the "growing spread" can be seen.
We wanted it to be large enough to not be overwhelmed by enemies, but not so large as to lose yourself in it. The test plants offered both narrative as well as environmental hazards by way of malfunctioning robotic watering systems.
The HUD UI was created by me. I created the player icon for health and lives, the ammo counter/weapon overheat meter and enemy health bar.
Between arenas we wanted a neutral space to restock and upgrade. Initially it was meant to be locked, offering a small pacing change as the player engages a minigame to enter, however for scope this was cut.
The first Boss Arena you encounter is the Centrifuge. This was the one level I designed as well as modeled. The player fights the boss, a man stuck in a constant time loop between his end and beginning.
Use the environment to your advantage by moving from the edge ring, to the centrifuge platforms. You need to be careful not to be knocked off by the fins, but so do the minions following you. Incorporating spin elements into the environment was crucial.
By this point you should be pretty familiar with two minion types. This one offers melee combat, running into you with the gear embedded in its torso. His loss of identity and burdenous headpiece are a constant source of agony.
The second minion introduces ranged combat, flinging the gear at you from a distance, constantly regurgitating more in an endless cycle. Pulling open his mouth to avoid slicing any more of its flesh.
The Time Golem is a mini boss with both a melee and ranged variant showing up in multiple levels. He is slow, allowing minions to pile in front of him in a shield, but closes a gap quickly to deliver a devastating blow.
This point in the game is where the environment starts to ship. The aforementioned growing spread has begun taking over the room. They've been forced to move supplies into the control room temporarily while the containment breach is addressed.
The room is the largest in the game and meant to be minimal, as we introduce new minion types into the space. The open floorplan allows the player ample space to move around and focus on this new threat.
The growing spread coming from the exit should give the player a sense of changes to come.
One of the new enemy types introduced early on in the Mess Hall is the Leviathan Minion. They are by far the fastest threat in the game. An emaciated crew member, dragged forward by insatiable hunger, unable to eat and unable to die.
The Engineer, was introduced at the end of the Mess Hall. This lumbering beast was once responsible for maintaining the ships thrusters. Now burdened to carry the scalding pistons, searing his flesh and boiling his blood. Metal shards puncture his torso.
The next Boss Arena contains the Wailing Mass. This unfortunate soul has now become a vital part of the conveyor system he helped maintain. Spawning crate after crate with no end. Some benign, others monsterous.
The final room of the game is the Engine Room. By this point the entity has spread its distortion around the majority of the room. Transforming machinery and turbines into minions of its influence. The path to its containment is completely reshaped.
The robot arms once used to repair vital functions, now twisted with old crew members. Striking at random, with no senses to guide them.
The final boss of our game is the Theraposa. She is an amalgamation of multiple crew members, with only a single purpose. To protect the entity. The turbine they were repairing acting as a shell to attack and defend.
