Build from scratch by a team of 4 students, and completed in 4 months.
These guys set up their own business so they could fulfil their work placement requirements their own way!
Project Esmay is a Strategy RPG for Nintendo’s Gameboy Advance handheld
gaming platform. In the game the player tours the nations of a
fictional world in search of the best tacticians and soldiers. The
player must then fight them, defeat them and/or recruit the best to
form their own elite fighting force to defeat an evil corporation
hell-bent on ruling the world.
It contains 28 overall missions grouped in a three act structure – 3
tutorial (or lead in missions), 20 primary missions, and 5 final
missions that lead to end-game. There also exists a headquarters, and
world map where missions are selected from (the headquarters allows for
an element of exploration and character development/interaction outside
of the games mission battles).
When the player starts the game they are in the employ of the ICARUS
Corporation. These first three missions are tutorial missions and while
introducing the player to the game mechanics they also introduce the
main characters, both good and bad (Alex, Dr Watson, Marshall, and
Southwick) as well as some of the back story.
Once the player character (Alex) reaches the Esmay1 (Dr Watson’s
Zeppelin base) – their options open significantly with a number of
optional/non-story focused missions becoming available as well as the
main storyline ones.
The game runs on a self-built 2D-side scrolling engine (similar to a
traditional platform game). It is designed for Nintendo’s Gameboy
Advance handheld gaming platform which has the largest install base of
any video game system and is still compatible with Nintendo’s newer DS
system.
