Lolly Joe

Lolly Joe is a 3D platforming videogame I developed between 2015-2016 and self-published in 2016. I worked completely alone on this game - creating all 3D assets, textures, models, animations, levels, and UI by myself. I also did all of the scripting myself, with Unreal's Blueprint system. I had zero funding for the project and had only a small amount of savings to live on, so I had to finish the game in only a year's time. In total, there are 12 levels, 3 of which are boss levels. The game makes use of random generation, so every time you play a level, the ordering of obstacles is somewhat different.

For the gameplay, I was inspired by both 3D and 2D platformers from my youth. Mainly, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Donkey Kong Country, and Super Mario World. For the artstyle and environment design, I was influenced heavily by the EarthBound series as well as Super Mario RPG.

With this game I fulfilled a lifelong dream to create my own videogame. It was a blast to make!

The first world

The hub area

One of the final levels, Meow Murder Mansion, features a crazed hand named Franky that killed all his pet cats. The player must free all of the cats' spirits from statues in the mansion, while avoiding Franky.

The "Costume Room" where the player can optionally wear accessories and hats.

One of the first cutscenes

Animated door portals

Animated "level exit" portal

Lava with vertex shader animations

A puzzle level that changes every time you enter it. The player must enter the emotional heads in the correct order to proceed to the exit.

Meow Murder Mansion

Blood-Brain Terrier, the last level before the final boss.

The player must stand on the syringe long enough to make the other platforms rise from the lava. Then they must jump onto the next platform before it lowers back down.

The second world in the game is set in a randomly-generated urban setting. Every time the level is entered, the buildings have a different color and height, and a different set of puzzles is loaded.

Random generation in action, causing variations in the building appearance and height. All done with Unreal Blueprint, no C++

The second boss in the game is a possessed television set with animated tentacles. The player must kill the tentacles holding the power cable underneath them so they can proceed.

As the player approaches the TV boss enemy, the eye on it becomes visibly more angry and irritated, and its animations become more frantic.

Both of the first two boss levels have an animated background skybox, pulled off via shader animation. I was inspired by the psychedelic battle backgrounds from EarthBound when designing them.

Lolly Joe features many gaming references, some subtle, some not so subtle. As a huge fan of the Sega Dreamcast, I designed a fictional controller that features a VMU-like screen.

A relaxing field of poppy flowers that the player enters just before the final boss appears. I was inspired by a similar idea used in Phantasy Star Online, just before the player begins to fight Dark Falz.

The final boss in the game, the Endless Fear. I was inspired by the final boss of EarthBound, Giygas. The boss shoots harmful projectiles at player. The player must whack them back at the boss to defeat it.

The player must also fly on the lollipop to avoid damage from the grey cloudy "sea" you see below. The "sea" is animated with a vertex shader.

The Stalklight, an enemy I designed that uses morph target animations for its eyes. Like the name suggests, it stalks you through the alleyways of the city. It starts out dormant and wakes up only if the player moves nearby while its light is on "red"