Tomsu

Video game

JANUARY-MAY 2023

Programs used

Project Description

For my branding class, me and my two friends, Qiao Peng Yang (Owen) and Sherwin Kurt Duran, created the company Kwartz Gaming and the video game Tomsu. Throughout the semester, we had to build up the brand for this company and prepare for the Brand Expo. During the Expo, we would present our work and show off our graphic design skills.
We decided that it would be really cool if we could actually make the game and have people play it during the Brand Expo.
We came up with the concept as a team. They introduced me to Bitsy, an online resource that allows you to create simple pixel games. This was a big game changer for me as it made game design really accessible. I came up with the dialogs, made the sprites and animated them as well as did some very simple programming.
This game took me a really long time to make but people really enjoyed it during the expo, especially the kids!
For my first game, it’s not too shabby, although, it can be confusing and players often get stuck and can’t advance. It’s taught me a lot about game design though and I hope to use this knowledge to create something even better.
Click here to play Tomsu!

Tip: talk to the characters multiple times, certain areas are locked until you do certain actions or talk to the right person.

Process

I started by making a vague storyline. I then designed the characters and chose a color palette. I first focused on the important characters and their interactions and then made all the background characters and their dialogs. My file actually got really heavy at one point which made adding dialog lag so I had to come up with a copy pasting technique so it wouldn’t take 3 seconds for each letter to register.

I had my friends, brother and parents test the game for bugs or confusion. I fixed lotss of them but they’re might still be some left. Overall, I think what helps the player the most is if they know they can talk to characters multiple times and get different answers.
Also this game was not meant for speed runners so I highly recommend reading the dialogs to fully enjoy the story line (and bad jokes).