Aelia & The Suncake Thief

Aelia & The Suncake Thief

A storytelling action-packed game where players will play as Aelia, a sunflower and patisserie at The Light Roast Cafe, is known for her specialty 'Sun Cake' with its captivating flaky skin and aroma. The delicious scent reached the Venus Fly Traps at the top of a beanstalk. They wanted a piece for themselves and so they travelled to the land below. Boom! They raided the cafe for the cakes. Determined, Aelia climbs the beanstalk to retrieve her stolen 'Sun Cakes'.

Storytelling

First of all, I crafted the whole storytelling element which includes the background, flow, player's goal, game mechanisms and the narrative plot that guides the game.

Game Pillars

Game Mechanics

For this game's look, I was heavily inspired by the game 'Cuphead'! It has a nice vintage cartoon style, the characters are cute & memorable and it is level-based with fun minigames.

As for the surrounding elements, I looked into low poly designs to pair with the cute vibe of the game.

Production Process

1. Character Design

Aelia is a sunflower and is working as a patisserie in ‘The Light Roast Cafe’ passed down from her grandparents to her. Aelia’s specialty is the ‘Sun Cake’ and it is known for its flaky skin which captivates the local’s heart and tastebuds!

Don is a cute but dangerous Venus Flytrap with legs, that will chase the player (Aelia) when trying to retrive the stolen Sun Cakes. Playful yet feisty, he delivers punches when close, so be careful!

Dion is Don's adorable female counterpart, a Venus Flytrap stuck in her pot. Unlike Don, Dion can't move or chase; instead, she waits patiently across various spots in the level. When players walk close enough, she leans forward for a quick painful bite!

2. 3D Environment Modelling

A modular-based level design with supporting assets (bridge, trees, grass, etc)

Before making the levels, I had drawn a layout overview of the map with the planning of elements around the map (enemies, power-ups, trees, etc). This eases my level-making process and help me reduce the need to trial and error.

Below is one of the level development that includes importing modular shapes into unity as building blocks to help ease my map-making process and using post-processing to improve the overall outlook.

3. UI Design

The game's UI design consist of player's health, abilities, Sun Cake counter and game prompts & instructions.

Prompts and instructions UI

Cut scene design

3D Asset Pack

Best Images

Full Walkthrough Video

Thank You For Joining On Aelia's Adventure!