Collaborator:
Ryon Everett – Programmer, Co-Writer, Co-Designer
Rodger Hyena is a prototype for an over-the-top, ridiculous dating sim where the eponymous main character is a retired superhero with a penchant for ridiculous dialogue has to attempt to score a date in order to fill the gaping void in his life.
Ryon and I had six weeks to make a 2D game in Unity, and we ultimately decided on making a punishingly difficult dating simulator, where a single mistake will doom the protagonist to a life of loneliness.
Most of the pixel art I had done so far had always been for small jam games (like LAZLO) but for Rodger Hyena I tackled making detailed backgrounds and character expressions. While we couldn’t use all of them, Kaliyah Fox–Rodger’s #1 fan and potential love interest for the prototype–has no less than 40 different expressions. Some of my favorites have been added to the gallery.
All in all, we wanted to make an over-the-top narrative-driven game, and overall make the development process as enjoyable as possible. Given the amount of times we wound up laughing at our own puns as we made this, I think we succeeded.