Eclipsed
What Is Eclipsed
Eclipsed is a 2D action platformer that began as a school assignment where I could make any game I wanted in Construct 3.
I designed and built the game, levels, UI, and most of its custom assets, with help from three contributors.
You play as Quinn, who enters an infected underground cave to rescue Zoe from a laboratory. Reaching her means fighting through enemies, managing health and ammunition, defeating the boss for a key, and navigating the full level.
Project Details
- Role
- Lead Developer and Game Designer
- Project
- Individual school project with three contributors
- Development
- January to April 2025
- Final update
- February 2026
- Engine
- Construct 3
- Platforms
- HTML5, Windows, and Linux
- Status
- Released, v0.9.2
What I worked on
Programming and systems
- Built movement, platforming, mouse aiming, shooting, ammunition, reloading, health, damage, and pickups
- Built enemy behaviour, checkpoints, the boss encounter, the in-game map, and the player tracker
- Added quick saving, menus, settings, controls, the death screen, and the opening and ending sequences
Design and visual work
- Designed the full level, obstacle layouts, encounters, checkpoints, hazards, and objective route
- Rebuilt the player character so the weapon could follow the cursor independently
- Created the UI and most of the game’s custom visual assets
Three contributors helped with specific art, asset, and music needs. Their work is credited below.
Rebuilding the character around the aiming system
The character pack I originally purchased was not made for mouse aiming. Its animations treated the character as one complete sprite, which meant the weapon could not follow the cursor independently.
I recreated the character in Photoshop and separated the body and arm into different sprites. The body could keep playing its movement animations while the arm rotated toward the cursor. That made it possible to aim and shoot in any direction while moving through the platforming sections.
Combat, navigation, and progression
The boss fires acid projectiles and drops the key needed to enter the laboratory. Twelve Nuclear Artifacts are hidden throughout the level. The HUD sets ten as the normal target, while two additional artifacts reward players who explore more thoroughly.
- Starting ammunition
- 7 loaded and 14 in reserve
- Checkpoint structure
- 5 checkpoints across the full route
- Navigation
- Map, player tracker, and one-slot quick save
Building the route from the cave to the laboratory
I built the level, obstacle layouts, encounter placement, checkpoints, hazards, and objective route. The level moves from the infected cave into the surface and interior spaces before the player reaches Zoe.
Assets I created
I created the separated player animations, logos, save icon, controls screen, blood effects, death animation, rat death sprites, checkpoints, damage voice lines, mushroom and spike hazards, and UI elements.
Wordmark process
I sketched the title by hand before developing its final look for the game.
What changed after playtesting
My classmates and instructors liked the mouse aiming, shooting, animations, damage sounds, sprites, and overall gameplay. They also identified frame drops after enemy kills, reload animation problems, collision issues, crouching problems, unclear navigation, a long artifact route, and the lack of a map and music.
Based on that feedback, I added the map and player tracker, added music, and fixed the remaining bugs before releasing version 0.9.2 in February 2026.
Results
Eclipsed is available in the browser and as Windows and Linux downloads.
What the project taught me
Full game integration
Eclipsed taught me how much work it takes to turn separate mechanics into a full game. I had to make the combat, progression, map, saving, UI, and level events all work together.
Project structure
If I started it again, I would use Git and regular backups from the beginning. I would also split the large event sheet into separate groups for the player, combat, enemies, UI and saving, and level events so the project would be easier to maintain.
Play Eclipsed
Play in a browser or download the Windows and Linux versions through itch.io.