Burnout Blazer

Inspiration

Our inspiration for Burnout Blazer stemmed from our own experiences with burnout. As students, we know firsthand how overwhelming burnout can be and its effects, so we decided to represent this in a visual, interactive way.

What It Does

Burnout Blazer is a 2D side-scroller where the main character, Booker, is so overworked that he snaps, loses control, and runs while being chased by manifestations of his fears.

How We Built It

We developed this project using the Unity game engine, C# for programming, and Aseprite for many of the visuals.

Challenges We Ran Into

Our biggest challenge was the learning curve. None of us had prior experience with Unity or GitHub, so we spent our first few hours learning how to use both tools.

Accomplishments We're Proud Of

We’re proud of several features we implemented, such as the movement script, which took hours to refine, and the envelopes that track the player and deal damage, ultimately leading to their downfall if not avoided.

What We Learned

Throughout this project, we gained both technical and soft skills, including using GitHub and Unity, debugging, teamwork, and task delegation.

What's Next for Burnout Blazer

Burnout Blazer has big aspirations. We plan to continue working on it beyond the hackathon by adding new enemies, including a boss that chases the player after they exit the office. This boss will unleash a yell attack, creating a looming "deadline" above the player that induces stress and applies a temporary speed debuff. Additionally, we aim to refine the side-scrolling mechanics, expand level design, and introduce more entities, such as chains that players must break free from.