2D Metroidvania - university project

Heart of Ash

A dark, Aztec-inspired Metroidvania and student team project. My focus was on project management, concept and systems design, as well as AI-assisted implementation in Unity and C#.

Play in browser My role

Heart of Ash title image showing Totō in front of a temple complex during a solar eclipse — Title illustration and logo: Fahraldin Mohammed. Clicking the image opens the browser prototype.

Project type 2D Metroidvania prototype

Context University graduation project

Engine Unity 6

Status Completed prototype

My role Project management - concept - systems

Playable experience

Experience the prototype

The game was exported as a web build and mostly adapted for browser play. No downloads or installation are required. Clicking the button opens the prototype in a new browser tab.

Desktop web build Play Heart of Ash in your browser

The build is designed for desktop browsers and a 16:9 display. Mobile controls are not supported.

Start prototype View contribution

The project

A world between collapse and creation

Totō was sacrificed to the war god Huitzilopochtli. The ritual failed, however, and the fifth world collapsed. As a new world begins to form from its remains, Totō awakens somewhere between life and death.

His goal is to find the scattered remains of the fallen god. Along the way, he explores a hostile world, unlocks new abilities and slowly discovers what actually happened during the collapse.

The project combines a Metroidvania structure with motifs and elements inspired by Aztec culture and aims to make them approachable through gameplay. The current game world covers part of the first biome. Five biomes are planned in total, each with its own abilities, enemies and story elements.

Design goals

Core pillars of the project

Exploration, narrative and progression were designed to work together as one coherent player experience.

Traversal

Character movement

The movement system is designed to open up new ways of exploring the world step by step. Movement should feel fluid and intuitive, while the ledge grab helps less experienced players move through the environment.

Combat

Combat and response

Combat is based on an internal combo system triggered through light and heavy attacks with Totō’s weapons. Each combo state has its own animation as well as individual anticipation and recovery timings.

Worldbuilding

Mythology, biomes and abilities

Characters, gods and assets were inspired by Aztec culture and its myths and legends. The bioluminescent design of the first biome is meant to introduce players to the world and create a mysterious atmosphere.

My contribution

Project management, concept and systems implementation

My main responsibility was keeping the Unity development and the project itself together, both in terms of content and organization: defining goals, structuring tasks, designing systems, integrating team contributions and getting the prototype into a playable state for the final delivery.

Project planning, task coordination, meetings and prioritization within the team
Core concept, design goals, GDD structure and overall systems architecture
Implementation and revision of interactions, the cooking system, finisher system, checkpoints, menus and settings, scene transitions, save logic, destructible walls, and adjustments to combat flows
Planning, reviewing and coordinating team tasks.

Music & audio

Sources and music used

The music used in the prototype comes from the Mayan Themed Music Pack by Prime Game Sound .

Boss Battle – arena room
Level 1 – cenotes
Lonely Jungle – surface of the shadow plane
Level 3 – temple
Main Menu – main menu
End of the Game – village and Xolotl’s room

Team & credits

People involved

Anthony John Haleck

Project management, concept and systems design, GDD, AI-assisted Unity/C# implementation, plus world and story planning

Portfolio owner

Arne Henning

Worldbuilding, level concepts, style guide, assets, level blockouts and backgrounds, plus building levels in Unity

Fahraldin Mohammed

Main character and title illustration, logo and gameplay animations

Marc Sauerbier

Worldbuilding, character profiles, story adaptation, dialogue, music and SFX research, and audio editing

Moritz Zaum

Assets, lighting, shaders and post-processing, SFX contributions, plus early gameplay and C# systems (combat system, ledge grab and state machine)

Next project

Backyard Escalation

An open 2v2 map and my first complete project in the Hammer Editor.

Open project