Sanctum
Genre: Narrative-driven Exploration RPG
Engine: Unity
Perspective: Top Down
Key mechanics: Exploration, rebuilding, trade, real-time combat, day/night cycle
Role: Solo developer
Sanctum is a 2D pixel art exploration RPG set in a low-fantasy world. After a mysterious catastrophe cuts off the village of Sanctum from the outside world, an orphan is chosen by a goddess to become the new Seeker. As corruption spreads through the surrounding forest, players must rebuild the village, uncover the fate of a vanished predecessor, and restore life to a land on the brink of ruin.
Sanctum draws inspiration from Stardew Valley, Graveyard Keeper, Terraria, and Last Spell. It seeks to create a similarly rich and replayable experience. One that values immersion, personal pacing, and discovery over fast progression or combat intensity.
Gameplay highlights.
Story Progression
Players piece together the narrative by exploring ruins, rebuilding the village, and rescuing NPCs. Key characters unlock essential mechanics like crafting, potion brewing, and trading.
Village Restoration & Trade Economy
Instead of currency, trade points dictate item exchanges, fostering exploration and item gathering. Recipe trading adds a strategic layer to progression.
Combat System
Lightweight, real-time combat with animation-linked movement lock, knockback effects, and dynamic hitboxes. Features basic enemy AI (slimes) with different stats and behavior triggers.
Time & World Design
A real-time day/night cycle with changing light conditions and risk levels. Multiple compact scenes are used instead of a single large map to minimize travel fatigue and improve game flow.
Process
Early stages
Maintained a living concept document from day one, revisiting and refining constantly. Used the MoSCoW prioritisation method to focus on minimum viable features for the playable demo.Sketched early character and environment concepts manually, which later informed sprite design.
Must have
→ Player movement
→ Simple combat
→ Scene transitions
→ Custom UI
Should have
→ NPC dialogue
→ Inventory management
→ Dungeon system
→ Pixel art NPCs
Could have
→ Farming
→ Quests
→ Weather
→ Relationship mechanics
Won't have (yet)
→ Advanced combat
→ Bosses
→ Dynamic world events
→ Archery
Unity Development
Implemented modular systems using C# in Unity:
→ Tilemap & Scene Layering: Custom tilemaps for ground, top layers, and collision objects.
→ Player Movement: Unity’s Input System with controller support.
→ Combat System: Custom IDamageable interface for shared damage logic across enemies, items, and player.
→ Dialogue: Simple string array system with support for multi-character conversations.
→ Inventory System: Scriptable objects, drag-and-drop UI, item stacking, and category tagging.
→ Lighting: Gradient-driven light cycle with player-following spotlight for night visibility.
→ Scene Transitions: Fade animation and position referencing using tags for clean level entry/exit.
Next steps and vision
→ Introduce gatherables and crafting system
→ Expand dungeon into a deeper multi-level environment
→ Add dynamic NPC routines and relationships
→ Include audio design and adaptive music
→ Implement a quest log and player journal
→ Optimize for multi-platform support
Process pictures
Designed 8 small scenes (village, glade, tavern, dungeon, etc.) for modular worldbuilding. Each area has its own ambiance, lighting, and purpose within the narrative. Visual design emphasizes mood: vibrant zones post-restoration, gloomy purple hues to show corruption.
Created original character, UI, and item sprites using Aseprite. Purchased environment tilesets (Szadi Art) for the demo to focus time on gameplay mechanics. Sprites include walk/run/combat cycles, idle animations, UI icons, and enemy variations.
Reflection
Sanctum was an early project in my game design journey. It became a key milestone that shaped my systems design approach. It taught me to think modularly, document clearly, and balance creative ambition with technical realities.
Throughout development, I tackled challenges like resolving animation sync issues by locking movement during attack events, fixed sword collider timing with Unity’s animation recording, prevented enemies chasing each other through tag-based filtering, and rebuilt the inventory system using Unity’s event system for clean drag-and-drop functionality.