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Samuel Cohen
Game & Level Designer // Environment Artist
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The Pawn (2014)

The Pawn was my final project for my Fine Arts degree. I did everything, except the music, which was done by the Spanish chords virtuoso Javier Mas. Javier gained international recognizment when he toured with Leonard Cohen in 2009 (and no, I'm not related to Leonard... but that would be nice). I was fortunate enough to meet Javier, and he made me the huge favour of doing some music for the game.

While most of the project was done during 2013 and 2014, I had been planning something in these lines for a while. For these reason, some pieces of concept art were done during 2011 and 2012.

I programmed it in GameMaker Studio, and created the visual assets in Photoshop.

The Pawn was my graduation project for Fine Arts. Everything (except music) came out of my hands. Design, coding, story, cutscenes, scripting, art, etc. Music was made by a friend: Javier Mas. He is a Spanish virtuoso who used to play for Leonard Cohen.

The pink cave. I had originally intended to add these surreal formations shaped like human skeletons, with a long spine acting as some sort of stem. I even made the pixel-art versions, but once I placed them in the level I was not convinced by the result.

The pink cave. I had originally intended to add these surreal formations shaped like human skeletons, with a long spine acting as some sort of stem. I even made the pixel-art versions, but once I placed them in the level I was not convinced by the result.

In-game screenshot (tutorial).

In-game screenshot (tutorial).

Infinite Land, 2011 concept art. The idea for the world started years before my graduation project, and many prototypes were done during this time. However, it was in my last year at college when I decided to restart the whole thing for a better result.

Infinite Land, 2011 concept art. The idea for the world started years before my graduation project, and many prototypes were done during this time. However, it was in my last year at college when I decided to restart the whole thing for a better result.

In-game screenshot (main level).

In-game screenshot (main level).

Pink Tortoise, 2012 concept. Another scrapped design. I actually did the sprites and coded its behaviour, but while building the game, I decided to discard any combat and focus on the platforming.

Pink Tortoise, 2012 concept.
Another scrapped design. I actually did the sprites and coded its behaviour, but while building the game, I decided to discard any combat and focus on the platforming.

In-game screenshot (main level).

In-game screenshot (main level).

Death, 2014. If I were to do this game one more time, I would definitely make the ending a lot more light-hearted and create a different character. But as a Fine Arts student I was all into Ingmar Bergman's movies and that got through.

Death, 2014.
If I were to do this game one more time, I would definitely make the ending a lot more light-hearted and create a different character. But as a Fine Arts student I was all into Ingmar Bergman's movies and that got through.

Level editor snapshot (Game Maker Studio 1.4). This is the main level of the game. The objective is to grab all the keys that are floating around. The layout is meant to require not only hand-eye coordination, but also some spatial reasoning and logic.

Level editor snapshot (Game Maker Studio 1.4).
This is the main level of the game. The objective is to grab all the keys that are floating around.
The layout is meant to require not only hand-eye coordination, but also some spatial reasoning and logic.

Level editor snapshot (Game Maker Studio 1.4). This is the tutorial for the game. If you compare to the video, you'll see that the level design is forcing the player to jump against the walls and discover naturally their ability to do wall-jumps.

Level editor snapshot (Game Maker Studio 1.4).
This is the tutorial for the game. If you compare to the video, you'll see that the level design is forcing the player to jump against the walls and discover naturally their ability to do wall-jumps.

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