Mage's Message

Mage's Message is a small 2D pixel-art side-scrolling prototype created in 14 days as a personal game development challenge and a university project.

This prototype focuses on testing the core gameplay. Your objective is to survive long enough to face and defeat the boss. If things don't go as planned, temporary upgrade cards can give you a second chance. Collect enough coins during your runs, and you'll be able to purchase permanent upgrades to become stronger over time.

A story, cutscenes, additional mechanics, and much more are planned for future updates.

This isn't a finished game—far from it. Think of this as an early prototype I'd share with friends to gather feedback before continuing development. It's rough, experimental, and mainly exists to test ideas, mechanics, and overall game feel.

The project was built to explore rapid game development using Godot and AI tools like Google Gemini and ChatGPT.

Features

• 2D Side-Scrolling Gameplay
• Pixel Art Visuals
• Boss Fight
• Temporary Upgrade Cards
• Permanent Upgrades
• Coin Collection
• Enemy Encounters
• Environmental Traps
• Playable Prototype

Controls

Keyboard

• Movement: WASD / Arrow Keys
• Shoot: F
• Shield: Space

Controller

• Movement: Left Analog Stick / D-Pad
• Shoot: Square (PlayStation) / X (Xbox)
• Shield: Cross (PlayStation) / A (Xbox)

Development Note

This prototype was developed with the help of AI tools, primarily for programming assistance and rapid iteration. Most visual assets were created manually or sourced from free asset libraries.

I couldn't afford a team of developers, so I hired Google Gemini instead. Its salary was surprisingly reasonable.

Although this prototype represents the first public milestone of the project, development is still ongoing. Several improvements, gameplay systems, and quality-of-life features have already been implemented, and I'll release updated builds after documenting the development process in future videos.

Watch the Development Video

Curious how Mage's Message was made?

I documented the entire 14-day challenge, from the first line of code to the first playable prototype.

📺 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uhD930y4SXU

Note: The development video is in Persian (Farsi). If you don't speak Persian, you can enable YouTube's auto-generated subtitles or AI dubbing for a better viewing experience.