Run For the Money is a 2D side scrolling endless runner that I made as part of a midterm project on the topic of game design. It makes reference to the Animal Crossing games and was created in Unity with help from various tutorials online. The music and sound effects are taken from Animal Crossing and - apart from the sofa, chair and table - all assets are drawn by me. 

The player controls a human villager (on the right). They have taken up a loan for their
house with the shop owner Tom Nook (on the left). In this game Tom Nook becomes impatient with the villager and demands his money back. The villager is unprepared and cannot pay and, therefore, decides to flee. Tom Nook chases after him in a small airplane. While on the run the villager tries to collect as much money as possible towards his debt.

The objectives of the game are to make it as far as possible and to collect as much money as possible. These parameters are given out in two scores, distance and money made. The game is lost if the villager falls off the platforms or collides with Tom Nook.

The environment and camera move with the villager who is constantly running to the right. The player can control when the villager jumps or double jumps. Platforms, obstacles and collectible items spawn randomly by use of object pooling and create a parkour that needs to be navigated.

Obstacles, in the shape of stones or tree stumps, need to be jumped over as they slow the villager down, thereby increasing the chances of being caught. Moreover there are four types of furniture obstacles: While these also slow you down, coming in contact with them means the villager buys the furniture as indicated by the nearby “for sale” sign. This causes the player to lose a certain amount of money. Money can be collected in the form of coins or money bags, with money bags being less likely to appear and more valuable than coins. A glowing apple can appear on certain trees. This is a power up which momentarily increases the speed of the villager, increasing the distance betweenthem and Tom Nook.

Difficulty will advance by increasing the speed at which the villager and tom nook move over time. Following this the platforms appear faster too, so that quicker reaction is required.

This was my first attempt at a game and gave me a good insight into the process and complexities of creating one, as well as the various components necessary for it (images, animations, sounds, UI elements and menus).