Moodboard
Playlist
The three emotions I want to evoke: Mischief, Tension, Triumph.
Direction 1 – 2D Pixel Platformer (Axe Heist)
A Celeste-style 2D pixel platformer where you play a Stanford student trying to steal the Axe back from Cal. Four levels: the steam tunnels under Main Quad, Hoover Tower, the foothills cave with the old Axe heist diaries, and Cal Memorial Stadium. Each level introduces one new enemy (parking enforcement, RAs on scooters, Cal scouts, Oski). No combat, you dash and avoid. Story is told in short dialogue boxes between rooms. The fun is precision platforming and the payoff of finally clearing a screen you died on twenty times.
Direction 2 – Stealth Cat
Same campus, same goal, but you play one of the Stanford strays. A cat. Trade twitch reflexes for line-of-sight stealth: hide in shadow, knock things off ledges to distract guards, slip through vents. Dialogue is replaced with environmental storytelling (such as overheard student conversations, half-read flyers, a TA grading at 2am). The cat angle solves the tone problem (no one questions why a cat is doing a heist) and gives us a silent protagonist. Final level: walk across Cal’s field with the Axe in your mouth.
Direction 3 – Top-Down Exploration & Discovery
Drop the platformer entirely. A top-down 2D exploration game: you wander campus at night uncovering secrets (the tunnels, the cave with the encyclopedias, the climbing route up Hoover). The Axe heist is the ending, not the whole game. The fun is curiosity and discovery: each new area reveals a piece of real Stanford lore. Less reliance on tight controls means it’s easier to prototype, and the storytelling carries more weight than the mechanics.
Images generated with Gemini
