“.. and beware the Englishman’s skeleton, for he roams the caves for gold, bound by his eternal service for the Crown.”
This game concept is titled “Madame Ching: and the Skulls of the Crown” and it’s a 2D platformer pirate game. The main character is based on the historical figure and Chinese pirate Zheng Yi Sao (a.k.a Ching Shih), the most successful pirate in history.
Ching Shih was a fearsome pirate who operated in the South China Sea during the Qing dynasty and commanded over 80,000 outlaws. Her ships entered into conflict with several major powers, such as the East India Company, the Portuguese Empire, and Qing China.
To design the main character, I took inspiration from some historical recreations of Ching Shih and outfits appropriate to her era (1775-1844). I animated the character with 3 movements; an Idle animation, a Run animation, and a Hit animation. I used an appropriate number of transitions between each movement to make smooth loops.
Along with the environment and tile design, I created two collectables: a coin and a ruby each with a glint animation. I also created two enemies: A snake that is a neutral creature that becomes agitated when in close proximity to the main character. And an Englishman skeleton, the main enemy that roams the caves looking to loot gold.