My First Completed Game
A Zelda-Inspired Escape Room
Introduction
After discovering my passion for coding in audio, I made the decision to move to Dundee and study an undergraduate computer science degree at Abertay University.
While waiting to officially begin my course in year two, I had the opportunity to join the second term of year one in the Computer Game Application Development (CGAD) program. As part of my coursework, I was tasked with building a 2D game using SFML, a framework prepared by our lecturers.
This resulted in my first fully completed game, a Zelda-themed escape room, which set the stage for my journey into game development.
The Game – A 2D Escape Room Adventure
For this project, I used Zelda: Minish Cap-style sprites to create a top-down escape room game, where the player must:
- Explore a maze of 8 interconnected rooms.
- Search for a key to unlock the front door and escape.
- Avoid or defeat ChuChu enemies, which chase and damage the player on contact.
- Attack enemies with a sword, clearing the way forward.
- Experience full audio integration, adding immersion to the gameplay.
The game followed a classic puzzle-adventure structure, requiring both exploration and combat mechanics.
Final Thoughts
This project was a huge milestone — it was the first full game I ever completed, and I couldn’t wait for more. It solidified my interest in game development and set the foundation for everything I would later learn at Abertay.
This was just the beginning of my journey into game programming!
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