Survive
Roll around each area while avoiding increasingly dangerous zombie waves.
Game Jam Project · 2023
Primitive ShapeZ
Fight through a blocky zombie outbreak using a slow-firing musket, carefully timed shots and devastating penetration kills.
Project Overview
One musket.
One shot.
Endless zombies.
Primitive ShapeZ is a wave-based zombie action game created by a three-person team for the Primitive Shapes Game Jam #2.
The jam’s “One Bullet” theme became a slow-firing musket that rewards accuracy, timing and lining up multiple enemies with a single penetrating shot.
Players survive room-by-room encounters, earn points from defeated zombies and spend those points on upgrades and access to new areas.
- My Role
-
Game Design,
Level Design and UI - Engine
- Unity
- Platforms
- Windows and WebGL
- Team
- Three Developers
- Development
- One-Week Game Jam
Design Concept
The “One Bullet” theme was transformed into a weapon that made every shot feel deliberate.
Rather than using a conventional rapid-firing weapon, the player carries a musket with a slow reload. The limitation creates tension as enemies approach and encourages the player to wait for the strongest possible shot.
Penetrating multiple zombies awards additional points, turning careful positioning and timing into part of the scoring and progression systems.
Core Player Loop
Time The Shot
Wait for the right moment before firing the musket’s single loaded round.
Earn Points
Gain points from direct kills and bonuses for penetrating multiple enemies.
Upgrade
Visit the merchant to improve the player and unlock access to new areas.
Gameplay Systems
Rolling Movement
Wave Survival
Single-Shot Musket
Penetration Scoring
Merchant Upgrades
Area Unlocking
My Contribution
My responsibilities focused on shaping the game’s direction and translating the jam theme into a complete gameplay structure.
Game Concept
Gameplay Systems
Enemy Design
Level Design
Room Progression
UI Design
Created alongside Mindaugas Juodvirsis and Charley Maloney.
Development Challenge
The largest challenge was creating dependable wave and upgrade systems within the game jam’s one-week limit.
The wave system needed to manage escalating enemy encounters while remaining compatible with the room-by-room level structure.
The upgrade system also had to provide meaningful progression without undermining the deliberate difficulty created by the musket’s slow reload.
Game Gallery
Inside The Outbreak
Gameplay Footage
The Outbreak
In Motion
A gameplay preview showing the musket’s deliberate firing rhythm, penetrating shots and the pressure of surviving each advancing zombie wave.
Final Reflection
Primitive ShapeZ became a passionate and enjoyable collaboration that we were proud to complete within the game-jam deadline.
Beyond establishing the core mechanics, we filled the project with easter eggs and smaller details that reflected how much fun the team had while developing it.
A playable browser version and downloadable Windows build remain available through itch.io.
Play Primitive ShapeZ on itch.io