Tepeyollotl

Tepeyollotl is a "mini-project" done in four months in our first year at ENJMIN, a french school of video games and digital interactive medias. The exercise is to make a full playable game of ten minutes, no more, that will be played, the day of the presentation, by a random person.

This is an action-platform game in limited time. The goal is to open the door at the end of each level before the relic gets empty. To open the door, the player has to activate each of the 3 altars of the level. By activating an altar, the relic gains extra power giving extra time to the player.

One important thing we wanted to put in the gameplay is the symbiosis between the main character and the relic : the life of the character depends on the life of the relic so the player must always recharge it, but the problem is that the relic can't be too much separated from the character, it will always try to catch him if he goes too far, making things difficult to go the horn activating the altars. But this "problem" isn't always one, it is also an important gameplay mechanic as it will also help the character in his quest : it will catch him if he falls, it will give him the capacity to cross gaps, etc.

Tonatiuh lives in a village at the bottom of the Tepeyollotl, a big mountain but above all, a very old dormant volcano. One day, the Tepeyollotl awakes and, as the legend says, someone has to throw a sacred relic into the crater to stop it. Tonatiuh is the strongest villager and so he's commanded for this difficult mission.

• Mathieu Gasperin - Director & Artist
• Philippe Pellefigue - Ergonomics, Game & Level Design
• Alexis Bauchu - Lead Programmer
• Yann Van Der Cruyssen - Sound Designer
• Daniel Borges - Engine & Tool Programmer